Slightly OT but I'd love a go on it!

If that's a realistic price I shall expect Kim on my doorstep demanding money! I still havn't got the Cyclemaster going, but have been given a suitable Raleigh roadster bike to fit it in (thanks Nick M).

Gentlemen,

A friend of mine collects and restores old bicycles, he has a slightly older version and paid as much as that before he restored it. When as a family my parents moved us all from Selhurst (Nr South Norwood) South London in 1967 to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk she made my father leave one in the shed along with an early Mobylet Moped as he had not ridden them for years so why bother moving them.

Martin P

Don't worry, Nick, I'm still more than happy with the T600 as a swap for the Cyclemaster ;o))

I've now found it an ex WD Air Ministry stamped BTH magneto which turns the air to plasma around the spark when run up to 3,000 rpm and has a good low speed spark too! All I need now is a driving dog .........

Regards,

Kim Siddorn,

Agreed - it is a lot of money. Nice though.

Where I grew up in the 50s and 60s the family over the road from us had three Cyclemasters, and every morning the father and two oldest boys would ride the two miles to the local station in convoy. Come to think of it they rode in formation!

Christopher W.

In 1957 I was an apprentice BT engineer at Runcorn telephone exchange. I rode the 10 miles each way from Warrington on my bicycle but most of the engineers came

10 miles from Liverpool on a variety of cycle motors. They all thought theirs was best so one Christmas after suitable alcoholic enhancement of the riders a race took place around the bus station. Unfortunately after 47 years I cannot remember which make won!

-- Dave Croft Warrington England

A bit overpriced, me thinks................

Brian L Dominic

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================================================================= These are also fun.I used to have two

Mike.H.

A £20 VeloSoleX was my first powered transport (lord knows why, most of my friends had 'fizzys' and the like) - friction drive, British weather and the Chiltern hills were not a happy combination! It got consigned to the shed when I went off to university and a bus ticket was the only transport I could afford. As soon as I was in gainful employ four wheels beckoned in the form of a £300 Sunbeam Imp Sport, so I never did get round to taking a motorcycle test.

I could never for the life of me understand why anyone bought a VeloSolex after chain and belt drive bottom bracket mounted machines became available.

In the early days, there was little to choose between fore or aft tyre drivers and I had a Mini-Motor myself, but it was a means to an end and I had a Triumph Speed Twin within two days of passing my test - ah, them were the days!!

The NSU Quickly was perhaps the best of the mopeds and the Cyclemaster the Rolls-Royce of the wheel hub drivers. I recall there was a neat little variable compression Diesel that mounted UNDER the bottom bracket. Anyone have one of these?

Regards,

Kim Siddorn,

"J K Siddorn" wrote (snip):-

That was the Lohmann (SP?). Not a true diesel as fuel and air entered the engine together, but definitely compression ignition. Plenty of tales of the trials and tribulations of these marginally powered devices on-line in the NACC 'Buzzing' archives.

BTW there was a Leopard moped on one of the junk stalls at Lamport, I'd never heard of the make so I looked it up when I got home and it is apparently rather a rare device. Good thing I didn't know at the time as I might have been tempted to make an offer and I really don't want to start on that game!

I think the reason why people did buy VeloSoleX machines in this country was for their novelty value as much as anything else. They were also very reliable and easy to use, which must be part of the reason why they are the second best-selling motorcycle of all time (behind the Honda 50), with sales in excess of five million. I actually sold them new during a holiday job while at college - in 1973 the price was £67 for which you received the machine on the road and taxed for a year, a crash helmet, a full tank of fuel and one year's insurance. The fuel tank of my car holds around £67 worth of unleaded at today's prices - ridiculous isn't it!

Christopher W.

The French bought 'em because you could ride 'em at 14 (ISTR) without licence or insurance......

There are Lohmann's in preservation, but I gather they're a "trifle difficult"???

Brian L Dominic

Web Sites: NB Rumpus:

of the Cromford Canal: Light Railway: