Get on yer bike
Grandad April 3rd, 2007
What ever happened to the autocycle?
Back in the 60s, the roads were full of them.
They were cheap, as safe as a bicycle, very economical and they got you around.
The entry level was the Velo Solex. This was a brilliant yoke. It was essentially a heavy bicycle with an engine strapped to the front fork.
It was capable of about 20 miles per hour, but it took all the effort out of cycling. You just got up to speed on the bicycle, lowered the engine onto the front tyre and off you went.
A friend of mine had one. Or rather, his father did. So we used to rob it and trundle up and down the road. It was the first time I ever drove anything mechanical. It was brilliant.
When I was 16, I was given my sister’s autocycle. This was a Mobylette, and was the Ford Escort to the Velo solex’s Mini. It was a powerful bike. It was capable of a good 30 miles per hour on a good day.
This was a real autocycle, and I was very proud of it. It had a 50cc engine and did about 300 miles to the gallon. It was fully automatic, with no gears or clutch – you just opened the throttle, and away you went. I don’t ever remember having an accident on my Mobylette. All I remember was that it was fun to drive and was incredibly cheap to run. Tax and insurance were very low, and I used to fill up on petrol a few times a year.
The only motorbikes you would see on the roads were the Honda 50s. There were thousands of them. Of course, I had to go one better when I was 18, and I traded in my Mobylette for a Yamaha 80. Wow!! What speed!! I could nearly get up to 50 on that. That bike and I travelled the length and breadth of the country, and a fair bit of England too. It too was very economical to run. My record was to travel from Dublin to Somerset for £5. And that included the ferry fare.
Nowadays, the only vehicles you see on two wheels are those motorbikes with a rear tyre borrowed off a tractor, with about six exhausts that are tuned to sound like a Boeing 747 taking off. They are incapable of doing less than 150 m.p.h. and are a menace. They are noisy and dangerous. They weave in and out of the traffic lanes on the motorways, overtaking and undertaking everything in sight.
You couldn’t do that on a moped.
- On the road
- Comments(15)
Subscribe to audio
Weird, I’ve never even heard of those things. I would love if they were still around – I’d definitely use one of them over the car.
Things are worse than I thought! You’ve never even heard of them?
I thought there’d be a few around, but they must be an extinct species. I can’t think why, as they tick all the boxes for eco-friendliness. As I say, they were very cheap to run. They were as safe as a bicycle. They were fun.
The only downside to them was that they needed two-stroke petrol, and I haven’t seen a two-stroke pump in a garage in ages.
There is a major killing to be made out there now, if someone went into production of them again.
Well there are still some around especially in Poorer countries.
If you think mopeds they are not dangerous then you are remember
ing a time when there was less of everything on the roads. Put a
few hundred Mopeds in the hands of people at the same time as
rush hour and sit back and watch the accidents.
Maybe its just Beirut but Mopeds are very annoying.Especially when the
scratch up against you car.
I would argue strongly that mopeds are no more dangerous than bicycles. They are probably slightly safer as they are a bit more robust.
As they are classed as mechanical vehicles, you have to pass a test to drive one. They are less likely to fly through pedestrian crossings, go the wrong way up one way streets, fly along the pavements as if they were cycle lanes or totally ignore pedestrian/traffic lights.
They are certainly a lot less dangerous than those damned motorbikes that weave through traffic at mad speeds.
I’m with Kav, I’ve never heard of them either. The closest thing I’ve ever seen to those is the Honda 50 moped.
I haven’t seen a Honda 50 in years. Are they still around? There was a time when everyone seemed to have one.
The Honda 50 was more of an entry level motorbike. It actually had a kick start, gears and a clutch. There were loads of other motorbikes around but they were all between 50 and 150cc. Nothing like the modern monsters.
The only time I came across one was at the back of a garage that was fixing my car, and it was rusting to pieces. Seemingly it was one of the mechanic’s projects to fix it up. I haven’t been back there since, so can’t tell you what state it’s in now.
The same mechanic had a perfectly restored Penny-Farthing. Them things are dangerous! A long way to fall
Penny farthings are illegal now. They have been replaced by the €2.01c [Doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Does it?]
A guy who lives near us has a Honda 50. You can hear the chug-chug-splutter every morning when he tries to start it. My uncle had some kind of super moped – a Triumph or something like that – and we unearthed it recently. Kinda like something out of that film La Dolce Vita.
I had a Mobylette when I lived just outside of Paris. I was also 16 at the time. Boy, you could ride forever and a day on them for price of a pack of smokes. Today I’m stuck with my Triumph Thruxton 900 and it’s 747 sounding exhausts. I try to keep it under 150MPH most days but to “Ton up” on that machine is a good fun!!
Ah yes, I remember the Yamaha 80 – they all seemed to be wine coloured.
Ah, God bless those cheese-eating mobylette monkeys! Un peu de nostalgie, voilà…
http://www.wideo.fr/video/iLyROoaftYpe.html
@Brianf – Sorry to hear you had to trade down. If you do want to do the Ton, then please do it your side of The Pond!!
@John – I think there were two versions – the wine and the blue. Mine was a blue one. It was once completely submerged under flood water for two days. After I dug it out, it started on the second kick. Howzat for reliability?
@Pecker – Thanks for the video! He had the silent version. Mine sounded like an angry wasp in a jam-jar.
Wow..never heard of these things before…very interesting. Well i have a 50cc scooter which i simply adore. can get it do do 75km/hr on a downward steep hill with the wind behind me!! beats the shit out of taking the subways in Japan.
I don’t know why they went out of production. Someone could make a right killing if they started making them again.
Come to think of it – I haven’t seen a scooter in years. My father used to have a Lambretta.