Hang on, just wiping a tear from my eye! So enjoyed your video. First bike I owned when I turned 16, was a brand new, purple FS1E. I had to stare at it sitting in our garage for a month, until my 16th birthday and my first ride. I was a diehard Yamaha guy, I owned an RD125, followed after passing my test, by an RD250 and finally an RD400, all air cooled 2 strokes. That was more than 45 years ago, seems like yesterday. Wish I’d kept them all, I’ve just the photographs now. Happy days.
I had an rd250f, 350b and a 400f all air-cooled, I had two lc 250s and an lc 350 and a dt175mx on the road and 175dt mx on the track..... happier days 😊
I still love the styling of 1970's & early 80's bikes. In fact prefer the look over what came later. Performance, Handling & reliability is something else though
This takes me back to 1976 when I bought a brand new Suzuki AP50 at 16 years old. I got it because everyone else had a fizzy. It was a great bike and as my parents would allow me to have one I saved up and bought it myself. It cost me £225 brand new. How i survived I don’t know but I’m still going on bigger bikes at 63 I wouldn’t change anything other than keeping every single bike I’ve had, they’d be worth a fortune now
Andrew we are kindred spirits same age and same bike. Bought mine P registration for $225 pounds in Hayes outside London. Regularly did 50mph and put over 10,000miles on it. Sold it to a buddy’s girlfriend friend a year later so I could buy a Honda 175cc
Exactly the same as me , bought my AP50 in March 1976 just turned 16 , got it from Trevor Goodalls a Suzuki main dealer in Didcot Oxfordshire , had 2 months left at school then that boiling hot summer .....halcyon days indeed , i owned many bikes after that went through a race bike phase then a Harley phase now got a Yamaha T Max 500 best bike i'v ever owned .
Great vid. For me it was the Puch VZ50, they we're sort of nerdy but went well. The AP was great, very underated except to those more into the bike scene rather than fashion. Fizzys and SS tended to be owned by kids who's parents had bought them. The one everyone really wanted was either the Puch M50 or the Garelli X. Cheers brought back a few memories.
This takes me back. Around 46 years, to be precise, when I was a spotty 16 year-old. Never been into motorbikes (and my parents wouldn't allow it, anyway), but everyone lusted over an FS1-E. Occasionally, friends would let me ride their Yamahas. Another friend, who was tall and looked stupid on a FS1-E (his father was also quite well off) had a Fantic Caballero. This was a bit higher and more suitable for taller people. Ah, memories ....
I remember the Fantic caballero's some kids had them & ( at the time) they looked absolutely huge, with a tiny engine & a 6 speed box with an incredibly close ratio gearbox.
@@merlin5476 sound expensive don’t they Think this is why I waited a year and started on road on a 125, once the 30mph limit came in I couldn’t see the point. Oh and I didn’t have any money and poor parents so something like a Fantic at 16 would be a fantasy for me
It always seems strange to me that the fizzys make so much money these days .Yes there were loads of them but they weren’t very quick and didn’t even look like a motorbike ,with the motor canted a long way forward and no down tubes on the frames.The ap50 was quicker but looked even worse.I was 16 in 1978 & virtually everyone I knew bought July 77 or earlier derestricted Italian peds-fantic gt’s,ti’s,or caballeros.garelli tiger crosses,or the gilera trail 50.All looked like proper bikes and were way faster than a fizzy,with the exception of the gilera that was about the same.
As a 16 year old Brit in 1976, I can assure you that the AP-50 could achieve 63 mph. All you needed was a very steep hill, riding down it with a death wish, which was common behaviour for that age with first bike. 1997, place the Leaner plates on a 250cc and carry on. Sometimes I wonder how most of us survived, but it was a blast !!
Must be a very steep hill, never got near that on mine I have to say. My sons 50cc scooter could but was much modified it must be said. 60 would have felt bloody fast on one of those things mind
AP50's were generally quicker than fizzies due to the 5speed gearbox. I had both, and whilst the fizzie went around corners better, the AP was definitely quicker in a straight line. Unfortunately my AP ended it's life burrowed into the side of a brown Mk1 Ford escort. (Hence buying a fizzie).
Pushed a friends AP50 as hard as I could with a GT550. Could not get above 58 mph until he pulled his clutch in. Then managed over 80. The engine was just acting as a brake. I previously had an FS1E as my first bike, and I would say that the AP50 was a better bike than the FS1E, by a very small margin, in just about every department.
4:38 100 km/hr takes me back to the 70s after changed rear sprocket ratio. We used to get more torque from removing the head gasket, porting the exhaust, more head skimming and then switching to 4* fuel when head too much skimmed, or get hole burned in piston. Such fun
@@bikerdood1100 yes, going up hills and leaving all the other 50s behind, SS50s always were first left behind. After sooping up you had to change the sprockets to stop the engine screaming 15000 rpm in top
I had both an AP50 and a fizzie when I was 16. Both had pedals. I have never ever seen either the Zundapp or Kreidler bikes at all. However I did see quite a number of Fantic, Gilera and Puch machines. It's a shame they weren't included
@@keithquestedelectrical9785 well some one is because they aren’t mine . Well alert from the Yamaha at the beginning and end of the video and that was a full on 100ccs
The good thing about the FS1-E was the perfect location of the ignition key for other car drivers . If a kiddie racer on one pulled up next to you at the lights revving the engine and wanting to race , you could always reach out and switch the ignition off .
It was brutally hot that year Was in whales with my parents, you couldn’t walk bare foot on the sand Would have preferred to be buzzing around on your puch I think
16 years old in 1975, got my moped from Rumbelows in Hartlepool, it was a Casal. £200 and freedom, loads of us young lads had mopeds, Puch, Gilera, Suzuki etc. Great times.
I had a new yellow Honda SS50ZB in 77’ (around the £350 mark) it was 100% reliable and as you said fuel economy was out of this world, I had a 25mile round trip to work each day, never let me down once, I even took it green laning, trips to wales up to see friends, slipstreaming coaches on the A5 to Telford 🙈 then my brother-in-law took it off my hands and used it to commute to the Land Rover works for quite a few years, poor thing was crashed and bashed on a regular basis , it then lay in a shed for years before my sister gave it to the scrap man 🤦🏻♂️ I think the Reg was RUK767R or similar , happy days 😁
I'm nearly 62. My first road going bike was a Fizzy. It was pre registered so that it was a moped ie had pedals. If I'd waited until my 16th Birthday to buy it would have come without pedals but would have been restricted to 30mph. I wanted the earlier version which would do 52mph down a hill and keep up with my mates AP50.
When I got my SS50 in 1974 it was £210 and the FS1E was a little cheaper but an extra tenner for indicators. Those early gold ones were beautiful, 2 of the lads at school got them. Ours was the 1st year to have to stay on for a 5th year at school. The slightly younger one threatened to beat the other one up if he brought the Fizzie to school when he turned 16
We called them Fizzers. I left school in ‘74, and got a vacation job for the summer at the company where I was due to start my aircraft engineering apprenticeship in December. I had a nice Carlton Corsa race bike, so I caught the bus to the training school over the winter, and waited until I was 17 in the following May when I got a 1968 C50 (a ‘granddad bike’ according to my mates), thus bypassing the moped era and the extra costs. Many of those mates were paying off their Fizzers and SS50s for years on the never never, whereas I bought my C50 from a local evening paper advert, with the cash I’d saved from my summer job. And in a flat out race (over a straight mile with a long sweeping corner at the end), partially due to the mild tuning I did to the engine, I beat a lad on his Fizzer, for a bet - which the little creep refused to pay up! The whole world was a different place back then, and we were different people too. Ride safe
@Trafficsnitch. All along was under the impression under 17 you could not ride anything other than a moped 50cc or under and it had to have pedals! this was mid 1970s.
My mates had them all back in the 70's. I rode a Gilera 50 roadster. My 6ft 3" mate had an SS50 and looked ridiculous. But it was fun times screaming around flat out 😂😂😂
Had an FS1E, but always wanted the Gilera 50 trials. Surprised it didn't feature on here as I saw more of those than the German peds. The Gilera was simply beautiful.
My first and only brand new bike was a 1982 Honda mb5 . I've never seen any of the bikes featured in this video and I was surprised to see the liquid cooled one . I don't know why but I like these little bikes as much as I do the 125s or 250s . There aren't any small bikes besides the grom here in the states and all that means is fewer beginner riders which is a tragedy . I'm amazed that in all of your videos you say mph instead of kph . At any rate per the norm you've knocked another one out of the park . I very much enjoy watching the content you produce and I don't know how you find such pristine examples of the bikes that you feature . Excellent work ❤
40 years ago my first bike was a Honda MT5, I don't think it was available in the US, in the UK both models were restricted to 30MPH, I managed to tune mine up a bit so that it did around 45MPH. Last year I decided to buy a basket case of an MT5, I've rebuilt it and applied all my 2 stroke tuning 'know-how' just to see what I could get out of the bike. Even with my 13 stone sat on it I'm getting 55MPH out of it on the flat which I'm pleased with! (it has taken a lot of work to get this sort of speed out of it)
31 years ago my first bike was a W reg Honda MB5, every penny I got was thrown at her, before I turned 16 I had the standard cylinder bored out to the limit with paper thin walls. Up jetted, bean can micron and K&N, she would sit under 50 on the very bouncy speedo. That lasted a month and the crank bearing collapsed. Chucked a 2nd hand engine in her ( £25 ) from the local bike breakers that came with a proper 65 kit. Different animal now with a proper power band, this lasted me for months until a car pulled out on me and I went superman. Next was the MT5, dropped a H100 engine in with all the 50s electrics. Honestly don’t know how many times I flipped her. These were some of the best days of my life, still got the knee scars to prove it.
No the MT 5 was never available in the states to my knowledge . And it's so sad your bikes were restricted to 30mph . My MB would do 55 mph from the factory 60 if I laid down and the wind was to my back . Back then our interstate system had a 55mph limit rather than today's 70mph . I took that bike as far as 200 miles away from home in all directions. And I too still have scars on my knees from practicing stopping fast . One time I pulled the front brake a little to hard and she washed out . I put a smaller back sprocket on it after I wore the original one out and top speed was 60 to 65 mph with a slower take off . Such fond memories. Thanks for sharing yours with me . Todays temp is supposed to reach 70° farenhight. I definitely need to put a few miles on my 750 aero to keep the battery charged . No plans on laying it down 😆
@@charliepatterson9321 I have always felt that 45 to 50 mph is an absolute minimum. 30 is just plain dangerous and was definitely the concept of a non biker
My first ride on a motorcycle was my grandads Raleigh Runabout in 1968. Then I bought a Honda 50 later that year. It was one year old and cost 60 quid. They were 100 quid brand new.
A trip to Holland in the 1970s made me crave a Kreidler or Zundapp. Unrestricted they were genuinely quick, and in racing trim could do over 100mph. There's at least one more episode where you could feature Italian, French and Eastern European super mopeds.
I had an ex race bike , a Ducati 50 SL2 that had been registered as a moped . Piston ported cylinder , Boranni alloy rims , Dunlop trigonic race tyres full expansion chamber and 6v battery lights . Capable of nearly 90 mph .
@@georgerobartes2008 sounds great, but how long did it last? Or rather, eat pistons and conrods... What I can recall, Italian bikes did not often have an air cleaner on, toe curling...
@@paulh.5691The engine featured in Cesare Bossaglias book '2 Stroke High Performance Tuning' of 1968 for its design features along with the Parilla kart engines he designed . The engine had a cylinder with hard chrome bore which lasted indefinitely , but had standard spares of course . Modifying standard cylinders to race spec meant a trip to the local friendly dentist ( friends Dad) to use his drill . The pistons were fitted with ' Dyke ' L section rings ,seals etc., and were readily available mail order from Mick Walker Motorcycles in Cambridgeshire after the dealer in Walthamstow dried up . The use of castor oil in the premix was a must back then as no synthetics were available . No crank issues whatsoever as it never ran a flywheel to load out the bearings , just a balance and ignition trigger with battery CD ignition . I had been building racing engines for some time before I could legally ride in the UK so had the kit to modify this and other engines etc. , plus I used school equipment during Metalwork later Technology classes to split cranks , O ring cylinder heads and machine up parts as needed . Your correct , the carburettor was a 20 mm Dellorto with horizontal throttle body , vertical float chamber and a simple ram pipe , tuned to length . The bike was slow compared to GP bikes by Honda , Suzuki and Kriedler in the early/ mid 70s , and peaky with poor acceleration but amazing handling and grip made up for this as bends could be taken much faster than anything else on the road and great fun .
I had the SS50 Honda, gutless as you like but I later found out they were actually restricted by the use of a long throttle slide- when you thought it was fully open it was actually only 3/4s 😬 all you had to do was cut off the excess (there was a groove round the slide to guide) et voila you could keep up with the 2 strokes. If only I'd know at the time...
Ah. FS1E...I can smell it just by looking at it. Many a fantastic days riding. And mine was in purple. I had purple go fast stripes painted on my crash helmet. 😊 Good days. 😊
Brought back memories when I got my new Fizzie in 77, pre-restricted. I can remember riding it all day until midnight, then rode home and sat in the garage with it, I loved it. A mate got a Casal, a Portuguese make, it looked hideous, sounded dreadful and wasn't a cool bike. Another mate got a Fantic Supersix, that was very cool and would do about 60mph.
My one and only moped was a 1972 Puch, pressed steel frame, pedals, 2 gallon tank, 55mph, scooter type on the bars gear change,. wheelie at traffic lights if you sat too far back on the seat, 90 mpg pump mix, lot of smoke, did not go long before exhaust blocking. Had it for 6 months then Honda CB125 for test, then Suzuki T500 with drum brakes. (My fastest lap of IOM, 1977, T500, standard road bike, open road, 37 mins. Impossible now due to extended speed limits)
My first bike was a brand new Suzuki X1 in 1982, it cost £360 from Rafferty Newmans in Fareham, number plate was KOT18Y. I managed 55mph downhill once after changing the gearbox sprocket from 11 teeth to 14, bolting aMicron expansion chamber and a bit of fettling with the ports. My mates had AP50’s and they were capable of up to 60mph without any modifications! Happy days of youth!
Without any warning the UK abruptly raised the motorcycle licensing age from 16 to 17 around Christmastime in the1970s. Before the change you could get your bike provisional license at 16 and ride anything up to 250cc with a provisional license. (That's how I started -- a gutless 125cc 'Bantam'.) After the change you had a lot of demand for 'mopeds' that were really highly tuned 50cc bikes that turned out a respectable 6-8 bhp through a five of six speed box. Clouds of the things -- they became quite a menace. (FWIW when our daughter started riding in the US we found that once she'd passed an off road basic skills course and a theory exam she could get a provisional license at 15 and a half -- with no capacity limit. She actually started on my old V50 Guzzi before 'borrowing' my SV650. You don't have to try so hard on a bigger bike so they're a lot safer.)
I was caught out by this, my mate got his bike licence on his 16th birthday in October, by my 16th in December the same year I could only have a moped. He had a James 150 and a Greaves 250 trials bike and I could only have a Puch and a Honda PC50. It didn’t stop me riding his bikes on occasions though, off the public highway of course.
I had an AP50, back in 78/79, what I liked about the AP50 was it felt more like a proper bike, to me the FS1E and SS50 felt like sitting astride a garden gate. I fitted a recon crank after one of the main bearings spun - a common problem I believe, fixed on the replacement crank by a knurl where the bearings are pressed on.
I had the rare ouch grand prix in jps black & gold, alloy wheels and front disc brake It was a cool moped back in the day 😀😀 On a holiday trip to Wales some 120 miles I ripped up my mates fizzies, Ap 50 s etc Great times
I could only afford a 4 speed SS50, but the bike that always impressed me was the Suzuki AP50. It must have made an impression because I went on to own several bigger suzuki's since.
I later choices of bikes are often inspired that way. I had a book as a young guy with a Guzzi lemans in it, I’ve spent most of my life on Guzzi’s as a result
I was given my father’s 5 gear SS50 for my 16th birthday. Yes, it was slower than all the unrestricted 2 stroke mopeds, but it ran like a sewing machine and never once let me down despite being relegated to my winter bike after passing my test and using my savings to by an RD200. Got dropped several times and the only part that actually failed was the clutch lever.
@@NotALot-xm6gz well the Honda was built with economical reliable running in mind. I think without a doubt the most important thing I’ve learned in the decades of riding is that it’s much better to stay onboard the thing. And falling of really hurts Oh and it’s expensive to repair them sometimes
I found my younger brother's 5 sp SS50 was perfect for winter riding, while my Triumph cafe racer was laid up in the warm & dry. Especially on those icy roads where you slid down the camber and rode in the gutter. The cool kids at senior school rode the Garelli 50 GT.
I had a Puch Gran Prix Special in Black in 75, after a while the piston and barrel fell off! So I had to find slightly bigger ones, a expansion exhaust, new jets and taller sprocket!! It would easily leave the others behind. Great fun.
Great memories , I had a Honda SS50 5 speed with the disc brake in yellow brand new in 1976 , just about killed it in a year , a friend helped strip it down to have a rebore done at Mores in Hemel Hempstead . Probably the most miles I’ve put on a 2 wheeler in all the years I’ve been riding in a year somewhere between 6 and 7000 miles . I paid around £250 on the road all my savings, paper rounds , washing cars and other jobs but still think that was one of my favourite years racing around with friends .
Great video - my teenage years. It would be great if you do another with the mopeds we (in Bristol) were mainly screaming around on mid 70s.: Garelli Rekords and Tiger Crosses, Puchs, Gileras and Fantics. Cheers.
Agree that the Yam and Honda were classics. Kreidlers were rare, Zundapps even rarer, and Suzuki were too late to the party. Other classic peds included Fantics, Garelli Rekords, Malagutis, Gileras, Puch M50s, and my own Casal K190.
Wow, good times! I had a Fizz, a Gilera, a Garelli Tiger Cross and a Honda SS50 five speed, my birthday was the latest in our "gang" so I was the last to be 17 and I bought their mopeds when they all went for the brand new Superdreams. Now I own a 1980 SOHC CB650 Custom, an 82 SOHC CB650 Nighthawk, a 92 750 Zephyr and a 2001 Royal Enfield 500 Bullet which I can no longer bloody start as its kick start only and I'm knackered.
Great video. Great history lesson. As an American, mopeds were not nearly as popular. Mostly owned by rich kids. Puch had a very strong following here. I guess I blame my brother and his GS750 for never pursuing getting one for myself at 15. He would have humiliated me. So I got a little Honda XR50 dirt bike instead. Good times!
I had a Yamaha DT50 in 1984 it was restricted to 30 mph on the flat and maybe 35 mph down hill. I'd only had the bike a few days, it was smart looking ,I was riding around as proud as a peacock when someone on a knackered FSE with pedals flew past me,I felt humiliated.From then on I was on a mission to get more performance ! I eventually found out that a replacement gearbox sprocket with 2 extra teeth did the trick.I was soon doing 50mph all day long.
Was given a blue AP50 for my 16th birthday in 1976. Living in a rural area it changed my life and I had some great times riding it. Had a friend with an FS1E and we used to race each other - it was close but the Suzuki always won on the open road as it had 5 gears and the option of changing down to 4th for extra revs always gave it the edge. Top speed 60mph (downhill on the A1 in the summer of '77!)
@@dereksmith6126 Was it restricted to 30? A lad I knew had a yellow one but only did 30 so even my slow SS50 was faster. UK gov killed new super mopeds but there were plenty of used (but thrashed) bikes around.
@@MrSlaphead1960 No it wasn't. A lot of dealers registered non restricted models before the deadline. It cost £300, which if you'd known, buy 50 of them!
@@dereksmith6126 Yes I should have known that. maybe i just forgot, Memory isn,t so good these days. 300 quid sounds good for a brand new unrestricted bike. also I assume would be worth more used
I was'nt into motorbikes back then, but remember some of my m8's screwing their fizzy's all day long lol. i recently checked a few out just for the interest and couldnt believe the prices as you say
The CB125 had a good riding position, I still have my 1978 CB that I bought in '79. its not been out of the garage since early 80s. engine is on the shelf following a rebuild (Kickstart Failed). getting dragged out in the next few weeks, assembled and sadly sold (Downsizing)
I started off with a new Gilera 50 Trials but would rarely start as it obviously had rubbish Italian electrics. Traded it in for a blue AP50, though would have preferred the rarer red one. It was in a different league sophistication wise. My many mates had a mixture of Gilera Enduro, SS50, SS50 5 speed, FS1-E, Puch Grand Prix, a couple of Fantics including the quick Caballero, a Malaguti, NSU Quickly, Puch Maxi, Garelli Tiger and the reputed fastest of them all I was informed at the time, a Casal ! Looks like every manufacture and their dog was into making a fast moped in the mid 1970s.
@@bikerdood1100 Not just the number of manufacturers, but the plethora of shops selling them. Many were bicycle shops and one in my local town of Chesham was a fishing tackle shop !
@@bikerdood1100 I think a Polish student at Hemel Hempstead's Dacorum College had a Tomos. First one I'd ever seen. I'm not aware of Woolworths selling them, so that's a new one on me.
We had honda ss50 in the 70 s when one day the throttle cable brake .my dad and brother changed it out themselves but they made a mistake on the adjustment on carb it was on full throttle so when they tried to ride on the road me open the throttel on twist and jumped from under him and launched its self on to a hegde still running they ran fast to turn it off and get it off the hegde it was adjusted to idle at the carb .after that worked as it should .that day i had good laugh
Where's the Garelli Tiger cross, or The Garelli Rekord 🙀🙀 Doesn't that Zundapp look like a Mini Honda Super dream . Still good memories of my youth . 😀👍
Dutchman here. I had a late model KS50. (Still produced by Zündapp, not the Chinese company) Metallic green, but with a hand operated shifter which sucked, because when riding in city traffic my hand would hurt pretty quick because of al the shifting. Other than that i loved that bike, although i think the Honda MB and MT were probably better. In the Netherlands a lot of kids rode both the Zündapp or the Kreidler bikes, the girls were often riding Puch Maxi.
Just look at that FS1E in purple - it doesnt get better than that. It was a mini motorbike, perfectly designed in detail and the colour just stunning, the gold was great as well but purple was what I had brand new from Eddy's motorcycles Kirkstall Road Leeds, £212 on HP which my father guarenteed. No other moped came close, maybe some faster eg Garelli but the FS1E was absolute class. The Honda SS50 was a real wheeze bag and didnt sound a patch on the Yamaha
Can remember being at school in the 80's. The Fizzy' was the bike of choice (if you could afford one). After school there was the 3 oclock 'scream' as they all went out the parking area flat chat.... 🤣🤣
@@bikerdood1100 I had to wait too!. Ended up with a BSA Bantam D3 150cc non runner for 80 quid that Dad and I 'rebuilt'. Still have it, although in pieces awaiting a proper resto!. 🤣 Great bike to learn on.
I had the Honda SS50z back in the day, I didn’t want to be the same as everyone else with the FS1e. Only problem I ever had was the metal spar plug cap, in wet weather the rain got inside and the spark was lost. Soon changed that for rubber and off I went. Mum went mad when I bought a leather motorbike jacket for £60 (most lads road in their Harrington jackets) but liked it after I got knocked off the bike by a car, just a few scratches to the leather none on me lol
Always had a soft spot for the quirky Suzuki 125 Stinger in acidic green particularly, could you do a similar comparison with 125s of the period (Honda CB125s etc)
A second video needed.... let's get the Puch Gand Prix black with gold decals .. hell it even had a rev counter your mates really knew you'd arrived when you rocked up on that .... the Fantic chopper and the Garelli need a mention too ..
Beautiful mopeds I must say. We had here in the 70ties in Amsterdam a Kreidler shop with the latest model on a turning plateau with spotlights on it. In that time it wil cost about 2500 guilders.
I bought a fs 50 in mint condition in 1985 for 30 south african rands, i took it home stripped all lights, chrome off and rode it on the farm till it became landfil😂😂 wish i had kept it in a box
Bought my brand new fizzie from daytona bikes in ruislip for £200..finished up at 19 owning a suzuki gt750 kettle which was given to steve parrish (barry sheenes pal) to use by suzuki gb
Oh we know of Mr Parrish. Did a speaking tour recently that we went to. Very entertaining. Always liked the kettle, looked so modern with its water cooling when I was young
I was 16 in 1974, desperate to get on mechanised 2 wheels. I have to say that I never saw a Zundapp or a Kreidler, the three main contenders were the fizzy yam, Suzuki ap50 and the Honda ss50. There were a few others, Garelli, Gilera and the occasional Fantic Custom, a 50cc chopper, but never Zundapp or Kreidler. Maybe it's a geographical thing?
Had the AP 50 first bike saved for 6 weeks on £25 a week gov scheme without going out or spending a penny ,paid £150 second hand ,loved it out with all my mates on fizzie's ,and SS50 56mph flat out LOL till big end went 5 weeks later GUTTED
Gawd,that cretinous 'slowped' law of 1977! I had a...erm,Puch VZ50 which wouldn't have needed any detuning to comply! It did,however,feature a twistgrip gear change I grew to like! 😊
lol at 62 years age i am still in love with the Fs1 of my youth. compared to the competition it was in a league of its own in many ways it is still something i meassure mechanical things up against. ahh and the girls ocupying the rearseating ... oh youth had i only known how fast you would be gone ;-)
In 1975 I was 16 and needed some wheels for work, I wanted a four stroke SS50 but I saddled myself with a dreadful Gilera 50 🤢 it didn’t put me off biking tho’ 🙂
Most surprised not to see any Italian 'peds in the list . They were the most common around where I lived . Fantics being the number one make ( a moped chopper anyone ? ) then Garelli . Got beat by a Fantic GT on the Ewell bypass whilst riding my KH250 , it desperately needed a decoke . Happy days .
Ah the memories...just wondered if any of u guys remember the bike i had. A bright red & white, italian Malaguti 50 to learn on. I thought it looked so cool and felt just like a big boys bike, and NO pedals. They were definitely not cool at the time. I think i got about 40 odd miles per hr out if it. Then progressed to a red Kawasaki KL 250 trial bike on L plates. Was allowed in those days.. Easily achieved 70mph plus on that, with 2 up. The pillion passenger told me he had a full bike licence so was technically allowed.( But later found out he lied!)
@@bikerdood1100 Told me ole Ma, "I needed it to get to my job as a "kitchen porter", ahem! .. So she stumped up the shekels to pay for it. If I remember, I'm almost sure I got fired from that job just before I took delivery!...
I had what must now be a very rare bike. It was a red Malagutti Olympique. It was always a bit faster than my mates fizzie and susuki. I remember them seizing their engines trying to keep up.
I had a Honda SS50 back in 1974 (I was 16) I remember it was so frustrating to ride with it's tiny 2.5bhp, all my mates went out and bought the Garelli Tiger Cross, now that felt like a 125 compared to the Honda, I think they were around 6.5bhp? awesome power band but ultimately very unreliable, I would have swapped in a heart beat though 😃pity the Garelli wasn't featured here, I would have loved to hear the sound again, that howling induction 🤩 I still ride now, 49 yrs on, I have just bought a new Kawasaki Versys 1000.
Did you know the 4 speed was factory restricted? All we had to do was cut off the excess at the top of the throttle slide to nearly double the power! I only found out after I'd moved on ☹️
Enjoyed that thanks for taking the time to put it together. The FS1E was the one to have amongst 16 year old daredevils with more daring than skill at that time, saw a good number of them crashed beyond repair.A friend of mine had a Garelli Tiger Cross which was a lovely looking little cycle and an object of envy.
s@@bikerdood1100 That's why I watched your vid but never mind. I had a couple of Garelli Tiger Cross' in yellow/black ( to N and a few P plates available) also an Agrati Garelli (available to R plate 1977) in black & red. Faster than all the rest until the RD50 came out & some lads derestricted them.
My first " bike" as a 16 year old in 1976 was a brand new yellow Yamaha FS1 DX, almost 50mph downhill flat on the tank with my feet on the back pegs.lol...the start of nearly 40 years of biking for me on a variety of off and on road to sports bikes ,from yamaha,kawasaki,honda and suzuki...from 50cc to 1000cc..loved every minute of every bike...rain or shine...lovin your nostalgic videos mate 😊👍👍👍
Hi, I started out life on a FS1E. The unrestricted version with the folding pedals. You could actually with a bit of effort pedal the bike short distances. As for a follow up video I would like to see one about the 50cc moped/bikes that followed these. Like the Honda MB50 and Kawasaki AE/AR 50 bikes.
Great memories, I got a 4 speed Honda SS50 on my 16th birthday. It was cheaper than a Fizzy, £225 new! I ran it all week for £1. The good old days. I was always overtaken by the two stroke peds, though. I never remember seeing the German ones, but remember the Fantics, they were quick. I love to see classic bikes, but I wouldn't spend the money on a moped, I'm not as skinny as I was at 16 now. I'm nearly 63. My smallest bike is my DT3 250, I can take it on the motorway, unlike the peds.
@@bikerdood1100 The Italian 50,s were quite popular during 70's Fantics used Motori Minarelli engine as did quite a few Italian 50's and were faster than the Fs1e and AP 50 . The other popular moped was garelli tiger cross/ reckord they used their own engine , lot faster than Fs1e , I had garelli reckord at 16 (quick but fragile ) That ridicules law for sixteen'r mopeds being able to be propelled by pedals , government expected they would all be pedal n pop mopeds , didn't foresee these fast 50cc motor bikes with token pedals (try peddling them lol )
@@bikerdood1100 Perhaps include the much coveted (By me anyway) Puch Grand Prix Special in the JPS black & gold livery. I never got to see one in the flesh as they were like hen's teeth in the UK. Have to say that I did love my 4 speed SS50 though...
Hang on, just wiping a tear from my eye! So enjoyed your video. First bike I owned when I turned 16, was a brand new, purple FS1E. I had to stare at it sitting in our garage for a month, until my 16th birthday and my first ride. I was a diehard Yamaha guy, I owned an RD125, followed after passing my test, by an RD250 and finally an RD400, all air cooled 2 strokes. That was more than 45 years ago, seems like yesterday. Wish I’d kept them all, I’ve just the photographs now. Happy days.
Very glad you enjoyed it
Had a Suzuki 125 T 20.
Lot of fun.
1973
Netherlands
@@petergerritgroen3157 My best friend had a Suzuki 125 T20 My RD125 and his Suzuki 125 T20 were great bikes.
I had an rd250f, 350b and a 400f all air-cooled, I had two lc 250s and an lc 350 and a dt175mx on the road and 175dt mx on the track..... happier days 😊
I still love the styling of 1970's & early 80's bikes. In fact prefer the look over what came later. Performance, Handling & reliability is something else though
This takes me back to 1976 when I bought a brand new Suzuki AP50 at 16 years old. I got it because everyone else had a fizzy. It was a great bike and as my parents would allow me to have one I saved up and bought it myself. It cost me £225 brand new. How i survived I don’t know but I’m still going on bigger bikes at 63 I wouldn’t change anything other than keeping every single bike I’ve had, they’d be worth a fortune now
The AP was the bike to go for if you didn’t want to follow the Hurd it seems
Andrew we are kindred spirits same age and same bike. Bought mine P registration for $225 pounds in Hayes outside London. Regularly did 50mph and put over 10,000miles on it. Sold it to a buddy’s girlfriend friend a year later so I could buy a Honda 175cc
Exactly the same as me , bought my AP50 in March 1976 just turned 16 , got it from Trevor Goodalls a Suzuki main dealer in Didcot Oxfordshire , had 2 months left at school then that boiling hot summer .....halcyon days indeed , i owned many bikes after that went through a race bike phase then a Harley phase now got a Yamaha T Max 500 best bike i'v ever owned .
I had an FSID like the Yellow one, and always wondered what the Suzi was like and now I am 63 !
I had a purple fs1e in 1976. Loved it. Kept it for 2 years. Wish I still had it, just loved buzzing around on it in good weather.
Great vid. For me it was the Puch VZ50, they we're sort of nerdy but went well. The AP was great, very underated except to those more into the bike scene rather than fashion. Fizzys and SS tended to be owned by kids who's parents had bought them. The one everyone really wanted was either the Puch M50 or the Garelli X. Cheers brought back a few memories.
Glad you enjoyed it
This takes me back. Around 46 years, to be precise, when I was a spotty 16 year-old. Never been into motorbikes (and my parents wouldn't allow it, anyway), but everyone lusted over an FS1-E. Occasionally, friends would let me ride their Yamahas. Another friend, who was tall and looked stupid on a FS1-E (his father was also quite well off) had a Fantic Caballero. This was a bit higher and more suitable for taller people. Ah, memories ....
Need a second video I think
I remember the Fantic caballero's some kids had them & ( at the time) they looked absolutely huge, with a tiny engine & a 6 speed box with an incredibly close ratio gearbox.
@@merlin5476 sound expensive don’t they
Think this is why I waited a year and started on road on a 125, once the 30mph limit came in I couldn’t see the point.
Oh and I didn’t have any money and poor parents so something like a Fantic at 16 would be a fantasy for me
It always seems strange to me that the fizzys make so much money these days .Yes there were loads of them but they weren’t very quick and didn’t even look like a motorbike ,with the motor canted a long way forward and no down tubes on the frames.The ap50 was quicker but looked even worse.I was 16 in 1978 & virtually everyone I knew bought July 77 or earlier derestricted Italian peds-fantic gt’s,ti’s,or caballeros.garelli tiger crosses,or the gilera trail 50.All looked like proper bikes and were way faster than a fizzy,with the exception of the gilera that was about the same.
@@johnb5352 don’t ask me to explain it. Totally mysterious when you can pick up a Triumph Bonnie or a Suzuki GS 550 for less money 🤷🏼
As a 16 year old Brit in 1976, I can assure you that the AP-50 could achieve 63 mph. All you needed was a very steep hill, riding down it with a death wish, which was common behaviour for that age with first bike. 1997, place the Leaner plates on a 250cc and carry on. Sometimes I wonder how most of us survived, but it was a blast !!
1997 ?
Must be a very steep hill, never got near that on mine I have to say. My sons 50cc scooter could but was much modified it must be said. 60 would have felt bloody fast on one of those things mind
@@elizabethcanavan3755 Correction 1977; Punk, Fleetwood Mac, Meatloaf, beautiful young girls ............
AP50's were generally quicker than fizzies due to the 5speed gearbox. I had both, and whilst the fizzie went around corners better, the AP was definitely quicker in a straight line. Unfortunately my AP ended it's life burrowed into the side of a brown Mk1 Ford escort. (Hence buying a fizzie).
Pushed a friends AP50 as hard as I could with a GT550. Could not get above 58 mph until he pulled his clutch in. Then managed over 80. The engine was just acting as a brake. I previously had an FS1E as my first bike, and I would say that the AP50 was a better bike than the FS1E, by a very small margin, in just about every department.
4:38 100 km/hr takes me back to the 70s after changed rear sprocket ratio. We used to get more torque from removing the head gasket, porting the exhaust, more head skimming and then switching to 4* fuel when head too much skimmed, or get hole burned in piston. Such fun
A lot can be achieved on the right hill
@@bikerdood1100 yes, going up hills and leaving all the other 50s behind, SS50s always were first left behind. After sooping up you had to change the sprockets to stop the engine screaming 15000 rpm in top
The Zündapp KS 50 or the Kreidler Florett 50 were the dream of my youth. Especially the Kreidler was known for easy "performance upgrades". 😊
If imagine they are pretty rare now
beautiful I love 💘 it when I see it I feel happy God bless you ,,,,,you made things wonderful
Glad you enjoyed it
Glad you enjoyed it
I had both an AP50 and a fizzie when I was 16. Both had pedals. I have never ever seen either the Zundapp or Kreidler bikes at all. However I did see quite a number of Fantic, Gilera and Puch machines. It's a shame they weren't included
Well leaves me room for next time 😉
Yes, Puch made some interesting mopeds.
Yes agreed. Never saw either but did see those you mentioned. Garelli & Casal were two others I recall
I had a motebecane in 1973
My first bike was a Gillera 50 give to me by my uncle. In part 2 don't forget MZ Simpson.
Hi
Enjoyed your video
Had a ss50 in 74 and in the gang we had several fs1e and a puch maxi
16 and free fantastic
Memories
@@bikerdood1100
Definitely luckily all good ones
@@keithquestedelectrical9785 well some one is because they aren’t mine . Well alert from the Yamaha at the beginning and end of the video and that was a full on 100ccs
I had the Garelli Tiger Cross
Would out perform the FS1E all day.
Loved it in 1973-4
Tiger cross is getting a lot of mentions, I need to check them out
I had a mate in the 70s who could bump start his tiger cross backwards, was funny seeing him shoot away backwards. Never went far tho 😉
The good thing about the FS1-E was the perfect location of the ignition key for other car drivers . If a kiddie racer on one pulled up next to you at the lights revving the engine and wanting to race , you could always reach out and switch the ignition off .
Another reason to hate cars then
I had a brand new Puch M50 GP back in 1976. What a wonderful way to enjoy the long, hot summer!
It was brutally hot that year
Was in whales with my parents, you couldn’t walk bare foot on the sand
Would have preferred to be buzzing around on your puch I think
Me and you both mate.
Snap re the year and the Puch…except I spent the summer paying for it working in a poultry processing factory ..ugggh!
@@kentonnur nice
What fun
16 years old in 1975, got my moped from Rumbelows in Hartlepool, it was a Casal. £200 and freedom, loads of us young lads had mopeds, Puch, Gilera, Suzuki etc. Great times.
Rumbelows what a bizarre place to get a moped. I got my first fridge from there.
Like the Tomos and Bondbugs at Woolies
I had a new yellow Honda SS50ZB in 77’ (around the £350 mark) it was 100% reliable and as you said fuel economy was out of this world, I had a 25mile round trip to work each day, never let me down once, I even took it green laning, trips to wales up to see friends, slipstreaming coaches on the A5 to Telford 🙈 then my brother-in-law took it off my hands and used it to commute to the Land Rover works for quite a few years, poor thing was crashed and bashed on a regular basis , it then lay in a shed for years before my sister gave it to the scrap man 🤦🏻♂️ I think the Reg was RUK767R or similar , happy days 😁
Think of its value today if you hadn’t scrapped it, sounds like it was used to do what it was designed for though
I had a 1976 KTM Comet Cross in gold. Don't see any about today sadly. It produced a whopping 3 bhp. I had to hang on for my dear life !!
In Yorkshire too, bet hills were a tonne of fun
Well down bank at least
Thank you for that wonderful trip down memory lane. Oh to be young again.
Glad you enjoyed it
Very fun video to watch, unbelievable the price they sell for today.
Isn’t it though
I'm nearly 62. My first road going bike was a Fizzy. It was pre registered so that it was a moped ie had pedals. If I'd waited until my 16th Birthday to buy it would have come without pedals but would have been restricted to 30mph. I wanted the earlier version which would do 52mph down a hill and keep up with my mates AP50.
Definitely worth Getting early bike
I'm the same age, and have no regrets about buying a Fizzy, they were, and still are iconic
When I got my SS50 in 1974 it was £210 and the FS1E was a little cheaper but an extra tenner for indicators.
Those early gold ones were beautiful, 2 of the lads at school got them.
Ours was the 1st year to have to stay on for a 5th year at school.
The slightly younger one threatened to beat the other one up if he brought the Fizzie to school when he turned 16
We called them Fizzers. I left school in ‘74, and got a vacation job for the summer at the company where I was due to start my aircraft engineering apprenticeship in December. I had a nice Carlton Corsa race bike, so I caught the bus to the training school over the winter, and waited until I was 17 in the following May when I got a 1968 C50 (a ‘granddad bike’ according to my mates), thus bypassing the moped era and the extra costs.
Many of those mates were paying off their Fizzers and SS50s for years on the never never, whereas I bought my C50 from a local evening paper advert, with the cash I’d saved from my summer job.
And in a flat out race (over a straight mile with a long sweeping corner at the end), partially due to the mild tuning I did to the engine, I beat a lad on his Fizzer, for a bet - which the little creep refused to pay up!
The whole world was a different place back then, and we were different people too.
Ride safe
@Trafficsnitch. All along was under the impression under 17 you could not ride anything other than a moped 50cc or under and it had to have pedals! this was mid 1970s.
My mates had them all back in the 70's. I rode a Gilera 50 roadster. My 6ft 3" mate had an SS50 and looked ridiculous. But it was fun times screaming around flat out 😂😂😂
Don’t think the designers would have had someone of your size in mind when they developing their mopeds
Had an FS1E, but always wanted the Gilera 50 trials. Surprised it didn't feature on here as I saw more of those than the German peds. The Gilera was simply beautiful.
All in good time
@@overlandworld2253 forgot about the Gilera trials, it was a lovely bike 👍
My first and only brand new bike was a 1982 Honda mb5 .
I've never seen any of the bikes featured in this video and I was surprised to see the liquid cooled one .
I don't know why but I like these little bikes as much as I do the 125s or 250s .
There aren't any small bikes besides the grom here in the states and all that means is fewer beginner riders which is a tragedy .
I'm amazed that in all of your videos you say mph instead of kph .
At any rate per the norm you've knocked another one out of the park .
I very much enjoy watching the content you produce and I don't know how you find such pristine examples of the bikes that you feature .
Excellent work ❤
Thanks for the feedback
In the UK we never use Kph, I must try and include it for Europe and Canada 🇨🇦
40 years ago my first bike was a Honda MT5, I don't think it was available in the US, in the UK both models were restricted to 30MPH, I managed to tune mine up a bit so that it did around 45MPH. Last year I decided to buy a basket case of an MT5, I've rebuilt it and applied all my 2 stroke tuning 'know-how' just to see what I could get out of the bike. Even with my 13 stone sat on it I'm getting 55MPH out of it on the flat which I'm pleased with! (it has taken a lot of work to get this sort of speed out of it)
31 years ago my first bike was a W reg Honda MB5, every penny I got was thrown at her, before I turned 16 I had the standard cylinder bored out to the limit with paper thin walls. Up jetted, bean can micron and K&N, she would sit under 50 on the very bouncy speedo. That lasted a month and the crank bearing collapsed. Chucked a 2nd hand engine in her ( £25 ) from the local bike breakers that came with a proper 65 kit. Different animal now with a proper power band, this lasted me for months until a car pulled out on me and I went superman.
Next was the MT5, dropped a H100 engine in with all the 50s electrics. Honestly don’t know how many times I flipped her.
These were some of the best days of my life, still got the knee scars to prove it.
No the MT 5 was never available in the states to my knowledge . And it's so sad your bikes were restricted to 30mph .
My MB would do 55 mph from the factory 60 if I laid down and the wind was to my back . Back then our interstate system had a 55mph limit rather than today's 70mph . I took that bike as far as 200 miles away from home in all directions.
And I too still have scars on my knees from practicing stopping fast .
One time I pulled the front brake a little to hard and she washed out .
I put a smaller back sprocket on it after I wore the original one out and top speed was 60 to 65 mph with a slower take off .
Such fond memories. Thanks for sharing yours with me .
Todays temp is supposed to reach 70° farenhight. I definitely need to put a few miles on my 750 aero to keep the battery charged . No plans on laying it down 😆
@@charliepatterson9321 I have always felt that 45 to 50 mph is an absolute minimum. 30 is just plain dangerous and was definitely the concept of a non biker
Oh this video stirred up some nostalgia….. great job
Glad you enjoyed it
My first ride on a motorcycle was my grandads Raleigh Runabout in 1968. Then I bought a Honda 50 later that year. It was one year old and cost 60 quid. They were 100 quid brand new.
If only they were the same price now
A trip to Holland in the 1970s made me crave a Kreidler or Zundapp. Unrestricted they were genuinely quick, and in racing trim could do over 100mph. There's at least one more episode where you could feature Italian, French and Eastern European super mopeds.
Oh at least , this could run and run
I had an ex race bike , a Ducati 50 SL2 that had been registered as a moped . Piston ported cylinder , Boranni alloy rims , Dunlop trigonic race tyres full expansion chamber and 6v battery lights . Capable of nearly 90 mph .
@@georgerobartes2008 sounds great, but how long did it last?
Or rather, eat pistons and conrods...
What I can recall, Italian bikes did not often have an air cleaner on, toe curling...
@@paulh.5691The engine featured in Cesare Bossaglias book '2 Stroke High Performance Tuning' of 1968 for its design features along with the Parilla kart engines he designed . The engine had a cylinder with hard chrome bore which lasted indefinitely , but had standard spares of course . Modifying standard cylinders to race spec meant a trip to the local friendly dentist ( friends Dad) to use his drill . The pistons were fitted with ' Dyke ' L section rings ,seals etc., and were readily available mail order from Mick Walker Motorcycles in Cambridgeshire after the dealer in Walthamstow dried up . The use of castor oil in the premix was a must back then as no synthetics were available . No crank issues whatsoever as it never ran a flywheel to load out the bearings , just a balance and ignition trigger with battery CD ignition . I had been building racing engines for some time before I could legally ride in the UK so had the kit to modify this and other engines etc. , plus I used school equipment during Metalwork later Technology classes to split cranks , O ring cylinder heads and machine up parts as needed .
Your correct , the carburettor was a 20 mm Dellorto with horizontal throttle body , vertical float chamber and a simple ram pipe , tuned to length .
The bike was slow compared to GP bikes by Honda , Suzuki and Kriedler in the early/ mid 70s , and peaky with poor acceleration but amazing handling and grip made up for this as bends could be taken much faster than anything else on the road and great fun .
We had AP, fs1e and ss in the family. big bore kit for my ap and exhaust mods saw it at 60+ ,and new pedals weekly
Shhh
Don’t let the law know 😂
I had the SS50 Honda, gutless as you like but I later found out they were actually restricted by the use of a long throttle slide- when you thought it was fully open it was actually only 3/4s 😬 all you had to do was cut off the excess (there was a groove round the slide to guide) et voila you could keep up with the 2 strokes. If only I'd know at the time...
I had an SS50 too. Brilliant little bike. Wish I’d known about the throttle slide back then !
That’s a very rudimentary restriction device
@@chrisdean3072 I knew about it but didn't bother cutting the bottom of the slide off.
It only added a couple of mph at most.
Ah. FS1E...I can smell it just by looking at it. Many a fantastic days riding. And mine was in purple. I had purple go fast stripes painted on my crash helmet. 😊 Good days. 😊
Do miss the two stroke odour
@bikerdood1100 as soon as I saw the beautiful bike it filled my nostrils!
Brought back memories when I got my new Fizzie in 77, pre-restricted. I can remember riding it all day until midnight, then rode home and sat in the garage with it, I loved it. A mate got a Casal, a Portuguese make, it looked hideous, sounded dreadful and wasn't a cool bike. Another mate got a Fantic Supersix, that was very cool and would do about 60mph.
Lot of suggestions for various bikes coming up
My one and only moped was a 1972 Puch, pressed steel frame, pedals, 2 gallon tank, 55mph, scooter type on the bars gear change,. wheelie at traffic lights if you sat too far back on the seat, 90 mpg pump mix, lot of smoke, did not go long before exhaust blocking. Had it for 6 months then Honda CB125 for test, then Suzuki T500 with drum brakes. (My fastest lap of IOM, 1977, T500, standard road bike, open road, 37 mins. Impossible now due to extended speed limits)
Yea apparently they imposed speed limits after some hooligan on a T500 belted round in 37 minutes 😂
A mile a minute on a 500 twin is pretty handy
Great video the 70ts/80ts were the best times for mopeds if only we could go back 😢stay safe looking forward to more videos 🇬🇧 👍
Thanks 👍🏻
My first bike was a brand new Suzuki X1 in 1982, it cost £360 from Rafferty Newmans in Fareham, number plate was KOT18Y.
I managed 55mph downhill once after changing the gearbox sprocket from 11 teeth to 14, bolting aMicron expansion chamber and a bit of fettling with the ports.
My mates had AP50’s and they were capable of up to 60mph without any modifications!
Happy days of youth!
Well that’s what they told you I expect
Without any warning the UK abruptly raised the motorcycle licensing age from 16 to 17 around Christmastime in the1970s. Before the change you could get your bike provisional license at 16 and ride anything up to 250cc with a provisional license. (That's how I started -- a gutless 125cc 'Bantam'.) After the change you had a lot of demand for 'mopeds' that were really highly tuned 50cc bikes that turned out a respectable 6-8 bhp through a five of six speed box. Clouds of the things -- they became quite a menace.
(FWIW when our daughter started riding in the US we found that once she'd passed an off road basic skills course and a theory exam she could get a provisional license at 15 and a half -- with no capacity limit. She actually started on my old V50 Guzzi before 'borrowing' my SV650. You don't have to try so hard on a bigger bike so they're a lot safer.)
You should check out UK laws now
Talk about anti biker 🤬
I was caught out by this, my mate got his bike licence on his 16th birthday in October, by my 16th in December the same year I could only have a moped. He had a James 150 and a Greaves 250 trials bike and I could only have a Puch and a Honda PC50. It didn’t stop me riding his bikes on occasions though, off the public highway of course.
@@garyhill9723 well of course 🤫
I had an AP50, back in 78/79, what I liked about the AP50 was it felt more like a proper bike, to me the FS1E and SS50 felt like sitting astride a garden gate.
I fitted a recon crank after one of the main bearings spun - a common problem I believe, fixed on the replacement crank by a knurl where the bearings are pressed on.
The wide tank gives more of a big bike feel
Fs has a very narrow tank to my kind
I had the rare ouch grand prix in jps black & gold, alloy wheels and front disc brake
It was a cool moped back in the day 😀😀
On a holiday trip to Wales some 120 miles
I ripped up my mates fizzies, Ap 50 s etc
Great times
Quite a popular bike in its day
Gets a lot of mentions in the comments
I could only afford a 4 speed SS50, but the bike that always impressed me was the Suzuki AP50. It must have made an impression because I went on to own several bigger suzuki's since.
I later choices of bikes are often inspired that way.
I had a book as a young guy with a Guzzi lemans in it, I’ve spent most of my life on Guzzi’s as a result
I was given my father’s 5 gear SS50 for my 16th birthday. Yes, it was slower than all the unrestricted 2 stroke mopeds, but it ran like a sewing machine and never once let me down despite being relegated to my winter bike after passing my test and using my savings to by an RD200. Got dropped several times and the only part that actually failed was the clutch lever.
@@NotALot-xm6gz well the Honda was built with economical reliable running in mind.
I think without a doubt the most important thing I’ve learned in the decades of riding is that it’s much better to stay onboard the thing. And falling of really hurts
Oh and it’s expensive to repair them sometimes
I found my younger brother's 5 sp SS50 was perfect for winter riding, while my Triumph cafe racer was laid up in the warm & dry.
Especially on those icy roads where you slid down the camber and rode in the gutter.
The cool kids at senior school rode the Garelli 50 GT.
@@robertgregory8964 Those Garellis were mental if you could afford to keep them in new pistons. :)
I had a Puch Gran Prix Special in Black in 75, after a while the piston and barrel fell off! So I had to find slightly bigger ones, a expansion exhaust, new jets and taller sprocket!! It would easily leave the others behind. Great fun.
Fell off ?
@@bikerdood1100 well I guess, with a bit of help from me.
Great memories , I had a Honda SS50 5 speed with the disc brake in yellow brand new in 1976 , just about killed it in a year , a friend helped strip it down to have a rebore done at Mores in Hemel Hempstead . Probably the most miles I’ve put on a 2 wheeler in all the years I’ve been riding in a year somewhere between 6 and 7000 miles . I paid around £250 on the road all my savings, paper rounds , washing cars and other jobs but still think that was one of my favourite years racing around with friends .
Who helped you strip it down Dob, don't think it was me ?
Moores with two Os and still going strong.
@@andrewdking Robert from Chipperfield with the Tiger Cross
@@robinbowler2955 Gawd ! 😬
The hamlet of Commonwood to be more exact. Good pub there though 🍺
Disc brake on an Ss50 talk about all the mod cons
@@bikerdood1100 it was only cable operated , the old drum was probably better , but looked good 🙂 will have to check out your other videos 👍
Great video - my teenage years. It would be great if you do another with the mopeds we (in Bristol) were mainly screaming around on mid 70s.: Garelli Rekords and Tiger Crosses, Puchs, Gileras and Fantics. Cheers.
Have done a series on mopeds as a matter of fact
@@bikerdood1100 Thank you! I missed that one. Just watched it. Great stuff!
Agree that the Yam and Honda were classics. Kreidlers were rare, Zundapps even rarer, and Suzuki were too late to the party. Other classic peds included Fantics, Garelli Rekords, Malagutis, Gileras, Puch M50s, and my own Casal K190.
Well I’m trying to save some for a later video
I had a Batavus 50 ,great little bike.
Not familiar with that bike
@@bikerdood1100 bit like the fs1e.
Wow, good times! I had a Fizz, a Gilera, a Garelli Tiger Cross and a Honda SS50 five speed, my birthday was the latest in our "gang" so I was the last to be 17 and I bought their mopeds when they all went for the brand new Superdreams. Now I own a 1980 SOHC CB650 Custom, an 82 SOHC CB650 Nighthawk, a 92 750 Zephyr and a 2001 Royal Enfield 500 Bullet which I can no longer bloody start as its kick start only and I'm knackered.
Definitely like your classic fours
How much do you want for the Bullet? :)
@@bradmoss966 lol, are you serious?
Great video. Great history lesson. As an American, mopeds were not nearly as popular. Mostly owned by rich kids. Puch had a very strong following here. I guess I blame my brother and his GS750 for never pursuing getting one for myself at 15. He would have humiliated me. So I got a little Honda XR50 dirt bike instead. Good times!
Some of those were very much for Rick kids here. Some cost as much as a cb500four
My friend had a AR 80. What a fun little bike. He later put a KX100 motor in it. Scary little fun bike!
Remember the AR 80 well
Absolutely tiny motorcycle. Quite quick for its size
I remember the AE80. The trial version. Great little bikes
I had a Yamaha DT50 in 1984 it was restricted to 30 mph on the flat and maybe 35 mph down hill. I'd only had the bike a few days, it was smart looking ,I was riding around as proud as a peacock when someone on a knackered FSE with pedals flew past me,I felt humiliated.From then on I was on a mission to get more performance ! I eventually found out that a replacement gearbox sprocket with 2 extra teeth did the trick.I was soon doing 50mph all day long.
Humiliation banished
Totally forgot about the DT50, Lovely looking little bike - I still fancy an early DT175
Was given a blue AP50 for my 16th birthday in 1976. Living in a rural area it changed my life and I had some great times riding it. Had a friend with an FS1E and we used to race each other - it was close but the Suzuki always won on the open road as it had 5 gears and the option of changing down to 4th for extra revs always gave it the edge. Top speed 60mph (downhill on the A1 in the summer of '77!)
Happy memories ah
Happy memories indeed. I had a brand new FS1E DX on an R plate.
@@dereksmith6126 Was it restricted to 30? A lad I knew had a yellow one but only did 30 so even my slow SS50 was faster. UK gov killed new super mopeds but there were plenty of used (but thrashed) bikes around.
@@MrSlaphead1960 No it wasn't. A lot of dealers registered non restricted models before the deadline. It cost £300, which if you'd known, buy 50 of them!
@@dereksmith6126 Yes I should have known that. maybe i just forgot, Memory isn,t so good these days. 300 quid sounds good for a brand new unrestricted bike. also I assume would be worth more used
Ahh the memories, puch grand prix was my fav,but i could not have
Do remember the JPS black & gold model
I had a Motobecane that still had the pedals. This was in the 1980s. All hail the classic Honda C50 (bog-seat) though.
Had 2 bogies need to get a test on one see if it’s still as much fun as I remember
I had a garrelli quick for a 50 next to the frantic caballero and grandprix yam halcyon days great days hello to all from those times
Good memories from the moped days
I was'nt into motorbikes back then, but remember some of my m8's screwing their fizzy's all day long lol. i recently checked a few out just for the interest and couldnt believe the prices as you say
Oh I’d go bigger than 50
Bigger is easier to ride and a lot cheaper these days for some reason
@@bikerdood1100 lol i wasn't thinking of buying one :)
Had a ss50 in 1974 £150 on the road and I remember fitting handle bars off cb125 which gave it a much better riding position, happy days.
They did seem to give some machines stupid riding positions back then
The CB125 had a good riding position, I still have my 1978 CB that I bought in '79. its not been out of the garage since early 80s. engine is on the shelf following a rebuild (Kickstart Failed). getting dragged out in the next few weeks, assembled and sadly sold (Downsizing)
My fizzy was legendary in our area. It was known just by the start of its reg no. FDG. I managed 64 mph out of it led over the tank
Hooligan 😂
@@bikerdood1100 😂🤩😂
The best years, FS1E was the boss when we were 16 in 1982 and Linda Lusardi was on page three, all real no silicone.
That’s a very specific memory
I started off with a new Gilera 50 Trials but would rarely start as it obviously had rubbish Italian electrics. Traded it in for a blue AP50, though would have preferred the rarer red one. It was in a different league sophistication wise.
My many mates had a mixture of Gilera Enduro, SS50, SS50 5 speed, FS1-E, Puch Grand Prix, a couple of Fantics including the quick Caballero, a Malaguti, NSU Quickly, Puch Maxi, Garelli Tiger and the reputed fastest of them all I was informed at the time, a Casal !
Looks like every manufacture and their dog was into making a fast moped in the mid 1970s.
Blimey quite a list there .
At this rate I’ll be making videos about mopeds for months 😂
@@bikerdood1100 Not just the number of manufacturers, but the plethora of shops selling them. Many were bicycle shops and one in my local town of Chesham was a fishing tackle shop !
@@andrewdking true
Woolworth sold the Tomos I remember
@@bikerdood1100 I think a Polish student at Hemel Hempstead's Dacorum College had a Tomos. First one I'd ever seen.
I'm not aware of Woolworths selling them, so that's a new one on me.
@@andrewdking yep them and the BondBug for a time too
We had honda ss50 in the 70 s when one day the throttle cable brake .my dad and brother changed it out themselves but they made a mistake on the adjustment on carb it was on full throttle so when they tried to ride on the road me open the throttel on twist and jumped from under him and launched its self on to a hegde still running they ran fast to turn it off and get it off the hegde it was adjusted to idle at the carb .after that worked as it should .that day i had good laugh
I would have wet myself laughing, I’ve seen that done and it’s comedy gold
Where's the Garelli Tiger cross, or The Garelli Rekord 🙀🙀
Doesn't that Zundapp look like a Mini Honda Super dream .
Still good memories of my youth . 😀👍
Well the Zundapp is probably older than the super dream I suspect, has to save some bikes for a second video of course
Dutchman here.
I had a late model KS50. (Still produced by Zündapp, not the Chinese company) Metallic green, but with a hand operated shifter which sucked, because when riding in city traffic my hand would hurt pretty quick because of al the shifting. Other than that i loved that bike, although i think the Honda MB and MT were probably better. In the Netherlands a lot of kids rode both the Zündapp or the Kreidler bikes, the girls were often riding Puch Maxi.
Puch being a step through I seem to recall so a bit more lady friendly.
The other two were rare on the Uk
Mobylette😂
@@petergerritgroen3157 well why not soon
Just look at that FS1E in purple - it doesnt get better than that. It was a mini motorbike, perfectly designed in detail and the colour just stunning, the gold was great as well but purple was what I had brand new from Eddy's motorcycles Kirkstall Road Leeds, £212 on HP which my father guarenteed. No other moped came close, maybe some faster eg Garelli but the FS1E was absolute class. The Honda SS50 was a real wheeze bag and didnt sound a patch on the Yamaha
Prefer yellow
Don’t ask me why because I have no idea
Can remember being at school in the 80's. The Fizzy' was the bike of choice (if you could afford one). After school there was the 3 oclock 'scream' as they all went out the parking area flat chat.... 🤣🤣
I couldn’t afford one on road, poor parents so I had to wait until I had my own money to get my first bike a GS125
@@bikerdood1100 I had to wait too!. Ended up with a BSA Bantam D3 150cc non runner for 80 quid that Dad and I 'rebuilt'. Still have it, although in pieces awaiting a proper resto!. 🤣 Great bike to learn on.
@@robleary3353 early Bantams we’re quite reliable, we had a D14 which was rather overstressed and quite troublesome by comparison
In those days we mostly drove a Kreidler or a Zündapp in the Netherlands. Now the regime are banning the two stroke engine.
That’s piss poor
That was awesome
Thanks
The main competitor for the FS1E was the Honda SS50.
In sales terms perhaps but a very different machine with that mild four stroke. Those SOHC. motors were exactly exciting.
I had the Honda SS50z back in the day, I didn’t want to be the same as everyone else with the FS1e. Only problem I ever had was the metal spar plug cap, in wet weather the rain got inside and the spark was lost. Soon changed that for rubber and off I went. Mum went mad when I bought a leather motorbike jacket for £60 (most lads road in their Harrington jackets) but liked it after I got knocked off the bike by a car, just a few scratches to the leather none on me lol
What was the point of those bloody metal covered spark plugs
I remember getting shocked myself in the rain
Always had a soft spot for the quirky Suzuki 125 Stinger in acidic green particularly, could you do a similar comparison with 125s of the period (Honda CB125s etc)
Must try and cover 70s 125s soon
A second video needed.... let's get the Puch Gand Prix black with gold decals .. hell it even had a rev counter your mates really knew you'd arrived when you rocked up on that .... the Fantic chopper and the Garelli need a mention too ..
True I’m already planning it
Memories, I loved my AP 50, it cost me £200 in 1978. As I lived in the country it gave me and my mates the freedom to get into town and see girls.
That’s a win win
Beautiful mopeds I must say.
We had here in the 70ties in Amsterdam a Kreidler shop with the latest model on a turning plateau with spotlights on it.
In that time it wil cost about 2500 guilders.
A lot less than a car
Freedom on two wheels
I bought a fs 50 in mint condition in 1985 for 30 south african rands, i took it home stripped all lights, chrome off and rode it on the farm till it became landfil😂😂 wish i had kept it in a box
Similar story with an AP50
My Honda SS50 with pedals (for when I ran out of petrol or it just died 😂) from my youth still leaves a hole in my heart
Always imagine the pedals being bloody hard work
@@bikerdood1100 ooooooh yes, imagine a push bike dragging a heavy lead weight, that’d be about it, thighs of iron! 🤣🤣
@@christal-clear4505 well that sounds fun
Honda SS50 5 speed in lime green was the ultimate in 16 year old sophistication, independence and adventure ;o)
Happy days
How about the Garelli Rekord?
Next video
Although the list of suggested bikes is definitely growing
Bought my brand new fizzie from daytona bikes in ruislip for £200..finished up at 19 owning a suzuki gt750 kettle which was given to steve parrish (barry sheenes pal) to use by suzuki gb
Oh we know of Mr Parrish. Did a speaking tour recently that we went to. Very entertaining.
Always liked the kettle, looked so modern with its water cooling when I was young
I was 16 in 1974, desperate to get on mechanised 2 wheels. I have to say that I never saw a Zundapp or a Kreidler, the three main contenders were the fizzy yam, Suzuki ap50 and the Honda ss50. There were a few others, Garelli, Gilera and the occasional Fantic Custom, a 50cc chopper, but never Zundapp or Kreidler. Maybe it's a geographical thing?
I’ve given the Italian peds a video of their own
Shame the gilera trials wasn't featured luvly little bike.wish I still had it😢
Oh it will be
Had the AP 50 first bike saved for 6 weeks on £25 a week gov scheme without going out or spending a penny ,paid £150 second hand ,loved it out with all my mates on fizzie's ,and SS50 56mph flat out LOL till big end went 5 weeks later GUTTED
Oh dear
Gawd,that cretinous 'slowped' law of 1977! I had a...erm,Puch VZ50 which wouldn't have needed any detuning to comply! It did,however,feature a twistgrip gear change I grew to like! 😊
One of the most moronic laws ever dreamt up
And the present bunch would do the same thing (or something even stupider) again!
lol at 62 years age i am still in love with the Fs1 of my youth. compared to the competition it was in a league of its own in many ways it is still something i meassure mechanical things up against. ahh and the girls ocupying the rearseating ... oh youth had i only known how fast you would be gone ;-)
Bikes make memories
In 1975 I was 16 and needed some wheels for work, I wanted a four stroke SS50 but I saddled myself with a dreadful Gilera 50 🤢 it didn’t put me off biking tho’ 🙂
Thank goodness. A bad first bike can be very off putting, but it can also teach you a lot
I had a 76 Fizzy when i was 16, it was a great little bike and nearly did 60mph, Good ol' times 🙂
Ahh the memories
Great video, just subscribed.
Thanks
Italian mopeds? Gilera, Gerelli etc. Great video 👍
For Italian mopeds see par 2
It’s linked in the video
About 6 of us used to have them to get to school. We used to unlock the pedals and have pedalled races round the car park. Happy days 😊
Bet that was bloody hard work
Most surprised not to see any Italian 'peds in the list . They were the most common around where I lived . Fantics being the number one make ( a moped chopper anyone ? ) then Garelli . Got beat by a Fantic GT on the Ewell bypass whilst riding my KH250 , it desperately needed a decoke . Happy days .
Need to save some for part 2
I bought a Suzuki AP50 in blue as the video in 1976 and registration number MMC861P.
Nice 👍🏻
Ah the memories...just wondered if any of u guys remember the bike i had. A bright red & white, italian Malaguti 50 to learn on. I thought it looked so cool and felt just like a big boys bike, and NO pedals. They were definitely not cool at the time. I think i got about 40 odd miles per hr out if it. Then progressed to a red Kawasaki KL 250 trial bike on L plates. Was allowed in those days.. Easily achieved 70mph plus on that, with 2 up. The pillion passenger told me he had a full bike licence so was technically allowed.( But later found out he lied!)
Well done for having the cash for the Malaguti are rare and expensive beast
@@bikerdood1100 Told me ole Ma, "I needed it to get to my job as a "kitchen porter", ahem! .. So she stumped up the shekels to pay for it. If I remember, I'm almost sure I got fired from that job just before I took delivery!...
@2:57- Two bikes into the video and I haven't seen a moped yet.
The law says they are
I even talk about the pedals
Was the sound turned off 😂😂😂
I had what must now be a very rare bike. It was a red Malagutti Olympique. It was always a bit faster than my mates fizzie and susuki. I remember them seizing their engines trying to keep up.
One of my mates had a Malagutti trials type moped and another lad had one with clip ons and a 1 into 2 exhaust.Beautiful bikes.
Well rear then so very much so now.
In truth they probably seized because of shite oil, a stroker can take a massive amount of abuse in reality
@bikerdood1100 yeah, they only had to pull over and let it cool for 10mins and away we went.
Garelli Tiger fastest moped during these times..👍
Of course opinions differ 😂
It is a claim I’ve heard before however
Fsie was first bike I rode then when I turned 17 a Suzuki gt250
Had an AP but on fields GS125 on road
The Garelli Tiger Cross was the most desirable moped in the early 70s. It was the prettiest, fastest and the most fragile. Malcolm.
So exciting for a while at least
@@bikerdood1100 I had a Garelli Rekord, and it made mincemeat of the yams etc, until I blew a hole in the piston LOL
@Ken Cotton I rarely bother with 4 wheels
Nothing says given up on life more than an MPV
Man, that bring back memories. I had 2 Yamaha's FS1, a '73 and a '77 with a disc brake. Love those Fuzzy's 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it
what no fantic
Wait for part 2 or 3
I had a Honda SS50 back in 1974 (I was 16) I remember it was so frustrating to ride with it's tiny 2.5bhp, all my mates went out and bought the Garelli Tiger Cross, now that felt like a 125 compared to the Honda, I think they were around 6.5bhp? awesome power band but ultimately very unreliable, I would have swapped in a heart beat though 😃pity the Garelli wasn't featured here, I would have loved to hear the sound again, that howling induction 🤩 I still ride now, 49 yrs on, I have just bought a new Kawasaki Versys 1000.
Oh it won5 b3 the last video on the subject so the tiger cross will get its moment
Did you know the 4 speed was factory restricted? All we had to do was cut off the excess at the top of the throttle slide to nearly double the power! I only found out after I'd moved on ☹️
@@bikerdood1100 I look forward to watching that, oh the nostalgia!
@@2Wheels4Wheels. Yes, I de-restricted mine as soon as it was run in, it didn't make a massive difference, the throttle just opened further! 🤔🤣
Enjoyed that thanks for taking the time to put it together.
The FS1E was the one to have amongst 16 year old daredevils with more daring than skill at that time, saw a good number of them crashed beyond repair.A friend of mine had a Garelli Tiger Cross which was a lovely looking little cycle and an object of envy.
Hearing a lot about the Garelli
s@@bikerdood1100 That's why I watched your vid but never mind. I had a couple of Garelli Tiger Cross' in yellow/black ( to N and a few P plates available) also an Agrati Garelli (available to R plate 1977) in black & red. Faster than all the rest until the RD50 came out & some lads derestricted them.
I had the HONDA SS50 , but put a 72 cc piston and barrel on , it really made a big difference.
I expect it would, mostly in mid range oomph I expect
Yes me too SS50 to 72cc bolt on 50mph and out accelerate my mates AP50 ,now you can go to 89cc on the SS from ebay kits
Sorry, your idea of a moped doesn't fit the definition of a moped.
The law says different
@@bikerdood1100 the word moped is the shortened version of motorized pedal bike.
@@LtJackboot I know it followed on from the auto cycles of the 1940s, see New Hudson and excelsior
My first " bike" as a 16 year old in 1976 was a brand new yellow Yamaha FS1 DX, almost 50mph downhill flat on the tank with my feet on the back pegs.lol...the start of nearly 40 years of biking for me on a variety of off and on road to sports bikes ,from yamaha,kawasaki,honda and suzuki...from 50cc to 1000cc..loved every minute of every bike...rain or shine...lovin your nostalgic videos mate 😊👍👍👍
👍
Hi, I started out life on a FS1E. The unrestricted version with the folding pedals. You could actually with a bit of effort pedal the bike short distances. As for a follow up video I would like to see one about the 50cc moped/bikes that followed these. Like the Honda MB50 and Kawasaki AE/AR 50 bikes.
Good suggestions, will fit them in at some point but they maybe early 80s bikes
Yamaha DT50M too
AP 50 was the fastest 50 I knew anyone to have
They were pretty rapid, mine went very well for a 50
Great memories, I got a 4 speed Honda SS50 on my 16th birthday.
It was cheaper than a Fizzy, £225 new! I ran it all week for £1. The good old days.
I was always overtaken by the two stroke peds, though.
I never remember seeing the German ones, but remember the Fantics, they were quick.
I love to see classic bikes, but I wouldn't spend the money on a moped, I'm not as skinny as I was at 16 now. I'm nearly 63. My smallest bike is my DT3 250, I can take it on the motorway, unlike the peds.
Hearing a lot about the Fantics, part 2 definitely needed
@@bikerdood1100 The Italian 50,s were quite popular during 70's Fantics used Motori Minarelli engine as did quite a few Italian 50's and were faster than the Fs1e and AP 50 . The other popular moped was garelli tiger cross/ reckord they used their own engine , lot faster than Fs1e , I had garelli reckord at 16 (quick but fragile )
That ridicules law for sixteen'r mopeds being able to be propelled by pedals , government expected they would all be pedal n pop mopeds , didn't foresee these fast 50cc motor bikes with token pedals (try peddling them lol )
@@bikerdood1100 Perhaps include the much coveted (By me anyway) Puch Grand Prix Special in the JPS black & gold livery. I never got to see one in the flesh as they were like hen's teeth in the UK. Have to say that I did love my 4 speed SS50 though...
@@ResidentWeevil I am planning too of course