Many Cyclemaster owners will have long appreciated the problem of trying to obtain good condition engine mountings, as all of these machines are now well past the age where these natural rubber bushes have begun to decay. Since both these bushes are shouldered specials, replacements have proved particularly elusive.
Obsolete Engineering Ltd has now commissioned a pair of vulcanising tools to remanufacture both of these bushes, and has completed moulding the first batch. These are now available as packed kits priced at £12, comprising 2 × S07 (large) & 2 × S12 (small) bushes, from Mopedland by mail order (+ £1 P&P), or from TigerMan at various bikejumble events across the country. The kits are also expected to be available through other outlets shortly.
The VéloSoleX club The TjopTjoppers is celebrating its tenth anniversary and, at the same time, trying to help change the world. A group of dedicated VéloSoleX riders has gone to the United States from the Netherlands to ride the world famous Route 66 to raise money for schools in remote areas of Indonesia. They started in Chicago and will ride all the way through to Santa Monica on the Pacific Coast on their new VéloSoleX 4800s being trailed by a Dutch TV news station crew. The adventure started on September 24th, 2008.
During the ride there will be a daily report on the TjopTjoppers Website at http://www.tjoptjoppers.nl/Route66en/dagelijks_verslag_en.html. This seems to be a few days behind real life - when we checked on 12 October the latest report was from 5 October and the riders had reached Oklahoma City.
All donations collected during the Route 66 operation will be used to finance a home (shelter) and school education for a dozen street children in Indonesia.
We're pleased to annouce that Brian Colter has joined the IceniCAM team as our VéloSolex adviser. We'll let Brian introduce himself...
"I help people regularly with Solex questions/problems through e-mails, telephone, and on several sites, including the Solex Owners of America forum: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/solexownersofamerica/, Moped Army: http://www.mopedarmy.com/forums/, the German Solex forum: http://velosolexforum.foren-city.de/, several French forums: green forum: http://www.rezoweb.com/forum/annonces/solex.shtml, 4600 forum: http://www.rezoweb.com/forum/moto/solex4600.shtml, the 5000 forum: http://www.rezoweb.com/forum/moto/plisolex5000.shtml and the 6000 forum: http://www.rezoweb.com/forum/moto/velosolex6000fl.shtml. I am the only one listed as a VeloCruz Solex Master Mechanic: http://www.velocruz.com/dealers.htm#ny. I have rebuilt hundreds of Solex motors and dozens of complete Solex bikes. You can see some photos of some of my work on my photo page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63216488@N00/. I also have a website with a lot of information and photos on it: http://briansolex.free.fr. It is really my pleasure to help people with Solex problems and questions."
Available for the probably the first time in 50 years, RollerDrive has started manufacturing new replacement drive rollers for cyclemotors, also the related special extractors for servicing these items. The range has initially launched with machined steel drive rollers and extractor kits for the Vincent Firefly and Itom Tourist cyclemotors. These represent a practical way to begin, since the large diameter cast Firefly roller is particularly prone to wear, causing drive slippage in any damp conditions and reducing the gear ratio to compromise top speed. For the Itom Tourist, the original composite grit rollers commonly break away from their alloy core, at which point these motors are completely disabled since no replacements have previously been available.
There are plans to progressively extend the range of rollers and extractor kits produced, with Trojan Mini-Motor rollers planned as the next project. For more details and prices see the RollerDrive page at Mopedland.
A gathering of VéloSoleXes and Citroëns on the nearest Sunday to Bastille Day is now an established event in New York City. Here's one of Brian Colter's pictures of the rendezvous.
You can see more of Brian's photos at www.flickr.com/photos/63216488@N00. Brian also took some videos of the event and these can be seen at www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=Rickbrendan&p=r
The latest line announced by Mopedland is genuine leather, old-style toolbags suitable for fitting to cyclemotor, autocycle, moped, and cycle saddles with 4" mounting centres. They're big enough to hold a spark plug spanner, spare plugs, pliers, small screwdriver, cycle spanner, etc. Available in black or dark brown at £25 each. Special sizes and bag designs can be accommodated to order and bags can also be embossed with a names or logos. See the Mopedland site for more information.
It looks as if another tyre supplier is taking the opportunity of moving into the gap in the moped tyre market left by Michelin's departure. Robin Cowling of Suffolk Wheels sends the information that Continental are now posting up a range of Conti moped sizes in KKs10 tread pattern.
| Code | Size | List price (inc vat) |
|---|---|---|
| 01 27 400 | 2×16 M/C 20B | £18.63 |
| 01 27 600 | 2.25×16 M/C 38B | £19.74 |
| 01 27 800 | 2.5×16 M/C 42B | £21.62 |
| 02 44 200 | 2×17 M/C 22B | £16.83 |
| 01 28 800 | 2.25×17 M/C 39B | £20.60 |
| 01 30 000 | 2×19 M/C 24B | £16.82 |
| 01 30 400 | 2.25×19 M/C 41B | £20.60 |
| 01 36 300 | 2×22 M/C 26B | £24.35 |
Riding his Kerry Capitano 3-speed at The Radar Run, Carl Harper was spotted with one of these new 2×19 Continentals on the back, and reported it rode fine. Maybe he should be trying one at the other end, since the old Michelins tend to let go up the front end on these machines!
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