Garelli Europed Brianza 1971

My mother gave my first motorised two wheels — a Garelli Europed Brianza 1971 with 50 cm³ — as a present for my 15th birthday. What a ripper! Having ridden bicycles since the age of four (I think), a motor made all the difference. With a top speed of 25 km/h — and actually far slower than a bicycle — the average speed though, particular uphill, was a very pleasant experience.

The Garelli Mofa was essentially a bicycle with combustion engine. The speed limit was a government regulation for Mofas; as such, these could be ridden without a driver's license from the age of fifteen. Outside Germany the normal speed for these Mofas was 40 km/h.

There are heaps of stories involving this Mofa; the weirdest one: driving without piston rings. This story won many bets with my friends, much to their dismay that something they believed to be impossible actually worked. How did I prove it? Well, the cylinder head had four ten millimetre nuts, which I was able to remove in 90 seconds, together with the exhaust, which had another two 10 mm nuts. The cylinder head could be pulled off, so was the cylinder, and voilà: no rings, and I won another carton of beer 

This Mofa instills lot of good memories. The first motorised wheels. I could go places I never really went before. Yes, I used to cycle distances of 100 km and return, but with this vehicle, I simply sat on it and watched the landscape go by, effortless, refilling petrol every now and then.

Visitor's Comments

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Author Date / Time	Comment
MaxG from Brisbane wrote on Friday, July 09, 2010 08:00	The world was never perfect and never will be; the key thing for me was: I was motorised and did not have to peddle anymore  What a difference that was! And it increased my operating radius significantly. In fact, I rode 100 km on a regular basis to buy long-play records for 15 Deutsch Marks in the capital city, than paying 22 locally in my little town. Petrol was 0.65 Deutsch Marks a litre. Even buying one LP and I made a profit and had the fun of riding "distance".
Stefan from Dortmund wrote on Friday, July 09, 2010 07:36	Hi, This was my first bike too. Same colour. My parents purchased it for a crate of beer from a distant relative. This was my 15th birthday present. The Garelli worked fine, however the vibrations were awesome. Bone shaking. And I felt inferior to all the Zündapp ZD20 owner because the Garelli was missing a decent tank between seat and handle bar. To make it look more racing like I painted the grey covers with matt black. Ridicoulous. Keep on riding. Best regards, Stefan