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John Ashworth's
moped journey
From
Kiev to Italy, 2003
Narrative and Photos by John Ashworth
John will be supplying a narrative to go along with these
photos |
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During the summer of 2003 I went 2100 km from Kiev to Udine in
East Italy, through Hungary (Budapest), Croatia (Zagreb),
Slovenia (Ljubljana) and finally crossing into Italy. I
would have gone on to Spain to see my girlfriend and then
the UK, but all this had bee done on a totally unregistered
bike (they are just bicycles in eastern Europe, you can't
register them), so when I got to Europe, I ground to a halt.
Two weeks of intensive effort with the help of a sympathetic
local police interpreter failed to help the situation. I
rode a Suzuki Lets 2 49cc scooter (no pedals). I think I was
just plain lucky mechanically for the 2100 miles I ran it on
my trip.
Post-trip note:
After my trip I successfully imported it into the UK, and
less than 100 miles of running later, one of the main
(crankshaft) bearings collapsed. Trying to minimize
mechanic costs, I stripped out the engine, and took just
this in. I didn't want to take it apart myself, as I have a
horror of something important, irreplaceable and spring
loaded flying across the room and me not being able to work
out how it fits back in. As it happens, I only would have
needed a dynamo puller (could have made this....). The new
bearing was £7 (about US$11?) but the labour was £75 (
approx. 115 USD) -- ugh! But it works now. It still will not
do above 33mph, but in northern winters crossing the local
mountains, that is cold enough.
[Webmasters Note: Although this
scooter is technically not a moped, this travelogue has been
included as a moped trip due to the size of the bike's motor
(49cc)]
[Further note: All the photos are on one giant long page for
now. Once John gets his travelogue in, this page will be
split up into multiple pages.] |
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27-7-03SortingstuffatLanas1.jpg |
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27-7-03SortingstuffatLanas2.jpg |
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27-7-03JohnandOlya1.jpg |
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28-7-03Bigsendoff1.jpg |
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28-7-03Bigsendoff3.jpg |
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28-7-03Bigsendoff14.jpg |
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30-7-03CemeteryinRivne2.jpg |
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30-7-03Dubno1.jpg |
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30-7-03Lakesidecafe10kmbeyondDubno1.jpg |
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30-7-03RiverKlutchandbike4.jpg |
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30-7-03RiverKlutchandbike6.jpg |
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30-7-03Rostikonscooter.jpg |
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30-7-03ScooterinRivne.jpg |
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30-7-03Zhytomir1stmorning1.jpg |
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31-7-03Secondmorning-Granivka-camouflage.jpg |
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2-8-03ApproachingChop.jpg |
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2-8-03CarpathianTractor.jpg |
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2-8-03HighCarpathians2.jpg |
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2-8-03HighCarpathians9.jpg |
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2-8-03HighCarpathians11.jpg |
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2-8-03Ukrainian-HungarianBorder.jpg |
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4-8-03HungarianMountains1.jpg |
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4-8-03LillafuredCastle2.jpg |
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4-8-03Lillafuredforestroad2.jpg |
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4-8-03OreExcavatornearBudapest3.jpg |
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4-8-035thmorningHungariancampsite.jpg |
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