- The background of how the moped won the hearts and minds of many Americans in the 1970s
- 8 moped brands that were available for the U.S market -and address for each one
- Some vintage moped books and films worth checking out
“Don’t Be Fuelish”



The Moped Comes to America
- Serve as an information source about mopeds and a council which governmental agencies could consult with about laws affecting mopeds
Moped Laws by State
- 14 years old: Iowa, Kansas
- 15 years old: California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas
- 16 years old: Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusettes, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia
- 17 years old: Pennsylvania



The End of the Moped – At Least For Now…
Brand #1: Puch



Brand #2: Batavus



Brand #3: Tomos
Interesting trivia:
The “A3” refers to the two-stroke single-cylinder engine that Tomos used for most of their mopeds at the time.Brand #4: Motobecane



Interesting trivia:
“Motobecane” is a combination of two words:
- “Moto” = “Motorcycle”
- “Becane” = French slang term for “bike”
Brand #5: Peugeot
Brand #6: Vespa



Brand #7: Malaguti
Brand #8: JCPenny
Let’s finish off our list of 1970s moped brands with a wildcard.
Because yes, that’s the JCPenny’s department store franchise.
But despite this, they didn’t actually build them – instead, they imported mopeds from other brands, gave them new badges, and then sold their mopeds through their well-known catalogs.
Technically, it’s hard to count this as its own brand since their moped were just rebadged, but in all seriousness – when will you get to talk about a series of mopeds branded after a department store?
Either way, their most known model was the JCPenny Pinto (no relation to Ford’s disastrous compact car).
The JCPenny Pinto was a rebadging of an Austrian moped maker called “Kromag” with close ties to Puch.
Kromag even used the Puch E50 engine for many of their mopeds.
If you’d like to know more, the owner’s manual for the Kromag/JCPenny Pinto is available at Archive.org.
BONUS: Books and Videos about Mopeds in 1970s America
Mopeds – Paul DuPre (1977)






The Moped Handbook – Terry Arthur (1977)






For the price of $2.95 in 1977, this book is your best friend as an introduction to mopeds.
The Moped Handbook covers the things a brand new moped owner would want to know:
- The different moped brands available for the U.S market
- How to choose your first moped
- Basic maintenance
Aside from that, it also covers how you can assess whether a moped dealer is trustworthy or not. Rather unique since this is not typically found in books about this topic.