Some more impossible-to-find spares have become easy to find. This time it's the 28×2 C-slot piston rings for the tiny Lohann compression-ignition cyclemotor. They're in stock now at AtoZ Rings - visit the Web page at www.mopedland.co.uk/atozring
There's a new Ducati Cucciolo ... but it's an electric bike. Italwin launched a range of electric bikes carrying the Ducati name last year. There were both a lady's and a gent's version of the Ducati Pearl City. However, on show at Intermot in Cologne this October was a third version. The frame is more like a traditional straight-framed lady's cycle, it's red, and it carries the "Cucciolo" name.
There's been a minor mishap at IceniCAM HQ: a power cut on 27th November that one of the computers took exception too. The result is that we've lost some of our e-mails. The ones we lost were in the "We really must get around to doing something about that soon" category and we can remember that there was one concerning scooter insurance and another about Frank Rainbow. If you've sent us an e-mail in the last couple of months that we haven't responded too yet - could you send it again, please?
Yes, we're off on holiday again. Between now and the first week of November, updates to this website will be few and far between. We'll show you our holiday snaps when we get back ... I bet you can't wait!
It's always a problem knowing whether to report the strange goings-on in the NACC. We receive lots of reports of the various sqabbles that keep breaking out in the club and, by and large, we try not to take too much notice. However, the following bit of news is a more major item. After debating for a while about whether to publish it, we eventually decided we would as it's very unlikely that NACC members would be able to get the truth from any other source. For the sake of accuracy, we've added a few of our own comments [in brackets].
"Latest news from the NACC is that its committee has conceded defeat in yet another legal action against its own former members."
"The settlement of this latest suit was substantial enough to claim upon the club's insurance, which will have partially reduced the loss of the members' money in the out-of-court settlement element. Club funds will still have had to stand the penalty for the policy excess and not inconsiderable legal fees."
"The consequences of earlier legal actions against the club have been represented in the published accounts under "professional fees". These were £1,677 for the period April 2008-09, doubled to £3,361 for the period April 2009-10. It's not unlikely that there will be a further multiplication of these costs again in the next period."
[Note: We believe that the above figures for "professional fees" may not be entirely due to the NACC's legal actions but a small proportion is the cost of registering Buzzing and NACC as trade marks.]
"This latest problem arose as a result of the somewhat misguided decision to pirate material from other people's websites, and the committee choosing (surprisingly against the advice of their own solicitors!) to ignore subsequently served copyright infringement legal notices."
[Two points here:
Firstly - The pirating of material did not lead directly to legal
action, the copyright holders initially chose to avoid any battle
over copyright. The action was precipitated by the
NACC demanding that it be given credit
when a legally licensed version of some of this material was
reproduced in another club's magazine.
Secondly - To continue the action against solicitor's advice, the
NACC went to another solicitor.]
"With NACC Ltd heading toward prosecution in the High Court, the committee had little option but to concede an 'out of court settlement' to avoid the inevitable bankruptcy of the club."
"While the club's fortunes progressively stumble from bad to worse, the last five years have seen the failing NACC lose around a third of its membership from its peak before this time, as the 'organisation' has continued to suffer a series of internal problems with its management committee."
[This seems reasonably accurate: NACC membership was over 2,000 five years ago. The NACC is extremely reticent about its membership figures nowadays but income from membership fees shows a falling trend and lets us estimate a figure of around 1,500 members last year.]
"While the greater membership seem oblivious of, or indifferent to, the ongoing troubles within the club, it's very clear that the situation is progressively deteriorating, and that the steadily increasing resultant costs of legal actions against the executive committee are now beginning to take a considerable toll upon finances, as the club continues posting year-on-year losses."
[Now that the current action is settled, NACC members should expect the final costs of this to appear in next year's accounts and that ought to be the end of it. Except ... we've been informed that yet another NACC member is now taking some sort of legal action against the club on a completely different matter. Secondly, even if you ignore all its losses due to "professional fees" the accounts show that the NACC would still be losing around £1,000 a year on its normal activities.]
"It should becoming apparent that the committee that has created all the club's troubles over the last five years is never going to be the committee that will resolve any of its problems."
"The majority of its officers no longer seems to be acting in the best interests of the club, nor of its members, and one has to wonder what it might take to prompt the membership to take action to resolve the ongoing problems."
"Any normal and freely democratic club would expect to see the membership bringing the responsible officers to account over the ongoing fiasco. The autocratic manner in which NACC Ltd politics operate mean that there is a consistently refusal to explain or discuss any of its problems, and neither will it accept open nominations to contest its general management."
"While a normally functioning club might ordinarily be expected to resolve issues by simple discussion, this would not appear an option for the NACC, so it's rather difficult to see how the club's situation may ever improve."
Well, there it is. We'd like to think that, by publishing this, we've increased the chances of someone in the NACC making an attempt to sort the club's problems out - but, realistically, we've probably only inceased them from zero to still-pretty-unlikely.
For anyone who's been thinking of bringing a moped back from France - now could be a good time to do it. Since 2004, all new cyclomoteurs in France have had to be registered - now they are catching up with all the old ones. From 1 January 2011 it will be illegal to use an unregistered moped on French roads. Now, while the process for getting them registered isn't exactly difficult - (you just need evidence of ownership and evidence of the moped's make, type and age) or costly (registration is free, though dating evidence for more obscure models will cost €25 from the FFVE Fédération Française des Véhicules d’Epoque), it is quite a departure from the previous system. The lack of formalities has been much of the appeal of riding mopeds in France. The thought that "If I have to get involved in paperwork, I might as well ride a vélomoteur (up to 125cc) instead" will, no doubt, be crossing the mind of many French enthusiasts. There are already signs of a fall in the prices of mopeds at French autojumbles.
Villiers 3K moped engine - new mag flywheel cover badges are now available from Mopedland/Chainmail at £4 each. The original Villiers badges were printed on aluminium plates, which over the years have become very prone to falling off and getting lost, to the point where few machines can be found still wearing the badges today. Replacements have been unavailable for a considerable time. Obsolete Engineering has now manufactured these badges as a printed domed decal, which faithfully reproduces the original artwork. They are self adhesive, and simply applied by peeling off a backing tape and sticking in place.
The badge is sized approximately 2" × 1 5/16" to fit in the 3K engine magneto flywheel cover recess. Order them from www.mopedland.co.uk
Note - these are not suited to the later 3K/1 engine version, which has a larger recess of 2 1/2" × 1 5/8". There is a possibility that the 3K/1 badge may be reproduced later.
DVLA has changed form V5c - the registration document or "log book". The new ones are immediately obvious from the bright red panels on the front.
First things first: the old versions are still all valid; you don't need to do anything. Apart from the colour, the main changes are:
A "This document is not proof of ownership" statement on the front. This isn't really anything new - they're just making it much more noticeable.
Removal of the return slip to use if you scrap a vehicle. This is because, when scrapped, all cars, light vans and three-wheeled motor vehicles - excluding motor tricycles - must be taken to an Authorised Treatment Facility, who should issue a Certificate of Destruction (CoD). This is to conform with EU ELV (End of Life Vehicle) regulations. From our point of view, it's worth noting that not only are motor cycles not in the list, but there are also exemptions from ELV regulations for historic vehicles.
In the autumn of 2010, Miniatuurshop.nl will release four different Puch and Tomos models in 1:10 scale. They will be a Puch VS50, Puch MV50, Tomos 3L and Tomos 2L. Each version will be available in two colour schemes with a limited edition of 500 models being made in each colour. Bookings for these models are likely to be very fast. To reserve a model you can e-mail: . The models will be €49.95 each including VAT (19% in The Netherlands). Below is a list of the planned models:
Puch MV50 in black with chrome/red tank,
Puch MV50 in black with chrome/beige tank,
Puch VS50 in white with chrome/white tank,
Puch VS50 in black with chrome/yellow tank,
Tomos 2L in black with full chrome tank,
Tomos 2L in red with full chrome tank,
Tomos 3L in metallic gray with full chrome tank,
Tomos 3L in blue with full chrome tank.
Miniatuurshop.nl is
at:
Kievitlaan 29
9411HD Beilen
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 593 851233
E-mail: .
Now it's the main summer holiday season we'd like to apologize in advance if our responses to your queries aren't as quick as usual - especially during the first two weeks of August. If normal people can go on holiday, why can't we?
While on his way to attend the Peninsularis Run on Sunday 4th
July, Dave Evans was knocked off his bike. He's a bit
bruised and battered but is 'walking wounded' and was able to
make good his escape from hospital and visit us at Bucklesham
later that afternoon. Dave would like to thank all those
EACC and NACC members who have helped him and expressed
their good wishes - those who recovered his bike, visited the
hospital, ran his jumble stall and the many, many of you who have
'phoned and send cards to wish him well;
Thank you all.
DVLA has announced that new versions of forms V55/4 and V55/5 will be available from DVLA Local Offices from 21 June 2010. The forms have been revised to include four new data fields to enable DVLA to comply with EU Directive 2007/46/EC (relating to Type Approval). The old forms will cease to be valid on 28 June 2010. Read More on the FBHVC website.
Motor Cycles Made in Suffolk is a new book in the Ipswich Transport History series. We have collaborated with Ipswich Transport Museum to produce this 24-page booklet that describes the post-war production of motor cycles in Suffolk. You can buy a copy on-line (see our Books Page) or in person at Ipswich Transport Museum's Shop. Copies will also be available at several EACC events.
The articles from Issue 13 of the magazine are now all available as web pages - with the main three in 'Director's Cut' versions.
World's End: Phillips Gadabouts in New Zealand
Not an Egg: The Motobi moped
Essex Chapter Chatter reveals Pete Smith's racing career.
Plan Z: The Zorplan Shopper
Letters: feedback from last issue's Lido feature.
Today (23rd February) a mystery package came through the IceniCAM letterbox. No indication of who sent it or why. It contained copies of correspondence between Frank Brzeski and the committee of the National Autocycle and Cyclemotor Club Ltd, along with an article by Frank with the title "The Loneliness of the Cyclemotorist". This article was written to be published in Buzzing but the NACC Ltd committee refused to print it - hence the correspondence.
It seems to us that there are two issues involved here. Firstly, the content of the article itself, which is a thoughtful and well-written piece about the sorts of machines that the NACC Ltd should be encouraging. It's the kind of subject that often comes up for discussion in many clubs - and normal clubs seem to have no problem with their members discussing this subject.
Secondly, there's the issue of the NACC Ltd's refusal to publish it, which has far more to do with the turmoil still raging within the club ... and it's probably best if we keep well clear of that subject.
Frank has put the article on some of his eBay listings, so you can read it there.
To our anonymous informant: if you sent us that for our own amusement, then many thanks. If you were hoping we'd publish it all, then sorry, we can't do that unless Frank himself gives us permission.
Honda PC50 sprocketsHonda stopped supplying front sprockets for the Honda PC50 some time go and the stocks held by the main Honda parts suppliers in the UK have run out. ChainMail has stepped into the breach by producing a batch of these sprockets. These are made from super-hard metal and should last longer than the originals!
Even older news stories are available in our 2009 News Archive
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