What is the most French thing that can be designed into a motorbike?

"Berang" (berang) 05/25/2015 at 02:26 • Filed to: front wheel drive mopeds, velosolex, French

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If one uses the term motorbike in the most literal sense of motor + bike, this thing is the second best selling motorbike of all time - only second to the Honda Cub.

The French it seems, have a hard spot for front wheel drive. There was a period of time when the French just could not stop figuring out new and novel ways to work front wheel drive into vehicles. They even made front wheel drive mopeds. The Velosolex is one of those front wheel drive mopeds. And what, in vehicular terms, could be more french than a front wheel drive moped? Nothing of course. But is that the most French design feature of the Velosolex?

I had the fortune to obtain a 1970s era Velosolex. By this time Solex (yes the carburetor people) had refined the design, which originated in the 1940s, to about the point where the engineers said “fuck it this is stupid anyway”. The 4600 model for the U.S. market included such improvements as a sealed beam headlight, and a hand throttle that worked properly. Believe it or not, the French version had a reverse throttle - twisting the hand grip closed the throttle - the default position was wide open. Those wacky wacksters. This isn’t quite as crazy as it sounds because the engine puts out less than 1hp and the top speed is about 20mph, so the pegged open throttle is sort of like cruise control. It leaves a hand free for smoking cigarettes while riding.

What other weird things could French scientists work into just one bike? How about a carburetor with no float or float bowl? When most mopeds relied on a cheap, limitless supply of gravity to move fuel to the carb - not so Solex. The fuel is moved by a diaphragm pump worked by the pulsing crankcase pressure of the 49cc 2-stroke engine. And no float in the carb? Simple, the excess is channeled back to the fuel tank through an overflow tube - so the gas just keeps circulating endlessly between the tank and the carb. Sort of like one of those old timey lemonade fountains.

Weirdness for weirdness sake not the most French of French things? How about practicality taken to the extreme? Almost the entire bike - including the frame is held together with 9mm bolts and nuts. And there is a 9mm wrench in the tool kit. Anybody who’s played with an erector set has essentially trained to become a certified Solex mechanic.

But lets get back to the front wheel drive part. Front wheel drive makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons for cars. It doesn’t quite make that much sense on a two wheel vehicle. You have to put the engine on the front fork so the center of gravity is quite high, and you’ve also got to put the fuel tank there too unless you want to deal with some complex plumbing. Another issue is that whereas front wheel drive in a car provides excellent traction, on a moped where you weigh about 20,000,000 times more than the motor - and your weight is distributed mainly to the rear wheel - front wheel drive actually means less traction. Driving a Velosolex uphill in the rain is an interesting experience. And you know what is great for handling on a two wheeled vehicle? Wheel spin. Wheel spin of the front wheel. The wheel that needs to be steering you away from mailboxes, buses, and large open pits inexplicably located on rainy roads.

The other thing that is interesting about riding a Velosolex in the rain is the front brake. This a is a caliper brake that acts on the front rim - so basically a bicycle brake. Have you ever ridden a bike in the rain, and then tried to stop really fast? It’s like that - you don’t stop. Ever. This is not a matter of increased braking distance. This is a matter of infinite braking distance. Luckily Solex thought of this too, and for safety sake the rear brake is a tiny little drum that’s rain proof, so you only lose 50% of your braking power in the rain (not accounting for whatever you lose through wet tires).

The nicest thing though is this: the Velosolex gets about 200mpg. Maybe more. The gas tank doesn’t even hold 1 gallon, and you still might only fill it up once a month. That’s amazing. The thrift of this machine has caused it to be popular for short periods of time around the world. The tooling for this thing has literally been around the planet. When the French got tired of making the things - China and Hungary took turns making them. And when they got tired of making them, the tooling went back to France and the French started making them again. They’re still making them now (or maybe they stopped in 2011? sources are unclear).

Of course the love of French for front wheel drive motorbikes didn’t start with the Velosolex. They’d been hammering away at the idea for decades by that point. Here’s an add for the front wheel drive Werner of 1900, courtesy of wikimedia commons:

Flavien Vidal > Berang 05/25/2015 at 03:57

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I have used a couple of these and I have family member who actually collect them...

They are well... sketchy... especially in the rain. They don’t have anywhere near to right amount of power to climb anything, even small hills and require lots of muscle to pedal as they are freaking heavy. We still race those actually today... I went to a few of Solex races and it’s fun as hell to watch. I might try to participate someday as I have very easy access to Solex, the biggest race is 1hour away from my home in France and it’s cheap as hell to race there :)

Berang > Flavien Vidal 05/25/2015 at 04:19

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I’ve seen videos of the races, and understand that it takes a lot of modifications in the most competitive races as the Solex engine will self destruct at speeds over 25mph. It must take some guts to ride those frames that fast.

I enjoyed my stock 4600 a lot. It was strangely reminiscent of driving a small tractor... only a little bit faster.

Flavien Vidal > Berang 05/25/2015 at 04:25

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The leaders are with fully modyfied bikes but anyone can particpate... It doesn’t matter if it’s modified or not... And don’t forget you can pedal to go faster :)

pip bip - choose Corrour > Berang 05/25/2015 at 04:42

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not a great machine then.

Cé hé sin > Berang 05/25/2015 at 05:11

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“and when they got tired of making them, the tooling went back to France and the French started making them again. They’re still making them now.”

They’re making e-bikes now though.

Berang > Cé hé sin 05/25/2015 at 05:45

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You seem to be right. The Velosolex 4800 was still available here as of 2011, but now I can’t find anybody selling them. I never read anything about production ending though.

LongbowMkII > Berang 05/25/2015 at 09:20

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This line made me laugh-

to about the point where the engineers said “fuck it this is stupid anyway”.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Berang 05/25/2015 at 10:51

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The second most French thing you can put on a moped is a picnic basket.

julienjj > Berang 05/29/2015 at 22:52

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That’s funny. I own one of these. Two in fact, as one is a part donor. Both are 5000 in bright orange color :P

AlsoKnownAsRukh > Berang 05/30/2015 at 02:33

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What about designing a Citroen 2CV into a motorbike?

The story is that a guy was left stranded by a breakdown in the Sahara, and he hacked his 2CV to bits, mated its functional parts together over several days, then drove this thing out. The veracity of these claims has been brought into question though.

Fuel_of_Satan > Berang 05/30/2015 at 08:27

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You forgot to point out for the Americans that might not react to the metric system sizes as they’ll be inherently weird anyway, but 9mm is an unusual size. It’s very French. 9mm is usually always skipped by the Germans, Italians and Japanese as they go from 8-10mm sizes. Nothing is 9mm. I don’t think I’ve ever used my 9mm sockets or wrenches.

Weird down to the smallest detail. I love French vehicles.

AfromanGTO > Berang 07/14/2016 at 12:43

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Citroen 2CV motorcycle

450X_FTW > Berang 07/14/2016 at 12:45

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Most french bike ever? would need one of these.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Berang 07/14/2016 at 12:45

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Here in the Netherlands there are tons of companies renting them out for company bonding, family activities and such. I once went on a solex tour with my work, we didn’t drive really far but it was quite fun, playing with the fuel metering lever to allow the engine to run a tiny bit faster and such. Since the Netherlands is quite very flat, we didn’t have any issues with it being FWD, though it is weird at first. Also since we are used to riding bikes a lot over here, we were pedaling almost the whole time to gain extra speed.

There also is a 24h race with Solexes in a neighbouring town, the Solexes have to be mechanically stock. The race runs through two bars and a bulls stable, which is kinda odd.

DipodomysDeserti > Flavien Vidal 07/14/2016 at 12:59

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The only thing that could have made those videos more French is if the riders were all smoking cigarettes.

bob and john > Berang 07/14/2016 at 14:09

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Nice. Now something else weird and perverse that I need in my life

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Berang 07/14/2016 at 21:46

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The only way that could get more French is if there were a built in picnic basket.