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The pop culture
The 70s were a special decade when teenagers really started to have money between their fingers. This could be felt in the sales of expensive, well-equipped mopeds and motorcycles. The development actually began already in the latter half of the 60s. And during the 70s, the models just got finer and finer, and mopeds were good business for bicycle and motorcycle dealers in Denmark. Mopeds began to look more and more like small motorcycles, and the speed potential of tuning a moped became greater and greater. The sale of tuning parts was an extremely lucrative side business. The loose and carefree youth therefore also threw themselves into screwing, with more or less success, and the traffic officers got busier and busier stopping the most annoying of their kind.
That old mopeds would have such a renaissance, as was the case 30-40 years later, was nevertheless difficult to foresee. The fact is, moped culture just seems to get bigger and more diverse with each passing year. The old mopeds clearly trigger a solid dose of nostalgia in some people, both in the owners but also in those watching. And if you were a teenager in the 70s or 80s, many have obviously not forgotten the carefree time you had as a moped rider. Seeing grown men and women on an old moped with a big smile on their face and a hideous open crash helmet on their head is amusing, bordering on embarrassing. But there is obviously more to it than that. There are collectors who care about every detail being correct and who never drive them, to those who just want to relive the feeling of being 16 again. I know a primary school teacher who has all years of Yamaha FS-1s in his basement, all in like new condition.
Old friendships are renewed, and communities of interest around the moped hobby grow both inside and outside the club environment. Thousands gather across the country to enjoy themselves by and with the restoration and preservation of the old vehicles, to meet in the summer months to drive trips with a cold beer in the luggage carrier or beer box. So those who think that an old moped is only for those who have lost their driving license due to alcohol or for foragers from West Jutland on their way to work are wrong. Grown men on old mopeds bridge cultural differences and bring back youthful camaraderie. There are all kinds, from the academic to the car mechanic or the director, who want to relive the good old days. The prices reflect that those who were young back then are willing to pay for the experience of feeling like 16 again. It happens that the most desirable 3 and 4 gear mopeds change hands at prices you would think were lies. So if you used to drive a Puch, Kreidler or something completely different, it's one you want again. A few days ago I spoke to a man in his 40s who wanted to take the trip from Denmark to Normandy on a moped with a few friends in the summer of 2019 - and why not? There are people who cycle to big cities all over Europe, so it must be easier to reach distant places on a moped after all. At a fair I saw two old Yamahas for sale, an FS-1 moped and a 250 cubic mc. Condition and year were roughly the same, but the price of the moped was almost double. I don't know if this makes sense, but it is a fact that the old mopeds have become cool and highly sought after. Last summer, I was out for a drive in my old Puch when the owner of a newer Audi waved me to the side. I thought it was a civilian police car, but it was just an Audi owner who had once driven a Puch and wanted to know if it was for sale.
