does anyone know much about those french solex bikes...the one's with the small 50cc engine on the front wheel...?

reason being...me ol man is 65 an retired...an he has got the bug for getting one of these... they are sposed to be incredibly good on petrol....

but.... he doesnt seem to understand...he will be right at the bottom of the order of importance on the roads...with lorries whipping past his ear and bullying motorists giving him no room....bit like being on a cycle....

i also have the feeling they might be hard to get registered with dvla..? there are a few on ebay...but i havent seen one on the roads..?....

any info appreciated...thanks

There was place in Hove hiring them out a few years ago.

They are easy enough to register over here and there are a few on the roads, though not as many as in France of course. they come up from time to time on ebay already registered with V5s and TBH if I was going for one that's what I'd look for.

Back in 1977 when I was 15 and on a family holiday in Great Yarmouth I nicked my sports-jock cousin's provisional licence and hired one of these for the day to ride around. As a first step up from a pushbike it was brilliant fun.

However, they only do 20mph absolute maximum and with caliper bicycle brakes you wouldn't want to do much more.

I used to be a member of the NACC http://www.thebuzzingclub.co.uk/ (autocycles and mopeds) in a previous life, and they had a VeloSolex section. That club has been self-destructing for the last few years, but this guy organised the Velosolex bit. http://briansolex.free.fr/ This might be his facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/login.php (I'm getting anal now!) There's a newer more active version of the club based in East Anglia, mostly comprised of the people thrown out of the other one! http://www.autocycle.freeserve.co.uk/ea ... newsletter