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Anyone here old enough to remember the breed? On sale from 1972 to about 1977, these pedal-equipped machines were stacks of fun at 16 years old and still fun now.
I went through a spell of buying and selling the things in the 1990s and managed to own most of them at some stage.
For anyone who can remember them my favourites were the Fantic Chopper, the Yamaha FS1E, the Garelli Tiger Cross and the Malagutti Olympique.
There is a thriving club devoted to these little terrors.Remember them well mate.Has a Fissie and always liked the Garellis.Didn,t mention the old SS 50 I see[
]I,m a fallen angel who,s lost his wings ands been left out in the cold….
I had a Flandria, which hailed from Belgium. I swapped it for a Mobylette moped because the front fork bushes had gone and the bloke who had it was desperate for some road legal transport to get to work. The bushes where supplied courtesy of the BT workshops Martlesham (thanks Dad). This was very unusal and i have only seen 1 other on the road over here. It was very high geared so you had to slip the clutch to get it away but therefore had a very good top speed and I was clocked by 1 of Suffolks finest doing 57mph on it.
Here is a picture of the “beast”. The high level pipe dripped oil onto my foot constently and the flame paint job was on it when I got it (honest).
Donut – I mean DONATE!
Looks nothing like Beast, trust me. The bike is far better looking.
Would be worth a few quid now Kat
I didn’t mention plenty, there were around 60 that i know of.
Others i owned include Fantic Super T, Montesa Cota 49, Fantic Ti, Gilera Enduro, Malagutti Cavalcone, Testi Champion, Mobylette Motobecane Sport Special, AJW Greyhound, Puch M50S and Puch VZ50.
Check out this months Classic Motorcycle Mechanics. It has run 18 of the best super mopeds past a radar gun..
The fastest was a Fantic GT Super 6 that did a true 56mph.
The Yamaha FSIE (“Fizzie”) and Suzuki AP50, the big rivals of the day drew at 49mph!
All the speedos overead, so we can see where all the “I did 70 honest” stories come from!
You can live more in five minutes on a motorbike going high speed than you can going slow in your whole lifetime
The quickest bikes out on the road in practice tended to be the 6-speed versions of the Italian bikes. Unreliable and quirky they were, for sure, with appalling electrics and finish, but they were very quick, for 49cc of 1970s power!
The Garellis were fast, too, despite being 4-speeders.
The mopeds with 6 cogs were the best if you tuned the engine highly, as the tiny powerband of a 10bhp 49cc motor meant 4 gears were too few!The Japanese bikes were reliable in the face of the most dire abuse and thrashing but were in a lower state of tune and heavier. 50mph was never seen from a stock bike, not a genuine 50 on the level anyway.
Much easier to live with however.The most collectable mopeds now are the Fantic Chopper, The Fantic Super T and then various small-number Italian bikes.
Probably the best moped overall was the last Gitane, with mag wheels, disc brake, 7.2 bhp, 60 mph and a half-fairing, easily the raciest of all the pedal-powered wasps!
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