Velo Solex Times Two

[bogieboy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

When you say plain bearings, does that mean caged bearings, like one would find in a one piece bottom bracket?

i am guessing it means a soft metal alloy bearing, similar to a crank shaft bearing in a normal internal combustion engine.... hence the grease zerk...

[cheesy]

Nope. Plain old bushing type bearings.

[Weldangrind]

IOW, not ball bearings?

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

IOW, not ball bearings?

Not a one.

I spoke with my co-worker from France this week. He and I will be LA in a few weeks. When I asked what I owed him he just wanted a cold beer, or three. How can you go wrong?

[Weldangrind]

That's the new commerce for me. IPA, preferably.

[cheesy]

Picked Tony up at LAX this afternoon and this is what he gave me.


I thought I was tired, dealing with a bad sinus infection and the side affects from the meds. Tony flew Moscow to Paris and Paris to Lyon yesterday. Slept for a few hours at home then boarded a flight from Lyon to Amsterdam, followed by a flight from Amsterdam to LAX. Sucks to be Tony right now.

[Weldangrind]

Wow! I hope Tony gets to put his feet up in the U.S. for a while.

[cheesy]

Yup, he's stuck here in LA with me for two weeks, then he get's to sleep in own bed for a few weeks.

[Weldangrind]

Did you find a quality beer to repay him? The pumpkin ales are out now.

[Bruce's]

I have less than zero interest in these bikes for some reason ,but I was just checking Toronto kijiji and a 1974 popped up for $100.00 .I am 5 hours drive from there ,but should be heading down in the next week to do a few days work and can pick it up if somebody wants it .A few of my brother in laws cross the border several times a month in their trucks so they can ship it from the states if required (they owe me mega Huge favours ) one of them works for a steel company out of Pittsburg and is there quite often .

[cheesy]

Alrighty then. I'm reposting this picture to tell a somewhat humorous story that happened to me a couple weeks ago. I'm telling it now because I'm working on night number six in a hotel and I am bored out of my skull.

So, I'm working on Mrs. C's lawnmower engine and I need to wander over to the mid sized roll around to get a wrench. 7/16" if you must know. I get the wrench and head back to the engine. I take about three steps and I suddenly find myself lying face first on the garage floor. As I try to pick myself up, something is pinning me down. I struggle a bit more while painting the air blue with profanity. After about thirty seconds, Mrs. C arrives in the garage to see what the commotion is and begins to bust a gut.

Me-"Dammit, woman. What's so funny?"

Her(with tears in her eyes)-"Why are you laying under the black moped?"

Me-"What? Why is the black one on top of me? Get it off."

Mrs. C tries to lift it off of me and I yowl in pain.

Her-"What?"

Me-"Something's stabbing me."

Mrs. C looks closer and starts laughing again and between guffaws and straining for breath says, "You have a brake lever poking you in the butt. It's caught in your belt loop!"

Me-"Crap."

Yes, I had snagged that inverse brake lever shown in the pic with a belt loop on my jeans, was body slammed to the garage floor, and pinned for the count.

Mrs. C's mirth lasted at least a week.

[Weldangrind]

Thanks for answering the question. I wondered what size the wrench was.

[cheesy]

Hey, I still have these beasties.


I've given up on getting them titled in Illannoy. Cash outlay for each is about four times what I paid for pair. They can kiss my butt. I'd like to find them new homes but Mrs. C won't hear of it. So, I guess they have been promoted to campground errand duty four when we go.

So, for that to happen, new tires are needed. Looked around online a bit and was pretty disappointed in what I was finding. Pricing was ridiculous, as was shipping. Just about to walk away for awhile, then I remembered treatland.tv, 'Your Online Moped Super Store'. (I picture a couple of tattooed guys and gals with noserings in small warehouse in downtown Frisco) Four Hutchinson Neuvere 21B 19 x 1.75 tires, four heavy duty tubes, and four rim strips for $192 shipped. Almost what I paid for both of the bikes, but I was looking at $137 a pair, plus another buck n' a half for shipping from France. I think I did okay.

[cheesy]

Well, this has been awhile. The smokey little poops are enjoying life here at Cheesy Manor. They get ridden nearly every weekend.

The yellow one has a brand new fuel tank, although in black, not white. I found a white one after ordering the black tank but the seller was asking the price of two black tanks, so I didn't cancel the order for the black tank.

The black one now has working lights. Working, because I got fed up with the cluster f&*$ of a French engineered switch and hardwired the lights, which is US spec anyway. And, unlike the yellow ones' lights, on the black one, you can actually see the road at night.

They are both pretty much dialed in now and still kind of a hoot to ride.

[Ascot500]

What is that car in the background?