Am Open day 22.04.23 the moped scene showed how strong it is, we received whole groups of fans and among them we saw unique pieces, but one thing caught our eye in particular, and when we were with its owner Marcus Bullock talking, we asked him to tell us more about this beautiful custom Hello Santa Cruz to tell, and he did:
"I still have such old number plates from UTHA here. Take these with you! Otherwise they go in the garbage” So, or something similar, was the sentence when buddy Marc was dissolving a company. At the same time, I remembered my first ciao in my youth, where these types of parts could not be missing in the early 90s. In principle, the idea came up to build a Ciao like I would have wished for back then. The color concept was set insofar as the number plates were not to be painted. A contrasting color was needed, just like it was good form in the 90s!
So yellow, or white? Oh no matter, both!
So began the search for contemporary accessories. Saddle cloth and handlebars from France, white lamps (dyed through) from Switzerland, lamp mask from Italy, red handles / levers from Poland, etc. Some of the parts collected in this country still had pink price tags, one or the other knows which shop that was.
"You used to get all that for a handful of DM?" Those days seem to be over.
engine-wise it had to be a side intake in any case - that was clear. By chance I got a Simonini membrane intake. A replica housing was used paired with a Pinasco full cheek shaft. The water-cooled Polini cylinder with 41mm found its way to me by accident. A good friend of mine liked the idea of the 90s CIAO so much that he let me have it for a good price. Pistons and seals for the water-cooled cylinder drove the scooter somewhere. Likewise, all other required parts such as tyres, bearings, brakes, wiring harness etc. come from Bergheim Glessen. The reservoir in the place where the speedometer normally sits was added as a 3D printed part.
The Ciao is on the road on 16 inch Ten-Spoke rims and the power transmission runs via a series clutch (reinforced) including a belt pulley via an 8,5 Bravo gearbox. The engine is ventilated via a 16 Dellorto carburettor (with a 7-spool valve - important!) and the burned fuel is expelled via a FalkR Reso exhaust. This requires quite high control times, so the rotary engine ran for a not inconsiderable amount of time and ate into the material of the cylinder and the crankcase.
The frame is a Ciao (C6V moped) which received a strut. On the one hand, a lot of material disappeared to get the side intake through the frame, on the other hand, the frame is already prepared for the Malossi Big Deps with 21 carburettor. Again, some sheet metal disappeared, hence the idea of reinforcement. The Ciao was painted by a good friend, the choice of color was based on the existing plastic parts.
The combination of the colors caused a number of motto suggestions to be made in my garage. After the Wolf lawn mower and, of course, the McDonald-Mobile, I finally decided on the Santa Cruz variant. Moped - skateboard - 90s... that's right!
