On a cold, almost bone-chilling November night in Ballard, passers-by slow down to get a better look at the origin of the loud revving they have heard for blocks. Revving of what sounded like lawn mower engines.

Mosquito Fleet bikers line up.

Photo: Matt Ironside

Congregated in front of a house just off 65th street is the Seattle branch of the Moped Army, the Mosquito Fleet. Twelve of the Mosquito Fleet’s 44 members are here.

With many riders sporting full-faced helmets, leather gloves and jackets and three or four layers of clothes, they take off for their weekly ride through Ballard to the Mars Bar in downtown Seattle.

“The brakes are on each handle, gas is on the right and try to stay in the middle of the pack,” says Fleet member Tim Zohn, also known as “Sinner Tim,” to a novice who is riding along with the Fleet.

Though somewhat reminiscent of a group of Harley-Davidson bikers, these riders differ from Harley bikers in their mode of transportation. In place of gigantic 1200 cubic-centimeter (CC) engines on huge frames, the Fleet members have miniature 50 CC engines on vehicles that resemble ordinary pedal bikes, though they are anything but ordinary.

These are vintage mopeds.

A vintage moped outside the Mars Bar in downtown Seattle, where the Mosquito Fleet gathers Monday nights.

Photo: Matt Ironside

Vintage moped riding is a phenomenon that has reached every part of the United States and even parts of Canada since Simon King and two friends founded the Moped Army in Kalamazoo, Mich. in 1997. Seattle’s Mosquito Fleet is one of 19 moped groups that are affiliated with the Moped Army, according to the Army’s Web site.

The locations of the groups range from Ottawa, Canada (the Variators) to Cincinnati, Ohio (the Bombardment Society) to Portland, Maine (50:1) to Tempe Arizona (the Tom Cruisers). Altogether, there are almost 300 members with the two largest groups being the Decepticons in Kalamazoo (45 members) and Seattle’s Mosquito Fleet (44 members).

One of the main lines of communication among the groups is the Web site, MopedArmy.com. The Web site is used to notify all of the groups of upcoming events such as the annual Moped BBQ, which is hosted by the Decepticons every summer and is open to all Moped Army members.

The dozen Mosquito Fleet members arrive at Mars Bar around 8:30 p.m. The members can tell by the number of mopeds parked in front of the bar that several other Fleet members have arrived before them.

Mosquito Fleet member Kevin Barrans with his dog Tugboat.

Photo: Matt Ironside

Most of the Fleet members are seasoned mopeders and long-time members of the Seattle chapter. People like Kevin Barrans and Damien Jurado sport jean jackets with the Mosquito Fleet insignia, a skull and cross bones, on the back. Barrans is one of the founders of The Fleet and Jurado is a local singer/songwriter whose songs have found much airtime on KEXP.

After making the rounds and greeting everybody, Sinner Tim Zohn and the novice rider grab a few brews and sit down at a table with Sinner John Stueve, Sinner Seth Bedwell and Arianna Lyman.

“You see, there are two different types of people here; Christians and non-Christians,” explains Stueve. “There’s a group of them that all live together and that’s the Christian house. . . . We live in the house of sin,” he said, referring to the house he shares with Tim Zohn , Seth Bedwell and an absent roommate.

Eating nachos and talking bikes: counter clockwise from the upper right are Megan Wurster, Joey Ostos, Kyle Duncan and a moped biker known as Chuck.

Photo: Matt Ironside

“The Mosquito Fleet was actually started by Kevin (Barrans) and a few others from his church,” Stueve says. “People kept hearing about the group and others were invited by friends and eventually we’ve ended up with about a 60-40 split in favor of the Christians.
“But we all get along, regardless (of those differences).” Stueve throws his arm around the Christian Arianna.

Stueve has been around moped-type things his entire life. When he was growing up, his father would restore old Whizzers and then sell them for thousands of dollars. “My dad fixed up 15 of those things and had enough money to buy a house on a beach,” Stueve said. “That’s how much those things cost.”

Whizzers were popular among teenagers in the ‘40s and ‘50s. Because Schwinn manufactured their frames, the Whizzers more closely resembled pedal bikes than do most mopeds.

Whizzers fell into decline during the ‘50s, when Japan began exporting a lighter version to the United States. By the end of the ‘50s Whizzer was unable to compete with the Japanese models and stopped production of the model.

Seattle’s Mosquito Fleet is affiliated with the Moped Army, a national group of moped bikers based in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Photo: Matt Ironside

As the beer and nachos continue to flow at the bar, so do the stories of national moped gatherings.

Some of the larger groups hold annual rallies in their home cities and distribute invitations to all of the members of the Moped Army. The Decepticons held their rally at the end of May and saw over 100 mopeders make the trek to Kalamazoo.

The Mosquito Fleet held its rally in August and had 64 mopeders show up. When fellow mopeders travel to a city for a rally, many of them find sleeping room on the floors and couches of the hosting city’s members. The House of Sin provided space for 10 mopeders.

“We’re kinda like a family,” Sinner Tim Zohn says of the Moped Army. “If you’re part of the Moped Army, you’re cool with us and we’ll fight for ya, if need be.”

This creed became evident during the August rally in Seattle. “The San Francisco branch (Creatures of the Loin) had just arrived for our rally,” Zohn says. “They drove their mopeds all the way up Highway 1 from San Fran. It took them five days.

“When they finally got here, we were all at a Dead Babies bicycle rally in downtown Seattle. The Dead Babies are a pedal bike group here in Seattle. We were all down at that rally just hanging out and one of the pedal bikers was drunk and riding around in circles, dogging on mopeds.

Mosquito Fleet member Stewart takes his motorized Schwinn bicycle on a test run.

Photo: Matt Ironside

“Somehow his bike got caught up in a mopeder’s sleeping bag and tore it all to s---. That guy was pissed, so he got up and laid out the drunk guy. Then some of the drunk guy’s friends ran over and started beating up the mopeder, who was my friend, so I ran over and started fighting.

“And as I was fighting, I looked up and this dude was just about to sock me in the face, one of the guys from the Chi-town (Chicago) group (Peddy Cash) ran over and socked this dude in the face. He knocked him out.

“We had only been kicking it with these guys for less than an hour and we were already going to battle for each other. That’s what being a Moped Army member is all about.”