CBG your guide to...
FOR YEARS, STEYR-DAIMLER-PUCH A.G OF GRAZ, Austria, made high-quality and innovative split-single two-strokes. But they approached the end of the 1960s with new vigour and a range of conventional yet extremely well-made mopeds, backed up with some sophisticated split single two-strokes.
Early in the 1960s the company had secured a deal with mail order giant Sears, Roebuck & Co to sell its bikes under its Allstate brand. You could order an Allstate-Puch badged as the Twingle from a catalogue, and within days a truck would arrive at your door with a bike in a wooden crate. These mail order motorcycles were almost ready for the road; despite their mechanical sophistication, just a few hours of preparation would see proud new owners heading for the road. In 1965, Sears dropped the Allstate branding and put Sears badges on petrol tanks. The frugal Austrian lightweights were popular among college students looking for cheap transport, rather than long-established motorcyclists.
When the first of the new Puch mopeds arrived in 1965, they had an immediate impact in Europe and the US. They were cheap, easy to look after, and of far higher quality than their rivals. The little mopeds were popular in the UK too, despite being quite a bit more expensive than British rivals like the Raleigh Runabout
