@@DamdamF Les français et l'apprentissage des langues étrangères... ça n'a jamais été notre fort ! Parmi nos compatriotes, combien connaissent le "Solex" Belge Flandria Ideal/Vedette avec son cylindre inversé pour 50km/h alors qu'un 1010 contemporain plafonnait à 25.
@@DamdamF Très peu à mon avis - entre sa façon de parler, les termes techniques anglais et ses jeux de mots anatomiques, sa narration est difficile à suivre pour ceux qui n'ont pas l'anglais comme langue maternelle...
Solex generation from France here. Mrs was screaming at you to lift the handle back. Lol. We were both thinking of getting ev bikes for local transportation needs, but after having the cobwebs being removed thanks to Mustie, are now going to go back to our youth. Merci Mustie.
Man this bring back memories.. My auntie had one exactly like it, the model 3800. She used it to and from work for many years (she worked at a telephone exchange) and even kept a small "black book" with details and date of when she bought new tires, fuel, oil, how many Km´s it had on it and so on. She took really good care of it
Hello de France, thank you for reviving the Solex, I am 80 years old, many of my friends had a Solex, in 1960 the wages was small, a lot found this means of transport very economical, fuel Solexine, a very beautiful era.
hi mustie !! i'm a french fan and i have 4 solex (restaured) (3: 3800 model and 5000) and they are lovely ! sooo fun to drive ! if you need any doc or help ,in France they means a lot , they are not worth a lot here (500 to700 euro ) but they where not many in the US so you have here something quite amazing and rare !
Top condition looks like new, in Sweden they cost around 400-550euro for the Red or blue ones, Black one cost around 350-450euro. Bad condition but working are around 100-150euro. Here in Sweden you can buy all the parts for them to. Don't know how it is in other countries.
I´ve never owned a 3800 or 5000, but some 6000 models. If someone thinks that the 3800´s are funny, try a 6000 model with the shaft drive and mechanical disk brake. I am a moped mechanic for over 40 years, but the Solex are unique.
Hi from France,these mopeds were very popular for decades in France.Some friends of mine had some and were using them to go to school,or even weekend trips.They were really slow but a very high mileage,some were holding a matel 2 liters metallic can holder to increase fuel capacity.The 3800 model appears in 1966 in replacement of the 3300 model .The first velosolex came in 1959 ,model 1700 for two years and was replaced by the 2200. I remember passing in front of the factory in Courbevoie (my hometown) near Paris when going or coming back from school in the 70's.I'm almost 65 now and still have great memories from Them.Thanks for this revival !
A youth here decided the Velo Solex was slightly underpowered. He made up a drive to the front wheel using a chain driven by a chainsaw engine. Police got him at 105kmh in a 50kmh town zone... They let the air out of the rear tyre and told him to walk it home....and never be seen on the road with it again.
105 km/hr. Tisn't 105mph which WOULD HAVE BEEN SPECTACULAR. We had a midget racer that turned over 80mph which could have gotten you a reckless driving ticket before 14 years old. Those old McCulloughs were power houses. Especially the gear drive ones.
I was shouting.. 'lift the engine its under load'.. 😂 then you realised. Got a 2200.. here in my living room. Looking at it right now. Great little things. The engines run flat out all the time but remember its under load so not screaming and when you want to slow down.. ie traffic junction.. as you pull the front it chokes the intake so the engine slows but doesnt die. A very clever design.. no engine oil.. all dry except for premix.
My Dad's uncle gave us one of these back in the early 90s. He had three of them that belonged to his three sons when they were kids in the 70's. It only took a bit of tinkering with the engine and engine engagement lever to get it running and driving. It didn't make shit for power at first. When I took the exhaust downpipe off of the engine, I discovered the port was about 90% plugged with carbon. After chipping that stuff out of there, it ran a LOT better. I was so proud of myself and Dad for getting it back up and running. It never was a screamer, of course, but it was a lot of fun for a 14 year old kid who had never owned anything with an engine on it before. It's still sitting over at Dad's. Unfortunately, the engine was subsequently dismantled by others and it's no longer in running condition...and I think they lost some of the parts. I ought to adopt it and see what I can do with it. Thanks for the vid...this brings back some memories!!
I think he is wrong about the air filter affecting mixture. As long as the float vent is inside the filter next to the carb intake, so that it reduces pressure equally on both sides of the jet(s), it should not effect mixture.
I’m Danish and my first moped was a Velo Solex 4200 or 4600 can’t remember. I spend many hours shining it up to perfection . Sold it many years ago but this video makes me want to buy another velo solex 😂😂
Hi Musti, the Solex manufacturer where original French and made gasoline powered bicycles and carburetors for the VW beetle and other European brands. Super cool video thank you my first bike I worked on when I was a kid.
I can't believe you don't have 50 million viewers, If a person has any desire at all to learn, you show how to break down a project and figure out the unknowns ,in a way, everyone can understand, thank you for all the sharing, I have had so many times I wished I could figure a machine out and couldn't , Now I have no problem working on my home equipment and actually getting it to work again.
I am an a aussie I have been watching mustie repair small engines I learnt enough to be able to get an old mower that did not go going it works well I am still using it he is brilliant when it comes to fixing engines
the carb is opened by a twist grip on the handlebar. The brake lever has a de-accelerator function for when you brake - so if keep the lever pulled it will always try to slow the motor down. But very good work sorting out most of it. You have got further than most people do! Motor sounds good.
drive tyre is different and the wheel drive a corundum that will be needed to replace when it starts slipping 49 cc 105 is normal and it is more then 50 years old and french made
He never said anything negative about French products. You was the first person to suggest the idea. Mustie was giving some background into the bike, nothing else. It's a semi historic product, and not many people would know where it come from.
Solex, great bikes. these were verry popular in the Netherlands it was the first step to motorised transport for the first generations after second world war. Today there are racing events held with these. Like the 24 hours of Heeswijk held at 24-25-26 august 2023. the circuit going thou the a barn and a local café. Its bonkers but that is just the way they like it.
@@samuraidriver4x4 Those Solex rentals are a pain. While bicycling, enjoying the fresh air in the countryside, there is indeed a chance that you're suddenly engulfed by a bunch of those noisy smelly Solexes, belching out a giant blue cloud of smelly smoke which will stay lingering over the road for the next half mile you'll be bicycling there. It should be regarded as a crime against the environment, to ride those things in a group of more than 2 persons.
This was my first moped when I was twelve, fiftyseven years ago. I parked in the neighbours yard, so my mum wouldn't find out. To start it, you pull the motor up, start pedaling until your speed is sufficient snd then you drop the engine on the front wheel. Works every time. Quirky, but genius, these Solexes! The factory was further renowned for building carburettors in all sizes.
Thank for sharing your cool story, the good old day haha. I got one that abandoned from my parents, sitting in the 2nd story in a 3-story house in Vietnam, in think it was around in the early 80s when I learned to ride a bicycle and I used one of these. I was told it used to have an engine but I never got to see how it worked. Just the bike alone was weight 2x than a regular bike and you could see from the thick body frame all around.
@@jostouw4366I think he just said that when the motor is off. You pull a lever that lifts the motor off the tire. With it still off the tire you start peddling. Then you lower the motor onto the front wheel which is turning. The front wheel turning starts the engine. I have a bike with a Berini m14. Same idea. Mine is from about 1950.
I bought my first moped in 1978 after moving to Brockville Ontario when I was 14. I used it to get to work washing dishes at the hotel/restaurant at the end of our service road in the country on the St. Lawrence seaway. I was too young to buy it so my older brother made the purchase with my tips from work when he came home from college.
I had one of these things a few years ago, was a barn find from 1969, few parts were missing, completed it and drove it for a while. You need to replace the fuel Pump, or at least overhaul it. New diaphragm, new fethers and new ventballs. Whenever the motor runs there must be a good flow of gas visible in the big line that runs back through the tank. With working fuel pump, clean carb and good spark it will run.
50 years ago I worked with a guy who had one of these, this is what he told me :) The motor was killed by an earthing tab when lifting it off the wheel. When he collected it from the dealer he was told to "just check that nothing has come loose when you have ridden it for a while". The next day before setting out to work he went around with a spanner and tightened everything up.... including the motor hinge bolts, the motor was in the engaged position and off he went, it was only when he wanted to stop for the first time he realised he could not lift the engine to stop it! It took him a while of riding around the neighborhood but he worked out that removing the plug lead would stop it.
The decompression valve is definitely the way you stop these engines. I had a Mobilette moped (also French) of around the same era and although it had a conventional twist throttle, if you twisted the throttle in the opposite direction it pulled another cable which operated the decompression valve.
I remember reaching down to loosen the carb mix screw to slow down when the throttle stuck on my minibike. Also pulling the spark plug wire off and getting the you know what shocked out of me, but at least it slowed down to a stop. ben/ michigan
I have two of them, one from France the other was made in Detroit. The wife and I go for rides around town all the time. Makes us feel like kids again. They are great conversations starters. Awesome video 👍✌️
your procrastination on the carb cleaning is very helpful in teaching people the signs and sounds of a dirty carb. Thank you for all the education and entertainment over the years. You have influenced mine and many others lives more then you could possibly know. Can not thank you enough.
Water is a real pain. No fun to deal with the results of flooding issues. Best of luck to you Darren and thank you for the content when your life has been turned upside down a bit. John here, from the back-roads of Northeastern Tennessee.
I rode those before, the later model with the auto clutch so you don't have to pull the engine up. the is a little toolbox in the back tire, the round front light is the older one, and later with the square front light. Mixed fuel with oil, and if you add too much oil, smoke like crazy. Still have two of them in my older brother's in southern France. Memory over half a century ago.
Good morning Mustie you're Channel this morning doing the solex moped was very nostalgic for me my dad and I found two of them in the garbage in 1980 when I was 10 years old he told me if I get one running he would buy me tires which were Michelin tires back in the day for $20 a piece very awesome that you got it running sure brought back some awesome memories I drove my moped around harsens Island Michigan for 7 years and that moped never broke down
Good pictures of Steve McQueen riding round on one during the filming of Le Mans in 1971. Definitely improves the coolness factor. Great video as always, thank you Mustie.
Being half French and at one time owning a Solex, it was always common practice to take off the exhaust and burn it to remove old oil and carbon build up fromtime to time.
I think for anybody more than 25% French it was mandatory to own a Velosolex. I am German and back in the mid 80s they were cool for a while even in Northern Germany.
Great job, it was cleaner on the inside than I thought it would have been. I wished you lived close, I have a 1958 Sears Mo-Ped I would like you to look at, I tried then gave up on it and put it in the barn, I don't want to get rid of it because of sentimental reasons, you inspire me to get it out again...
UPDATE: Well watching your videos and the steps you take I decided to get my Mo-Ped out of the barn and have another go at it, it turned out to be a 1957 model. After a couple days and waiting on a part, I got it running and for the first time in about 10+ years that I know of, I rode it several times up the road. Keep your videos coming, you enjoy fixing them as much as we enjoy watching them.....KEEP WRENCHING...
Nice to see you guys in the USA also like these things. A little protip: The shaft that is holding the carborundum stone expandes quicker than the carborundum itself. These things have a automatic clutch. The downside is that when you run the engine for a decent time while standing still with the engine on the tire, the clutch can get so hot, that de carborundum stone breaks. Therefore I always kill the engine when stopping for more then 10 seconds.
Sounds like you know what your talking about. Question for you. Is the engine on this 38cc's. Just watched a old video of a tear down on one and the piston looked a little large for 38cc's. They didn't give displacement. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks for clutch info, I didn't know about that.
Had one of there in the early 80s in New Zealand used it for dirt riding the fun we had talk about bringing back memories I'd totally forgotten about it thanks for bringing back memories mustie
My buddy had one of those in 1968 or so... I was early teens back then and I wanted one soooo bad. I loved riding it. It brings back good memories. Thank you for what you do.
I'm thinking the "throttle" lever is actually a brake/de-throttle lever. In other words the motor is meant to run wide open and when you put the brake on it idles the motor down. Great video, thanks for the time putting it up.
I bought one in 1973 when the oil embargo started. Fun to ride, just start riding and slowly lower the engine onto the wheel and off you go. lots of fun. Wish I still had it.
This was THE icon of the early 1980s in Germany, the favourite of many secondary school students who could drive this vehicle from the age of 16 and later. In fact, it's a bycicle with this funny little engine on top of the front tyre. But it was cheap; fuel prices were not an issue (low - octane "Normalbenzin" was at, say, 1,10 DM /litre), so the students loved it. It was also an "alternative" means of transportation, Frenchie made, just as the Citroen 2CV, or "Ente" (Duck). Cheers from Germany! This type reflects a whole class of twin - wheel vehicles called either "Mofa" (a contraction of "MOtorisiertes FAhrrad", or Bycicle w/Engine) or "Moped", like the one above. In fact, these vehicles were just bycicles with a reinforced frame and drum brakes with a two - stroke engine that was usually mounted right at the pivot point of the pedals, unlike the Velosolex! Common makers in Germany were Kreidler, Zündapp, and Kettler. One model from East Germany, the Simson Schwalbe, is also petty popular even today, maybe because production has run out in the 90s. Mofas / Mopeds have become rare on roads in Germany, having been replaced by so - called "scooters" long ago! Cheers again!
I love the stories in the comments about whatever Mustie is working on. I feel like that's what life is all about. To remember the good things in life and talk about them and smile.
the washer Material is phenolic. That's what it looks like to me. I watch these videos & are amazed by how you get everything running. The way you explain everything makes me feel more very knowledgeable on these issues too. Love the videos.
In Germany these Velo Solex were classified as MOFA (motorized bicycle). This class is speed limited to 25 km/h and could be operated without license from the age of 15 years. These were the weakest MOFA but also the cheapest in the market (399.00 DM in 1975 or so). From observation I know that the French version was much faster, actually impressively fast. Fast here means top speed, acceleration was comparable with escargot climbing a wall. This is a great video for me to enjoy as it brings back memories but also finally answers a bunch of questions that I wondered about back then.
I think the throttle works in reverse! At 50:56 in the video you can see the cable from the carb continuing downward to the front brake. When you're not pulling the lever, the tiny engine is running at full speed, when you pull on the lever, you close the throttle and apply the brake at the same time. And the decompressor is probably linked somehow, so that when you pull the lever fully, it stops the motor AND the bike. Trust the French to come up with a weird setup.
When you're riding a bicycle, you're used to squeezing the handlebar to apply the brakes and slow down. It makes perfect sense, and you can also drive it no-hands!
I guess the idea is that to brake, you pull both levers, brake and throttle, at the same time. It has a certain twisted logic to it. To "cruise", you let them both go and just steer. Confusing if you are used to a more conventional set up, but this thing was probably aimed at rural French cyclists who wanted motor assist, not "normal" motorcyclists.
Thats it! I had the same model many years ago. If you want to stop you had to pull both grips, to idle and for the front brake. For longer stops you have to lift the engine up. Loosen both grips means you feel the power of 0.5 horses. A little bit of additional peddling helps to lift off. 🙂
The earlier Solex's you pulled both levers to brake, it cuts the revs and the clutch idles. Later models from the 80s the acceleration lever was also a front brake lever, pull the brake it stops, plus idles the engine. Once you pedalled it to get you going and get the speed up a bit it will do around 30ish mph. You have to pedal to get it started, pull the lever all the way in to decompress the engine, let it go once you have a bit of speed. As far as I can remember the decompression lever was attached to the carb linkage, lever all the way in, decompresses the engine, out for drive and anywhere in between to control your acceleration (which isn't much) this was designed as a pedal assist bicycle, it just helped you to get along a bit easier.
Nice to see you work on a Solex! the front brake is operated with the handle you called throttle, and is supposed to let the rpm drop to where the clutch lets go... so you can come to a stand still without the roller eating a big hole on your tire... :) You can get everything for them.... over here... :P
@@andyhamilton8940 it's been as wet as the lakes recently but no, I'm on the East side of the country the lakes are on the West. Home to the Red Arrows and the Magna Carta 😬
Ohhh, yes!!! This is the best! Love this, the best part of the whole week!!! But, take your time. Relax for a bit, get your house in order. Everyone needs a break sometimes! Take care of yourself!
Glad to see that someone will send you tires, so you can go ahead. I was in a friends workshop today & he has a VeloSolex 3800. I noticed he has 3 new spare tires and I also have a few spare tires BUT we are in Australia. We got our tires from Vietnam, which is not surprising as they were a French colony so lots of VS's (& French cars) at one time. Another thing you should check on - is that the wheels can rust badly, so be careful. There is a VeloSolex model that can foldup called a PliSolex it has smaller wheels & was built to fit into the trunk of French cars. Supposedly more than 7 million were made in over 57 countries. (???)
A friend of mine at college in France had one of these Solexes. Sometimes for fun, the game was to stop at a red light with the front wheel at the start of a white stripe of a pedestrian crossing, engine running and machine on the stand. Full throttle before the light turns green and jump the Solex off the stand. For 2 seconds, the engine roller screamed on the tire, the tire on the white stripe, guaranteed effect, how to make THE tire scream at launch with a Solex! 🤣Some pedestrians turned and grumbled, but most just laughed... 😆
Had one of these as young. Late '83 it must have been. Was my first moped. Drived quite well, except if it was rainy weather. The the drive-wheel would just spin around without moving the bike forward. Being that time, there were some hacks for those to make them drive faster. The gas handle is correct, you needed to grab it to throttle down. Nice to see that machine again. Like a peak in a time machine. :)
Cool little machine brought back to life.great job Mustie..sorry your having to deal with a flooded basement..nothing about sounds pleasant at all. Appreciate you sharing your day us.😊🇺🇸🛠️🔧🛵
These curios that you bring to your channel are super interesting, absorbing and entertaining. I hope your issues with the water/flooding get resolved. Best wishes from UK.
I bought one of those about ten years ago just for the fun of it. I'd remembered them being really popular in Switzerland back in the 70s. Mostly it seems with teenagers who rode them with abandon in amongst startled pedestrians. Mine had been imported to the UK from France and was registered for road use. Reaching over the handlebar to engage the engine was an experience 😂
Thank you so much for the trip down memory lane. My maternal grandfather back in Denmark had one of these in pristine condition when I has a kid in the early eighties. He never owned a car and usually got around on a bicycle. The Velo Solex was for when he was going out of town! ;o) I remember him putting a pillow on the luggage rack in the back and us riding around. His grounded out the spark plug to kill the engine. He hated going slow on it - claimed it ‘sooted up’ the engine. I believe flat out these would do about 30 km/h - ~20 mph. Oh, and I do vaguely remember him having to hold in the throttle to go slow, so it might be reversed, as you surmised. PLEASE try to get this back into working condition and take us for a ride on it.
Solexes along with Puch derived Sears Mopeds were popular when I was in JHS in the mid-late 50s. Motor was started by unhooking the lever in front of the handlebar and it would drop down onto the front wheel and the drive wheel would rotate the engine which would start and you would motor off. So you had to pedal a ways to get it up to 5-7mph before unlatching the motor.
I think the British inch-standard in fasteners you're thinking of is Whitworth or BSW. (British Standard Whitworth) BSF, (British Standard Fine) BSP, (British Standard Pipe) and other threads are variations on Whitworth. I learned about BSW in my younger years when my cousin's early Series II Land Rover experienced a steering tie rod end failure. My cousin had spare parts galore, but we needed a tap to clean up the threads on the rod. Tracking down a 3/8" left hand Whitworth thread tap in early 2000s Vancouver was a bit of an adventure!
Rain YES Lots of Rain up here in Northwestern Vermont Too! It's all over everywhere! Hot muggy crap. I have brooks where there have never been brooks in the woods! Mud 6" deep around my barns! Getting really sick of the crap!!!!
These were very popular over in Europe (i like to think 50's 60's and early 70's) . Today we even have a Solex club , they do touring runs together. You can also rent them to make a tour.
My father in law bought one in 1954 France and he sure liked it. He didn't have a car and used to use a bicycle to go to work. I bought a 1978 AMF Roadmaster Model 110 in the 1970s to ride to my car pool when it was not my day to drive. It was rear wheel drive like the Solex. Sold it about 10 years ago for $100 needed a new drive stone that drove the rear tire. Very simple engine with a plastic crank case.
woooow .... that must be extremely rare in the USA. In the "low lands" in Europe (Holland, Belgium, great parts of France) this has been extremely popular. Not usable on hills .... lol ... or you'll have to use the pedals to help the engine. Tires are so called "balloon-tires" ... In France and Holland it is still a kind of "cult-object". Searching on French channels (use velosolex) you will for sure find many channels about this "bike" and how to set carb (was a PITA) and spark. The early models had the wheel running all the time, so you had to lift the engine when stopping ... the later models had a kind of clutch. (a bit like in e "vario") So you could leave the engine "down" on the front wheel without wearing-out the rubber. Max-speed around 25km/h ... in fact this is a bike with an "auxiliary engine" (like some bikes have nowadays, but using electricity)
Same in the flatter parts of Germany. My mom had a different brand and says she had to pedal half the time because the thing loved to break down. Eventually it met the same fate as most bicycles in that area, it was nicked.
Remember these all over France but specifically in the cities like Le Havre and Rouen. That was in the fifties and I instantly wanted one because they were cheap. Parents said no; they were not available so easily in the UK but the onion seller who came over to Southampton each week had one, handlebars festooned with pigtails of his wares. The Lambrettas were more available to us. Great to see one in the metal again. Best from the UK.
Cool bike & think about it, the french were way ahead of there time with this.. People do it today with e bay bought engines on mountain bikes.. i got something along the same lines, 1967 Raleigh Wisp.
Imagine absolutely thousands of these, all black, on the boulevards of Paris, more of them than cars by a lot. There were frames in color supposedly but you never saw them. And the mobylette (usually blue-gray) was the next step up, being a proper chain drive but still with pedal starting, centrifugal clutch. And the corrugated Citroen vans ruled, now one of those would be a great Mustie project!
Darren sorry to hear about your basement flood problem. You should have torn down your Sump Pump as a Short!... But we are all thinking of Hawaii and their troubles with flash fires. Hope nothing of real value was ruined, and your neighbours are OK too. Hutchinson Tyres 1 3/4 x 19 available in the UK
Dude! Im french. These things are worth quite a lot when renovated. These things are awesome and consume no gas at all !
Yeah - they really need those pedals 😉
Combien de français/francophones regardent Mustie1? On ne doit pas être nombreux!
@@DamdamF Les français et l'apprentissage des langues étrangères... ça n'a jamais été notre fort ! Parmi nos compatriotes, combien connaissent le "Solex" Belge Flandria Ideal/Vedette avec son cylindre inversé pour 50km/h alors qu'un 1010 contemporain plafonnait à 25.
@@DamdamF Très peu à mon avis - entre sa façon de parler, les termes techniques anglais et ses jeux de mots anatomiques, sa narration est difficile à suivre pour ceux qui n'ont pas l'anglais comme langue maternelle...
On est quelques uns 🙂@@DamdamF
Solex generation from France here. Mrs was screaming at you to lift the handle back. Lol. We were both thinking of getting ev bikes for local transportation needs, but after having the cobwebs being removed thanks to Mustie, are now going to go back to our youth. Merci Mustie.
Man this bring back memories.. My auntie had one exactly like it, the model 3800. She used it to and from work for many years (she worked at a telephone exchange) and even kept a small "black book" with details and date of when she bought new tires, fuel, oil, how many Km´s it had on it and so on. She took really good care of it
Hello de France, thank you for reviving the Solex, I am 80 years old, many of my friends had a Solex, in 1960 the wages was small, a lot found this means of transport very economical, fuel Solexine, a very beautiful era.
hi mustie !! i'm a french fan and i have 4 solex (restaured) (3: 3800 model and 5000) and they are lovely ! sooo fun to drive ! if you need any doc or help ,in France they means a lot , they are not worth a lot here (500 to700 euro ) but they where not many in the US so you have here something quite amazing and rare !
Top condition looks like new, in Sweden they cost around 400-550euro for the Red or blue ones,
Black one cost around 350-450euro. Bad condition but working are around 100-150euro.
Here in Sweden you can buy all the parts for them to. Don't know how it is in other countries.
I´ve never owned a 3800 or 5000, but some 6000 models. If someone thinks that the 3800´s are funny, try a 6000 model with the shaft drive and mechanical disk brake. I am a moped mechanic for over 40 years, but the Solex are unique.
Hi from France,these mopeds were very popular for decades in France.Some friends of mine had some and were using them to go to school,or even weekend trips.They were really slow
but a very high mileage,some were holding a matel 2 liters metallic can holder to increase fuel capacity.The 3800 model appears in 1966 in replacement of the 3300 model .The first velosolex came in 1959 ,model 1700 for two years and was replaced by the 2200. I remember passing in front of the factory in Courbevoie (my hometown) near Paris when going or coming back from school in the 70's.I'm almost 65 now and still have great memories from Them.Thanks for this revival !
That deserves a full restoration!
That would be cool to see.👍
It was a cool machine in its day but if you restore it what have you got?
A modern e-bike is much better.
@@GarthGoldberg a nice antique!
@@GarthGoldbergwhat are you doing here mr E-bike guy in a motor channel? Get out of my swamp
@@TheGhostzZ 😆💯
My wife and I absolutely loved this series. We couldn’t wait for Sunday mornings for the next one. Awesome!
I wish Sunday's came twice a week.
A youth here decided the Velo Solex was slightly underpowered.
He made up a drive to the front wheel using a chain driven by a chainsaw engine.
Police got him at 105kmh in a 50kmh town zone...
They let the air out of the rear tyre and told him to walk it home....and never be seen on the road with it again.
What those dang kids will get up to. 😄
105? without gearbox or cvt? no way. 65-75 max.
@@Timsturbs That depends on the Chain saw size.
105 km/hr. Tisn't 105mph which WOULD HAVE BEEN SPECTACULAR. We had a midget racer that turned over 80mph which could have gotten you a reckless driving ticket before 14 years old. Those old McCulloughs were power houses. Especially the gear drive ones.
@@Timsturbs 105kmh is like 65 miles an hour. I believe it.
I was shouting.. 'lift the engine its under load'.. 😂 then you realised. Got a 2200.. here in my living room. Looking at it right now. Great little things. The engines run flat out all the time but remember its under load so not screaming and when you want to slow down.. ie traffic junction.. as you pull the front it chokes the intake so the engine slows but doesnt die. A very clever design.. no engine oil.. all dry except for premix.
My Dad's uncle gave us one of these back in the early 90s. He had three of them that belonged to his three sons when they were kids in the 70's. It only took a bit of tinkering with the engine and engine engagement lever to get it running and driving. It didn't make shit for power at first. When I took the exhaust downpipe off of the engine, I discovered the port was about 90% plugged with carbon. After chipping that stuff out of there, it ran a LOT better. I was so proud of myself and Dad for getting it back up and running. It never was a screamer, of course, but it was a lot of fun for a 14 year old kid who had never owned anything with an engine on it before. It's still sitting over at Dad's. Unfortunately, the engine was subsequently dismantled by others and it's no longer in running condition...and I think they lost some of the parts. I ought to adopt it and see what I can do with it. Thanks for the vid...this brings back some memories!!
the hardware store Hornbach (Germany) had as a slogan one time
"Mach es zu deinem Projekt"
I think he is wrong about the air filter affecting mixture. As long as the float vent is inside the filter next to the carb intake, so that it reduces pressure equally on both sides of the jet(s), it should not effect mixture.
I’m Danish and my first moped was a Velo Solex 4200 or 4600 can’t remember. I spend many hours shining it up to perfection . Sold it many years ago but this video makes me want to buy another velo solex 😂😂
Hi Musti, the Solex manufacturer where original French and made gasoline powered bicycles and carburetors for the VW beetle and other European brands. Super cool video thank you my first bike I worked on when I was a kid.
I can't believe you don't have 50 million viewers, If a person has any desire at all to learn, you show how to break down a project and figure out the unknowns ,in a way, everyone can understand, thank you for all the sharing, I have had so many times I wished I could figure a machine out and couldn't , Now I have no problem working on my home equipment and actually getting it to work again.
I am an a aussie I have been watching mustie repair small engines I learnt enough to be able to get an old mower that did not go going it works well I am still using it he is brilliant when it comes to fixing engines
After watching just one video I was a subscriber. I love this guy and all the stuff I've learned from him.
the carb is opened by a twist grip on the handlebar. The brake lever has a de-accelerator function for when you brake - so if keep the lever pulled it will always try to slow the motor down.
But very good work sorting out most of it. You have got further than most people do!
Motor sounds good.
That makes sense it seemed so counter intuitive
Remember, it's French.
Oui. You can even see the cable going from the carb to the front brake.
Makes sense, really - modern ebikes often have a brake cut-off switch as well!
Coffee, Mustie and a relic is a great start to every Sunday morning.
I was a dealer for Solex in the 70s, and I think I still got 2 unused tires for it. They got 105mpg back then
drive tyre is different and the wheel drive a corundum that will be needed to replace when it starts slipping 49 cc 105 is normal and it is more then 50 years old and french made
Ours got stolen in the 70s and my mom chased em.down
Else i can buy them here in the netherlands and ship them to you, np
@riccodelestaque7720and that's your contribution is it.🤦🏻♂️
He never said anything negative about French products.
You was the first person to suggest the idea.
Mustie was giving some background into the bike, nothing else.
It's a semi historic product, and not many people would know where it come from.
Solex, great bikes. these were verry popular in the Netherlands it was the first step to motorised transport for the first generations after second world war. Today there are racing events held with these. Like the 24 hours of Heeswijk held at 24-25-26 august 2023. the circuit going thou the a barn and a local café. Its bonkers but that is just the way they like it.
You can still rent them all over the place in the Netherlands.
@@samuraidriver4x4 Those Solex rentals are a pain. While bicycling, enjoying the fresh air in the countryside, there is indeed a chance that you're suddenly engulfed by a bunch of those noisy smelly Solexes, belching out a giant blue cloud of smelly smoke which will stay lingering over the road for the next half mile you'll be bicycling there.
It should be regarded as a crime against the environment, to ride those things in a group of more than 2 persons.
Good time restore this in time for WW3
@@fluffyblue4006 please go troll somewhere else with your environmental complaints.
@@fluffyblue4006 yes the typical sunday afternoon cyclist hates everyone but other cyclist. Oh thats you.
Had 4 solex over the years and must say they are the best, most reliable,easy to work on and all parts are still available new ❤👍👍👍👍😉 great vid
Ha un solex !! j'en ai eut plusieurs quand j'étais jeune , formidable machine souvenirs !!! salut de YVES FRANCE
This was my first moped when I was twelve, fiftyseven years ago. I parked in the neighbours yard, so my mum wouldn't find out. To start it, you pull the motor up, start pedaling until your speed is sufficient snd then you drop the engine on the front wheel. Works every time. Quirky, but genius, these Solexes! The factory was further renowned for building carburettors in all sizes.
Thank for sharing your cool story, the good old day haha. I got one that abandoned from my parents, sitting in the 2nd story in a 3-story house in Vietnam, in think it was around in the early 80s when I learned to ride a bicycle and I used one of these. I was told it used to have an engine but I never got to see how it worked. Just the bike alone was weight 2x than a regular bike and you could see from the thick body frame all around.
No you don't never drop the drive moving or running it scrubs the tyre!
The first Yamaha XS650 twin had two Solex Carburettors.
Trinidad & Tobago.
West Indies.
@@jostouw4366I think he just said that when the motor is off.
You pull a lever that lifts the motor off the tire. With it still off the tire you start peddling. Then you lower the motor onto the front wheel which is turning. The front wheel turning starts the engine.
I have a bike with a Berini m14. Same idea. Mine is from about 1950.
I bought my first moped in 1978 after moving to Brockville Ontario when I was 14. I used it to get to work washing dishes at the hotel/restaurant at the end of our service road in the country on the St. Lawrence seaway. I was too young to buy it so my older brother made the purchase with my tips from work when he came home from college.
I had one of these things a few years ago, was a barn find from 1969, few parts were missing, completed it and drove it for a while. You need to replace the fuel Pump, or at least overhaul it. New diaphragm, new fethers and new ventballs. Whenever the motor runs there must be a good flow of gas visible in the big line that runs back through the tank. With working fuel pump, clean carb and good spark it will run.
Mustie you are an automotive MAGICIAN !!! loving the content ...tks dude ...best wishes from England :-)
50 years ago I worked with a guy who had one of these, this is what he told me :) The motor was killed by an earthing tab when lifting it off the wheel. When he collected it from the dealer he was told to "just check that nothing has come loose when you have ridden it for a while". The next day before setting out to work he went around with a spanner and tightened everything up.... including the motor hinge bolts, the motor was in the engaged position and off he went, it was only when he wanted to stop for the first time he realised he could not lift the engine to stop it! It took him a while of riding around the neighborhood but he worked out that removing the plug lead would stop it.
The decompression valve is definitely the way you stop these engines. I had a Mobilette moped (also French) of around the same era and although it had a conventional twist throttle, if you twisted the throttle in the opposite direction it pulled another cable which operated the decompression valve.
LoL !!!
I remember reaching down to loosen the carb mix screw to slow down when the throttle stuck on my minibike. Also pulling the spark plug wire off and getting the you know what shocked out of me, but at least it slowed down to a stop. ben/ michigan
They called them a "Very Slow Legs" for a joke in South Africa😏
In the apocalyptic future where computers don't work.......wait a minute I get it .......we need to watch this about a hundred times now 😅
sur un solex le moteur est toujours accélère en actionnant le frein on réduit les gaz. Haute technologie française. Bonne continuation
I have two of them, one from France the other was made in Detroit. The wife and I go for rides around town all the time. Makes us feel like kids again. They are great conversations starters. Awesome video 👍✌️
your procrastination on the carb cleaning is very helpful in teaching people the signs and sounds of a dirty carb. Thank you for all the education and entertainment over the years. You have influenced mine and many others lives more then you could possibly know. Can not thank you enough.
Water is a real pain. No fun to deal with the results of flooding issues. Best of luck to you Darren and thank you for the content when your life has been turned upside down a bit. John here, from the back-roads of Northeastern Tennessee.
I rode those before, the later model with the auto clutch so you don't have to pull the engine up. the is a little toolbox in the back tire, the round front light is the older one, and later with the square front light. Mixed fuel with oil, and if you add too much oil, smoke like crazy. Still have two of them in my older brother's in southern France. Memory over half a century ago.
I have one like this from '67 and still working today !
Good morning Mustie you're Channel this morning doing the solex moped was very nostalgic for me my dad and I found two of them in the garbage in 1980 when I was 10 years old he told me if I get one running he would buy me tires which were Michelin tires back in the day for $20 a piece very awesome that you got it running sure brought back some awesome memories I drove my moped around harsens Island Michigan for 7 years and that moped never broke down
Good pictures of Steve McQueen riding round on one during the filming of Le Mans in 1971. Definitely improves the coolness factor. Great video as always, thank you Mustie.
I think Robert Redford also rode one of these in the 1975 spy movie Three Days of the Condor. It was his transportation for riding to work.
That's an amazing bit of innovative compact 'French' engineering. Kudos.
Being half French and at one time owning a Solex, it was always common practice to take off the exhaust and burn it to remove old oil and carbon build up fromtime to time.
I think for anybody more than 25% French it was mandatory to own a Velosolex. I am German and back in the mid 80s they were cool for a while even in Northern Germany.
Great job, it was cleaner on the inside than I thought it would have been. I wished you lived close, I have a 1958 Sears Mo-Ped I would like you to look at, I tried then gave up on it and put it in the barn, I don't want to get rid of it because of sentimental reasons, you inspire me to get it out again...
UPDATE: Well watching your videos and the steps you take I decided to get my Mo-Ped out of the barn and have another go at it, it turned out to be a 1957 model. After a couple days and waiting on a part, I got it running and for the first time in about 10+ years that I know of, I rode it several times up the road. Keep your videos coming, you enjoy fixing them as much as we enjoy watching them.....KEEP WRENCHING...
Nice to see you guys in the USA also like these things. A little protip: The shaft that is holding the carborundum stone expandes quicker than the carborundum itself. These things have a automatic clutch. The downside is that when you run the engine for a decent time while standing still with the engine on the tire, the clutch can get so hot, that de carborundum stone breaks. Therefore I always kill the engine when stopping for more then 10 seconds.
Sounds like you know what your talking about. Question for you. Is the engine on this 38cc's. Just watched a old video of a tear down on one and the piston looked a little large for 38cc's. They didn't give displacement. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks for clutch info, I didn't know about that.
@@blowupbob1Hi, I don't know the exact cc but most of these types of bikes are around 30 cc or so.
✌💜🇬🇧
@@lesallison9047 Thanks! Found another site that says this model is 38cc's. Trust the name I guess.
Had one of there in the early 80s in New Zealand used it for dirt riding the fun we had talk about bringing back memories I'd totally forgotten about it thanks for bringing back memories mustie
My buddy had one of those in 1968 or so... I was early teens back then and I wanted one soooo bad. I loved riding it. It brings back good memories. Thank you for what you do.
Now that was unexpected. A Velosolex in the USA, who would've thought? Nice One!!
A really interesting bike. Thanks for letting me be part of the learning how it works. Take care and God bless you and your family 🎉
Amazing kit, such a good idea with the throttle,
I'm thinking the "throttle" lever is actually a brake/de-throttle lever. In other words the motor is meant to run wide open and when you put the brake on it idles the motor down. Great video, thanks for the time putting it up.
I bought one in 1973 when the oil embargo started. Fun to ride, just start riding and slowly lower the engine onto the wheel and off you go. lots of fun. Wish I still had it.
This was THE icon of the early 1980s in Germany, the favourite of many secondary school students who could drive this vehicle from the age of 16 and later. In fact, it's a bycicle with this funny little engine on top of the front tyre. But it was cheap; fuel prices were not an issue (low - octane "Normalbenzin" was at, say, 1,10 DM /litre), so the students loved it. It was also an "alternative" means of transportation, Frenchie made, just as the Citroen 2CV, or "Ente" (Duck). Cheers from Germany!
This type reflects a whole class of twin - wheel vehicles called either "Mofa" (a contraction of "MOtorisiertes FAhrrad", or Bycicle w/Engine) or "Moped", like the one above. In fact, these vehicles were just bycicles with a reinforced frame and drum brakes with a two - stroke engine that was usually mounted right at the pivot point of the pedals, unlike the Velosolex!
Common makers in Germany were Kreidler, Zündapp, and Kettler. One model from East Germany, the Simson Schwalbe, is also petty popular even today, maybe because production has run out in the 90s.
Mofas / Mopeds have become rare on roads in Germany, having been replaced by so - called "scooters" long ago!
Cheers again!
You could even buy them as add on kits!
@@jostouw4366 Didn't know that, thanks!
Wow, unlocked memory! Friend had one of these when we were kids, used to ride it around his field. Good times!!
I have exactly the same one but fully restored. These things are fun to drive.
Very rare engine.....this engine makes 1,3 HP instead 0,7HP, the old one did.......thx for the vid
I love the stories in the comments about whatever Mustie is working on. I feel like that's what life is all about. To remember the good things in life and talk about them and smile.
the washer Material is phenolic. That's what it looks like to me. I watch these videos & are amazed by how you get everything running. The way you explain everything makes me feel more very knowledgeable on these issues too. Love the videos.
What a great video! I believe you can fix anything! I'm quite impressed.
Yes sir this is worth restoring and it looks like it will be a lot of fun thank you for sharing this six stars brother
In Germany these Velo Solex were classified as MOFA (motorized bicycle). This class is speed limited to 25 km/h and could be operated without license from the age of 15 years. These were the weakest MOFA but also the cheapest in the market (399.00 DM in 1975 or so). From observation I know that the French version was much faster, actually impressively fast. Fast here means top speed, acceleration was comparable with escargot climbing a wall.
This is a great video for me to enjoy as it brings back memories but also finally answers a bunch of questions that I wondered about back then.
Another wild and interesting bit of wrenching. I've seen older movies set in Europe that have had bikes like this in them.
I think the throttle works in reverse! At 50:56 in the video you can see the cable from the carb continuing downward to the front brake. When you're not pulling the lever, the tiny engine is running at full speed, when you pull on the lever, you close the throttle and apply the brake at the same time. And the decompressor is probably linked somehow, so that when you pull the lever fully, it stops the motor AND the bike. Trust the French to come up with a weird setup.
When you are riding through the countryside you don't need to grip the throttle. Think like a French person.
When you're riding a bicycle, you're used to squeezing the handlebar to apply the brakes and slow down. It makes perfect sense, and you can also drive it no-hands!
I guess the idea is that to brake, you pull both levers, brake and throttle, at the same time. It has a certain twisted logic to it. To "cruise", you let them both go and just steer. Confusing if you are used to a more conventional set up, but this thing was probably aimed at rural French cyclists who wanted motor assist, not "normal" motorcyclists.
Around here, we joke and say, "But, is it art?" When we finish up anything with wheels and a seat.
This could really be art if it's done right!
Thats it!
I had the same model many years ago. If you want to stop you had to pull both grips, to idle and for the front brake.
For longer stops you have
to lift the engine up. Loosen both grips means you feel the power of 0.5 horses. A little bit of additional peddling helps to lift off. 🙂
Mustie1, ur math/engineering/science and ur ability to adapt to making things go pop, or run is outstanding. good job Sir..
The earlier Solex's you pulled both levers to brake, it cuts the revs and the clutch idles.
Later models from the 80s the acceleration lever was also a front brake lever, pull the brake it stops, plus idles the engine.
Once you pedalled it to get you going and get the speed up a bit it will do around 30ish mph.
You have to pedal to get it started, pull the lever all the way in to decompress the engine, let it go once you have a bit of speed.
As far as I can remember the decompression lever was attached to the carb linkage,
lever all the way in, decompresses the engine, out for drive and anywhere in between to control your acceleration (which isn't much)
this was designed as a pedal assist bicycle, it just helped you to get along a bit easier.
every video you pute out i have thumbs up and have commented on .
That was the most enjoyable Mustie1 video in a while. Love it.
You continue to inspire us to attend to our "lost" projects in our garages and outbuildings!!!!!
A joy to ride 👍 I think I’ve had 8 of èm 😄
And yes it’s 38cc engine and I am yelling loudly at the screen 😂
It's a 49cc😊
@@AdamMGrubb1979 wow it is one of the wild ones 😄🤘
Thanks for all the hard work you put into these videos to make them great. Central California watching
Nice to see you work on a Solex!
the front brake is operated with the handle you called throttle, and is supposed to let the rpm drop to where the clutch lets go... so you can come to a stand still without the roller eating a big hole on your tire... :)
You can get everything for them.... over here... :P
Holy 🐮, 9th grade in '78? I was only 12, so I guess that means 5th grade. Finally, a UA-camr older than me lol 👴
Good morning all from Lincolnshire UK 🇬🇧
Is that near the Lake District where you live?
@@andyhamilton8940 it's been as wet as the lakes recently but no, I'm on the East side of the country the lakes are on the West. Home to the Red Arrows and the Magna Carta 😬
Defenaly made for great viewing bro. Cheers for letting us hang out while you wrenched on this, a good result too. Safe travels. Ken..
Ohhh, yes!!! This is the best! Love this, the best part of the whole week!!!
But, take your time. Relax for a bit, get your house in order. Everyone needs a break sometimes! Take care of yourself!
Sorry to hear about your basement flooding. Great little machine. Enjoyed
Had one, just like this one back in 1976. Fun, but a real tire shredder!
Glad to see that someone will send you tires, so you can go ahead.
I was in a friends workshop today & he has a VeloSolex 3800. I noticed he has 3 new spare tires and I also have a few spare tires BUT we are in Australia.
We got our tires from Vietnam, which is not surprising as they were a French colony so lots of VS's (& French cars) at one time.
Another thing you should check on - is that the wheels can rust badly, so be careful.
There is a VeloSolex model that can foldup called a PliSolex it has smaller wheels & was built to fit into the trunk of French cars.
Supposedly more than 7 million were made in over 57 countries. (???)
Today, we have Bird electric scooters. I was in France for part of the summer of 1967 and these were everywhere. The fuel was Solexine, 2 cycle.
Awesome job Darren, can’t wait to see you riding it ….
A friend of mine at college in France had one of these Solexes. Sometimes for fun, the game was to stop at a red light with the front wheel at the start of a white stripe of a pedestrian crossing, engine running and machine on the stand. Full throttle before the light turns green and jump the Solex off the stand. For 2 seconds, the engine roller screamed on the tire, the tire on the white stripe, guaranteed effect, how to make THE tire scream at launch with a Solex! 🤣Some pedestrians turned and grumbled, but most just laughed... 😆
Oh, man.... Does that bring back some memories of my young teenage years.... I had one of those in '75-'76.....😊
Had one of these as young. Late '83 it must have been. Was my first moped. Drived quite well, except if it was rainy weather. The the drive-wheel would just spin around without moving the bike forward. Being that time, there were some hacks for those to make them drive faster. The gas handle is correct, you needed to grab it to throttle down.
Nice to see that machine again. Like a peak in a time machine. :)
Cool little machine brought back to life.great job Mustie..sorry your having to deal with a flooded basement..nothing about sounds pleasant at all. Appreciate you sharing your day us.😊🇺🇸🛠️🔧🛵
These curios that you bring to your channel are super interesting, absorbing and entertaining. I hope your issues with the water/flooding get resolved. Best wishes from UK.
I bought one of those about ten years ago just for the fun of it. I'd remembered them being really popular in Switzerland back in the 70s. Mostly it seems with teenagers who rode them with abandon in amongst startled pedestrians. Mine had been imported to the UK from France and was registered for road use. Reaching over the handlebar to engage the engine was an experience 😂
Holy cow I have one I got from my father in law and I was thinking about fixing it up this year
Thank you so much for the trip down memory lane. My maternal grandfather back in Denmark had one of these in pristine condition when I has a kid in the early eighties. He never owned a car and usually got around on a bicycle. The Velo Solex was for when he was going out of town! ;o) I remember him putting a pillow on the luggage rack in the back and us riding around. His grounded out the spark plug to kill the engine. He hated going slow on it - claimed it ‘sooted up’ the engine. I believe flat out these would do about 30 km/h - ~20 mph. Oh, and I do vaguely remember him having to hold in the throttle to go slow, so it might be reversed, as you surmised. PLEASE try to get this back into working condition and take us for a ride on it.
When I was a kid in the early 80's, my neighbor had a mid
70's Honda Hobbit 50 that I would ride on occasion. It was fun for the time.
Thanks for another good one Mr. Mustie! What an interesting piece of machinery!
That thing is really neat I found one of those in a barn when I was a little kid I'm anxious to watch this one you're awesome Darren!!
another great video I love to see you get these old engines running. Keep it up and good luck with the cellar flood
Solexes along with Puch derived Sears Mopeds were popular when I was in JHS in the mid-late 50s. Motor was started by unhooking the lever in front of the handlebar and it would drop down onto the front wheel and the drive wheel would rotate the engine which would start and you would motor off. So you had to pedal a ways to get it up to 5-7mph before unlatching the motor.
I think the British inch-standard in fasteners you're thinking of is Whitworth or BSW. (British Standard Whitworth) BSF, (British Standard Fine) BSP, (British Standard Pipe) and other threads are variations on Whitworth. I learned about BSW in my younger years when my cousin's early Series II Land Rover experienced a steering tie rod end failure. My cousin had spare parts galore, but we needed a tap to clean up the threads on the rod. Tracking down a 3/8" left hand Whitworth thread tap in early 2000s Vancouver was a bit of an adventure!
The pillion rider would probably ride side saddle, hence the single footrest.
Rain YES Lots of Rain up here in Northwestern Vermont Too! It's all over everywhere! Hot muggy crap. I have brooks where there have never been brooks in the woods! Mud 6" deep around my barns! Getting really sick of the crap!!!!
These were very popular over in Europe (i like to think 50's 60's and early 70's) . Today we even have a Solex club , they do touring runs together. You can also rent them to make a tour.
My father in law bought one in 1954 France and he sure liked it. He didn't have a car and used to use a bicycle to go to work.
I bought a 1978 AMF Roadmaster Model 110 in the 1970s to ride to my car pool when it was not my day to drive.
It was rear wheel drive like the Solex. Sold it about 10 years ago for $100 needed a new drive stone that drove the rear tire.
Very simple engine with a plastic crank case.
woooow .... that must be extremely rare in the USA.
In the "low lands" in Europe (Holland, Belgium, great parts of France) this has been extremely popular.
Not usable on hills .... lol ... or you'll have to use the pedals to help the engine.
Tires are so called "balloon-tires" ...
In France and Holland it is still a kind of "cult-object".
Searching on French channels (use velosolex) you will for sure find many channels about this "bike" and how to set carb (was a PITA) and spark.
The early models had the wheel running all the time, so you had to lift the engine when stopping ... the later models had a kind of clutch. (a bit like in e "vario") So you could leave the engine "down" on the front wheel without wearing-out the rubber.
Max-speed around 25km/h ... in fact this is a bike with an "auxiliary engine" (like some bikes have nowadays, but using electricity)
Same in the flatter parts of Germany. My mom had a different brand and says she had to pedal half the time because the thing loved to break down. Eventually it met the same fate as most bicycles in that area, it was nicked.
Remember these all over France but specifically in the cities like Le Havre and Rouen. That was in the fifties and I instantly wanted one because they were cheap. Parents said no; they were not available so easily in the UK but the onion seller who came over to Southampton each week had one, handlebars festooned with pigtails of his wares. The Lambrettas were more available to us. Great to see one in the metal again. Best from the UK.
Hi ✌ from Rouen 😁
I'm probably wrong, but it looked like the throttle is linked to the front brake and that may be the reason for the backwards throttle setup.
Cool bike & think about it, the french were way ahead of there time with this.. People do it today with e bay bought engines on mountain bikes.. i got something along the same lines, 1967 Raleigh Wisp.
Imagine absolutely thousands of these, all black, on the boulevards of Paris, more of them than cars by a lot. There were frames in color supposedly but you never saw them. And the mobylette (usually blue-gray) was the next step up, being a proper chain drive but still with pedal starting, centrifugal clutch. And the corrugated Citroen vans ruled, now one of those would be a great Mustie project!
Darren sorry to hear about your basement flood problem. You should have torn down your Sump Pump as a Short!...
But we are all thinking of Hawaii and their troubles with flash fires.
Hope nothing of real value was ruined, and your neighbours are OK too.
Hutchinson Tyres 1 3/4 x 19 available in the UK
What is a Sunday without a great video from Mustie1!
Thanks!
HEY! Good morning everybody and thumbs UP to Mustie1 👍
That horn sounds exactly like my 1979 Peugeot 102 SP moped. So much fun!