Nostalgia

The proper moped is back in the UK   


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That's not a moped it hasn't got any pedals. I remember well the NSU Quickly and the contraption like an ordinary bike with an engine in the back wheel and a petrol tank on the rear carrier, an Autocycle I think.

My first bike was a Bown with a girder front suspension and solid rear. It had a Villiers 98cc engine with 2 gears operated by a handle bar mounted lever similar to the Sturmey Archer bicycle gears. I was only 13 then but we could ride them off road. Most importantly I learnt how to repair them.

My first bike that I ever had and rode off road aged 8 was a cut down Rayleigh Runabout. They had pedals, but mine were removed in its modification.  It led on to various Grass Track and Speedway bikes.

Mrs P's first bike she rode was a Honda XL 250S. Her first road bike was a DT 80 MX with a big bore kit.  

As per normal navver got here before me.

navver wrote:That's not a moped it hasn't got any pedals. I remember well the NSU Quickly and the contraption like an ordinary bike with an engine in the back wheel and a petrol tank on the rear carrier, an Autocycle I think.

My first bike was a Bown with a girder front suspension and solid rear. It had a Villiers 98cc engine with 2 gears operated by a handle bar mounted lever similar to the Sturmey Archer bicycle gears. I was only 13 then but we could ride them off road. Most importantly I learnt how to repair them.

navver

Grammatically correct  "The word moped was coined by Swedish journalist Harald Nielsen in 1952, as a portmanteau of motor and pedal." but showing your age "The term moped, assigned category AM on a UK driving licence, describes any low-powered motor driven cycle with an engine capacity not greater than 50 cc (3.1 cu in) and a maximum design speed of no more than 45 km/h (28 mph).[25]
Before 19 January 2013, the speed restriction was 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph),[26]
and mopeds registered before 1 September 1977 were required to have pedal-assistance" See [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

To confuse things further this is now a moped.

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Well sort of. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It's not just Dandys and folding campers where people steal images. I did a Google images search for the picture and found [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] though four of them are the same ad posted in different ways. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] So is it new or used and how did he manage to pedal it?

navver wrote:I remember well the NSU Quickly and the contraption like an ordinary bike with an engine in the back wheel and a petrol tank on the rear carrier, an Autocycle I think

Another portmanteau word is "Autocycle" a generic term for all pedal cycles with motor power. Cyclemotor was the term you were looking for. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Must admit i read the advert where he mentioned pedaling but never noticed it didnt have pedals,mind you it was the style that struck a chord with me.As some will know ime a electric bike fan and these have come on since the one i use with its lead acid battery's,for commuting within a 20mile radius i would stick with electric,cheaper to buy cheaper to maintain and cheaper to run,like the one below you could do a 15 mile round trip easy without pedaling and use cycle paths.

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navver

This was my first road bike a BSA dandy (this one wasn't mine),had been riding bantams since i was 13 over the fields

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A Dandy fan from the word go Mike?
As a big MZ fan I was about to go down the route of saying how the BSA Bantam was a copy of the DKW RT 125 switched round left to right and how the RT 125 was copied throughout the world. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Except of course the Dandy didn't use the Bantam engine it was a pecularly British cock up.  http://www.icenicam.ukfsn.org/articles3/art0052.html

No idea you were a fan of electric bikes. About 2008 I got to ride a Vectrix electric scooter. At 20Kw (about 27hp) it was a very different beast. Apparently most of those who tried it were surprised at the linear nature of electric motors and how fast 20Kw can accelerate you. I had some experience of electric traction on the road with east European trolley busses and so was not surprised. N.B. Communist era Hungarian trolley bus drivers did NOT accelerate gently for the comfort of the passengers. It was however the first scooter I'd ever ridden and my first experience of feet forward riding and so it was a blast. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Electric vehicles are not as advertised pollution free, they just fail to pollute at the point of use: The batteries are pretty ugly environmentally. One must ask what is the electricity produced from. Then finally there is the energy used in production. While cities are busy banning or charging older vehicles to enter the truth is still that the most environmentally thing you can do is not buy a new vehicle.   Rant part 1.

Electric vehicles are getting closer or are in some cases now economic sense. I'm a bit iffy about electric cars or hybrids as they use lithium ion batteries and as some of you may know these are not the most stable things. What you might not know is they are next to impossible to put out. Mental picture of family trapped in crashed car that starts to burn. Fire brigade in attendance but unable to do anything. Obviously with battery powered motorcycles and battery assisted pushbikes you can just exit the vehicle.
Some of the ranges advertised are a bit optimistic one might say but motorcycles can now genuinely exceed 60 miles though I'm unsure of the electrically assisted pushbike range. Though the range of the pushbike is doubled if you can charge it at work and this is far more possible with simple battery and chargers that can be unclipped and plugged into a conventional three pin socket.
Any form of two wheel transport is good for a city. It has been estimated that if 10% of car users switched to 2 wheel transport it would remove 40% of traffic congestion. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]     Rant part 2.

I agree the range in the adds is often optimistic but with slight pedal input you can get close,ours are very outdated but a set of 3 x 12volt 15AH SLA battery's with slight pedaling from me will clear 25miles.think i may have posted pictures before from a fishing trip,the beauty of the bike and trailer is i can ride all the way to the pond side,no gear to carry.

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I saw an Aixam a few years ago. I believe it was light enough it could be driven (ridden) on a motorbike licence as used to apply to the 3 wheelers. The bond was a popular one. A 197cc Villiers engine with a kick starter under the bonnet. No reverse gear, you just pushed it back.

navver wrote:I saw an Aixam a few years ago. I believe it was light enough it could be driven (ridden) on a motorbike licence as used to apply to the 3 wheelers. The bond was a popular one. A 197cc Villiers engine with a kick starter under the bonnet. No reverse gear, you just pushed it back.

Never realised how many Villiers powered cars there were. I saw a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] at a classic car show and was very taken and amazed I'd never heard of them. The [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is something most of us remember but I wonder how many sub 30 year olds know what one is. They were banned from British roads in 2003. Odd as I can't think of another vehicle banned and also odd as they were all owned by the Ministry of Health so they could have just been recalled. Most had been recalled before 2003 I remember a giant pile of Invacars in the scrapyard just outside LLandudno.


Two bikes Mike you don't make Nancy endure you angling do you?

Come on Kevin look at the picture again,near the trailer you see a stove,water,kettle,Nancy = cups of tea and bacon buns