Very interesting,the only company I've heard of out of the five was the Motobecane ,its good that people collect these bikes and look after them from a historical point of view👍
In the late 1960s, I acquired an Itom racer which had been modified and prepared for racing by Frank Sheene, father of the late, great Barry Sheene. I never raced it - being far too big and heavy - but was a proud owner. At that time I used to go to Racing 50 MCC meetings at Snetterton and Cadwell Park. Incidentally, in those days, the, now defunct, Grand Prix circuit was in use at Snetterton. This was when some club racers were beginning to use ex-works Hondas and guys like George Ashton came to dominate the 50cc club racing scene. These videos have brought back some great memories. Thank you.
Have a look at the fabulous Fantic Chopper. A genuine Easy Rider style chopper with long extended forks and a 50cc motor. Every 70s 16 year old's dream
I had a Motorbecane, purchased new in Nashville, Tennessee for a few years, until I moved up to a "Giant" Vespa rally 180. They were both great little bikes and never had any trouble with either of them.
I have never heard of any of these mopeds and lived in the U.K in the 60's and 70's. You were lucky if you had a Honda 50 on the wages you got as an apprentice (5 quid a week).
I have a collection of bikes, for some reason I have become rather keen on quick mopeds. My first one was a Motobecane d52 that was Dr Joe Ehrilch's development machine and has boost port technology. It is the only one in the world and was ridden to a 1 hour endurance record before Rex Avery raced in the 1966 Monza GP. I have a letter from the design engineer that says it hit 6.2 BHP, quite remarkable back then. I also have a Maserati T2 50 SS, very rare again, maybe less than 5 survive. It runs beautifully, it has been tuned and has an Itom piston, it has been lightened to the point where there is hardly any metal holding it together. I just acquired an Itom 50cc Competizione, only 13 were imported in to the UK. I am in the process of restoring it, I have two engines - one good, on not so good. They are great fun and it's quite surprising how quick they are once they get going. Love the vids, keep em coming.
My first moped was a Motobecane (1972) however the registration log book described it as a Mobylette sports 50. Engine wise it was 110% reliable but the drive belts used to fall apart without warning, usually when I hadn't got a spare and it was raining!! Happy days🙃
The Testi is a thing of beauty. The only one I have heard of is motomacane. My mate had a step through style one. It was very surprising, it did 40mph two up. Took some time to reach that speed though.
In the mid 1960s Motobecane was the best-selling moped in the UK. Most of them were in the step-through style with either single-speed or continuously variable belt drive. Motobecane also supplied the engines for a range of similar mopeds from the British firm Raleigh.
That's my red Testi,not like that at all now,it has a 70cc big bore engine 6 speed and is in its original Orange metallic colour and lives in my living room,there are videos of it on youtube channel morini500dave.
Great video again , I only really knew of Motobecane and have seen a picture before of an Itom . I’ve enjoyed your 4 recent sports moped videos , how about one on the more classic step thru mopeds , I had a quick look through your collection and didn’t see one but there’s a few I’m going to have to watch of bikes i once owned and others I’d have loved too keep up the great work . 🙂👍
Already been thinking about it but will release some different videos first as the popularity of the moped videos has tailed off so a change of subject for a while would be good
The only moped I did not know was the Paloma. But then I'm from The Netherlands and mopeds were a big thing back in the 60s, 70s and 80s. There were quite a few Dutch moped producers as well. I started my 2 wheel 'career' back in 1968 on a Sparta Sport moped. Sparta was a big Dutch moped brand. They now do e-bikes. In those years Kreidler or Zundapp was the moped to have if you liked them on the sporty side. Excellent mopeds, yet quite expensive. I progressed to a DKW moped and than to a Yamaha YDS5E, 250cc twin with electric starter. Now a Pan European and a XJ 900S Diversion share the space in my shed. Nice video, thank you.
All super lightweight bikes were made with underfed, skinny teenagers in mind. Due to increasing body mass index across the whole population,nowadays they’d have to aim them at off road learners aged about 11 😀
Great video as allways, very informative. I had heard of the Testi but I don't think I have ever seen one. How do you find so many mint gems? Have you ever covered MZs or Cossack bikes?
At age 15 even I could see the Motobecane with it's duel seat and chrome tank was a very ordinary single speed french moped faked up to look like a proper bike. Now, Testi were probably the most glamorous sports moped made back then, very rare, very expensive, but real eye candy and luscious.I remember looking at an Itom Astor 4m in Jax motorcycles when they were on Walmgate York, I would have been about 10 years old
Those fenders ? That slicked out head and jug ? Wtf did I just watch ? I am a bikeahaulic and never have I seen anything like this . I'm no electrician yet I know when I've been shocked ! I can't put it into words . ❤
@@bikerdood1100 yes sir . They call the barrel a jug in the states . I've never heard it called the barrel . I definitely learn something new with every video you post . Absolutely Brilliant !
By 'slicked out' do you mean on the red Paloma at 4:07?? That is indicative that the engine is fan cooled - there is a fan on the end of the crank (it might double as a flywheel) which pulls in air through the grilled left hand engine cover, forces it around the barrel and head under the polished shroud, and out through the 'window' on the right hand side. This gives positive cooling airflow when stationary - and gives you something nice to polish! Puch did the same on a lot of their stepthrough mopeds (but not the Maxi, IIRC)
@@bikerdood1100 ruclips.net/video/uu0zpJVgUEU/видео.html . I don't know if you've ever heard of a kikker 5150 . There little bikes that come out of California. I've never seen any 2 the same . They have displacements up to 250 cos. All of them are rigid and I've had the pleasure of riding 2 of them with suicide shifts and a foot operated clutch . Very cool little bikes with junk accoutrements .
There is a motorcycle museum in Peterborough, Australia, with many of these small (mainly) Italian mopeds and motorcycles. A long way to go for many of your viewers of course, but worth the effort if you are in the country. It’s in country SA, around 3 hours drive from the nearest city, so for any Brits, it’s a days ride / drive 😎
@@bikerdood1100 In a way most modern bikes are not. I am sure they would sell if one of the Big Four made one. I can't see much in Groms and Daxs. Who knows?
I've had a Standard, the Testi with a Sachs. Awesome machine until it blew it's top and crank due to hidden rust. Would love to see you review the old Swedish Company NYMANS VERKSTÄDER AB, who did the NV Autoped!
Preview a Gilera rs touring if you can find one , this was my first bike. 1976 no pedals non restricted 5 speed. went like the stink when it went. Rode very quickly when cold gradually slowed when it got up to temperature. would love to have it now.
Brilliant, I never knew Testi and Gitane were one and the same; was that also true of Motobecane and Mobylette, or did they with Raleigh just use the same automatic engine/transmissions? The Portugese? manufacturer Casal made a very motorcycle looking 50 too in the 70's 😀
They were indeed imported by Raleigh. I believe the Wisp used a Raleigh frame but still has a Mobylette engine whine the rest are just the French bikes rebadged Hmm a video about French bikes 🤔
Started my biking career at this time so knew all these names but I bought a Kriedler RM 50. Quite rare in England but we'll known on the continent and in racing where they were very successful and also had some world records to their name.
I can remember a Gitane something or other being displayed in a shop window in Old Hemel High Street. It was ridiculously expensive and the shop had nothing to do with motorcycles, just getting on the bandwagon of super mopeds. It was very flashy but by then my mates and I had moved on to proper motorcycles up to the 250cc limit, as was the law back then for L plates.
What can I say, the Testi, what a beautiful machine. Yes Italian bikes were expensive and sometimes fragile but the handling and general performance beats the opposition hands down. Styling , beautiful alloy castings, virtually no plastic I could go on! O.k I admit you did have to carry a toolkit and a spare plug or two!🤣🤣
@@bikerdood1100 I think the popularity of Minarelli engines was well deserved. They are very well-made and very reliable as long as they are not over-revved; over-revving results in a broken top piston ring and a score mark in the cylinder. I did about 40,000 miles over several years on a Fantic TI. It never let me down, although there were a few occasions when it would have if I had not been carrying a spare chain link and a puncture repair kit and a bicycle pump.
@@cedriclynch I think two strokes generally are much more reliable than they are generally given credit for, the often broke due to over revving as you say but also neglect and the use of poor quality oils
@@bikerdood1100 Thinking about it, I think a common cause of over-revving on "sixteener specials" was that almost none of them had tachometers so the rider was left to guess how fast you could safely go in each gear. Some riders used to change up when the bike ceased to accelerate in the gear it was in. Some also investigated how fast the bike could go down the steepest hill they could find, and believed the speedometer (even if it was Italian) for the result . The only sixteener special that could withstand this without a risk of damage was the Yamaha FS1E.
I see you have my red tank Testi Champione in this video,in the video it's powered by a Minerelli 4 speed P4 engine,it now as of 8/6/24 a 6 speed p6 engine with a Polini 70cc big bore kit and when last ridden capable of 70 mph.it is now residing in my living room.
@@bikerdood1100 the extreme riding position isn’t great for my 60+ years bones and muscles,and the engine being highly stressed has the need of a new bearing for the first motion shaft to the clutch and the most basic thing is I ‘ve no space in my shed so myself and a neighbour dragged up stair in to my first floor flat where it’ll stay for now.
I started to ride bikes in the early 1970s, gillera, motor-morini, malagutti, and many more exotic names adorned the roads back then, then came the game-changing FS1E the fizzy, Yamaha did a HP deal on them, I think it was £20 down and ride away on it if your mam would sign the HP forms, the interest was very low and in a few months everyone had one, they cost under £200 and they sell for up to £8K for a concourse machine now, I still think suzuki's AP50S was the best of all the "fast fiftys"
I was a biker or moped rider back in the day, but how did we get fueled up before auto lube ! i dont remember how we got our 2 stroke mix as a daily thing ! ?
Well there used to be oil dispensers or cans at the pumps many moons ago I suppose people carried bottles of oil. This likely explains the regularity with which the bikes seized. Trying to get the correct ratio and I don5 expect the stuff at the pumps was the best
@@bikerdood1100 I worked at a gas station that also sold Saab cars back in the 60's when the Saab had a 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine. Two stroke oil was added to the fuel tank.
The Simson (made in East Germany) did not appear in the UK until after the 30mph no-pedals moped law of August 1977. I think the manufacturer didn't want the bother of fitting pedals just for the UK market. The Simson did have to be slowed down in order to meet the speed restriction; I have heard somewhere that this was done by lengthening the exhaust pipe by about 100mm so as to lower the resonant frequency. The Simson certainly has amazing low-speed torque; it will cruise two-up in top gear up hills on which you would have to go down two gears on a Yamaha RD50.
You keep saying the engines are Morini. Moto Morini made the famous 3 1/2 V-twin motorcycle. You meant Moto Minarelli who made many of the engines fitted into Italian mopeds. The two company names are linked by ownership I believe.
The Casal, which was made in Portugal, was one of the first "sixteener special" mopeds to be introduced in the UK after the change in the licensing law of December 1971 that limited 16-year-olds to mopeds.
Oh my God your right !!! Except it’s Franco Minarelli It keeps me up nights does that error of galactic proportions Hoe could I have added Franco to the front of moped engine The Horror The Horror 🤪
@@bikerdood1100 I had one, it was used and sold as a road bike...though a fast 50cc one lol I used it to go to college and could be heard by the people at college as I left home to get there.
I've had a gitane testi back in the 70s. Bought new it's how i learnd to ride. Loved the bike look and the performance. Stock for a while then quite heavily modified.. this was a pocket rocket. There was nothing better than the Corsa. 50cc on fire. This little bike lead to bigger and more powerful bikes. Last one was a 1100 GSX R yoshimura. Last one unfortunately.... no regrets. Well a bit.
There was someone in my home town just north of London who ran a Balkan 50 for some years.. I only found out what it was when I saw it in a breaker's yard and looked more closely. It had a registration that was almost consecutive with that of a bike that I had that was originally sold by a dealer in Tottenham, London.
@@bikerdood1100 Ok, not splitting hairs, but I "teenaged"all the way through the height of the Sports moped era, having owned a Suzuki AP50 and a Garelli tiger, ( Garelli more fun but not reliable) anyway was part of a local fraternity, and yes Testi, Malagutti, Cimatti, Fantic all well represented, never saw a Testi with anything other than Minareli. Malagutti used Franko Morini . If you,ve seen a Testi with FM engine in Ok, but even your video clearly shows Minareli . Also I used to be "tea boy" helping out as a Saturday job at a small bike shop that sold AJW greyhound, and wolfhound, so would recognize Minareli blind folded.
The most exotic moped I remember seeing was the Fantic Caballero.
They are in the second video
It’s on Italian mopeds
There were several frantic caballero 50s. The full six day was very good.
Very interesting,the only company I've heard of out of the five was the Motobecane ,its good that people collect these bikes and look after them from a historical point of view👍
I agree it’s not just about the big capacity glamour machines
In the late 1960s, I acquired an Itom racer which had been modified and prepared for racing by Frank Sheene, father of the late, great Barry Sheene. I never raced it - being far too big and heavy - but was a proud owner. At that time I used to go to Racing 50 MCC meetings at Snetterton and Cadwell Park. Incidentally, in those days, the, now defunct, Grand Prix circuit was in use at Snetterton. This was when some club racers were beginning to use ex-works Hondas and guys like George Ashton came to dominate the 50cc club racing scene. These videos have brought back some great memories. Thank you.
Items are beautiful pieces of
And of course carried the First Lady to compete at the TT
Have a look at the fabulous Fantic Chopper. A genuine Easy Rider style chopper with long extended forks and a 50cc motor. Every 70s 16 year old's dream
It’s in the second video of the series dealing with Italian peds
@@bikerdood1100 Nice, thanks
I had a Motorbecane, purchased new in Nashville, Tennessee for a few years, until I moved up to a "Giant" Vespa rally 180. They were both great little bikes and never had any trouble with either of them.
Good to hear from a US owner
I have never heard of any of these mopeds and lived in the U.K in the 60's and 70's. You were lucky if you had a Honda 50 on the wages you got as an apprentice (5 quid a week).
That’s kind of the point really, did the better known bikes in the first three videos. Of the 5 I was familiar with 3 before I did some research.
Fantastic to see a review of these classic mopeds.
Well it’s the fourth iv3 done now, bikes getting less well known with each video
I have a collection of bikes, for some reason I have become rather keen on quick mopeds. My first one was a Motobecane d52 that was Dr Joe Ehrilch's development machine and has boost port technology. It is the only one in the world and was ridden to a 1 hour endurance record before Rex Avery raced in the 1966 Monza GP. I have a letter from the design engineer that says it hit 6.2 BHP, quite remarkable back then. I also have a Maserati T2 50 SS, very rare again, maybe less than 5 survive. It runs beautifully, it has been tuned and has an Itom piston, it has been lightened to the point where there is hardly any metal holding it together. I just acquired an Itom 50cc Competizione, only 13 were imported in to the UK. I am in the process of restoring it, I have two engines - one good, on not so good. They are great fun and it's quite surprising how quick they are once they get going. Love the vids, keep em coming.
Mopeds are quite popular at the moment
Especially 70s era ones
Very informative thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
My first moped was a Motobecane (1972) however the registration log book described it as a Mobylette sports 50.
Engine wise it was 110% reliable but the drive belts used to fall apart without warning, usually when I hadn't got a spare and it was raining!!
Happy days🙃
Well one owned the other hence the log book
Great selection there, looking forward to the next video.
Me too
I wonder what I’ll put in it
The Testi is a thing of beauty. The only one I have heard of is motomacane. My mate had a step through style one. It was very surprising, it did 40mph two up. Took some time to reach that speed though.
Very racy looking little thing
In the mid 1960s Motobecane was the best-selling moped in the UK. Most of them were in the step-through style with either single-speed or continuously variable belt drive. Motobecane also supplied the engines for a range of similar mopeds from the British firm Raleigh.
That's my red Testi,not like that at all now,it has a 70cc big bore engine 6 speed and is in its original Orange metallic colour and lives in my living room,there are videos of it on youtube channel morini500dave.
Only one of these brands that I've ridden was Motobecane- a neighbor's step-through, in Pennsylvania, mid 70s. The family still has it!
Some were very big companies especially motobecane
Great video again , I only really knew of Motobecane and have seen a picture before of an Itom . I’ve enjoyed your 4 recent sports moped videos , how about one on the more classic step thru mopeds , I had a quick look through your collection and didn’t see one but there’s a few I’m going to have to watch of bikes i once owned and others I’d have loved too keep up the great work . 🙂👍
Already been thinking about it but will release some different videos first as the popularity of the moped videos has tailed off so a change of subject for a while would be good
You get some amazing stuff on here!
I get some amazing suggestions from viewers, which helps a lot
The only moped I did not know was the Paloma. But then I'm from The Netherlands and mopeds were a big thing back in the 60s, 70s and 80s. There were quite a few Dutch moped producers as well. I started my 2 wheel 'career' back in 1968 on a Sparta Sport moped. Sparta was a big Dutch moped brand. They now do e-bikes. In those years Kreidler or Zundapp was the moped to have if you liked them on the sporty side. Excellent mopeds, yet quite expensive. I progressed to a DKW moped and than to a Yamaha YDS5E, 250cc twin with electric starter. Now a Pan European and a XJ 900S Diversion share the space in my shed. Nice video, thank you.
Glad it brought back some old memories
eine sehr interessante zusammenstellung. und wunderbar als video umgesetzt. vielen dank. 👌
Danker 👍🏻
I remember Motobecanes, and I know the Itom name. The Testi looks nice - but I'm too "generously proportioned" for such things now.
They are tiny
All super lightweight bikes were made with underfed, skinny teenagers in mind.
Due to increasing body mass index across the whole population,nowadays they’d have to aim them at off road learners aged about 11 😀
Great video as allways, very informative. I had heard of the Testi but I don't think I have ever seen one. How do you find so many mint gems?
Have you ever covered MZs or Cossack bikes?
Well not yet
Or CZ of course
@@bikerdood1100 thanks mate, keep up the good work.
At age 15 even I could see the Motobecane with it's duel seat and chrome tank was a very ordinary single speed french moped faked up to look like a proper bike. Now, Testi were probably the most glamorous sports moped made back then, very rare, very expensive, but real eye candy and luscious.I remember looking at an Itom Astor 4m in Jax motorcycles when they were on Walmgate York, I would have been about 10 years old
Testi looks amazing
The little red testi is ' the frog's bollocks '.😁
What small and wet 😂😂😂
It's now a little Orange one and is mine and sitting in my living room as I write this.
Those fenders ? That slicked out head and jug ? Wtf did I just watch ?
I am a bikeahaulic and never have I seen anything like this .
I'm no electrician yet I know when I've been shocked !
I can't put it into words .
❤
By jug I assume you mean the head and barrel?.
There are some wild bits of design going on in those little bikes
@@bikerdood1100 yes sir . They call the barrel a jug in the states . I've never heard it called the barrel . I definitely learn something new with every video you post .
Absolutely Brilliant !
By 'slicked out' do you mean on the red Paloma at 4:07?? That is indicative that the engine is fan cooled - there is a fan on the end of the crank (it might double as a flywheel) which pulls in air through the grilled left hand engine cover, forces it around the barrel and head under the polished shroud, and out through the 'window' on the right hand side. This gives positive cooling airflow when stationary - and gives you something nice to polish! Puch did the same on a lot of their stepthrough mopeds (but not the Maxi, IIRC)
@@bikerdood1100 ruclips.net/video/uu0zpJVgUEU/видео.html .
I don't know if you've ever heard of a kikker 5150 . There little bikes that come out of California. I've never seen any 2 the same . They have displacements up to 250 cos. All of them are rigid and I've had the pleasure of riding 2 of them with suicide shifts and a foot operated clutch . Very cool little bikes with junk accoutrements .
There is a motorcycle museum in Peterborough, Australia, with many of these small (mainly) Italian mopeds and motorcycles.
A long way to go for many of your viewers of course, but worth the effort if you are in the country.
It’s in country SA, around 3 hours drive from the nearest city, so for any Brits, it’s a days ride / drive 😎
Just the other side of the world then
Has been mentioned before by another Oz
Must check it out should I ever make it out that far from home
@@bikerdood1100 yeah, pretty much
You need a giant lounge to hang them off the walls and ceiling. They are all art.
They are surprisingly pretty
@@bikerdood1100 In a way most modern bikes are not. I am sure they would sell if one of the Big Four made one. I can't see much in Groms and Daxs. Who knows?
The red Testi is mine and is now in my living room.
@@morini500dave :)
I've had a Standard, the Testi with a Sachs. Awesome machine until it blew it's top and crank due to hidden rust.
Would love to see you review the old Swedish Company NYMANS VERKSTÄDER AB, who did the NV Autoped!
Hidden rust ?
That Testi is a cracking looking bike
It does have amazing styling for a humble moped
The Red Testi is mine.it's in its original metallic orange colour and lives in my living room.
Preview a Gilera rs touring if you can find one , this was my first bike. 1976 no pedals non restricted 5 speed. went like the stink when it went. Rode very quickly when cold gradually slowed when it got up to temperature. would love to have it now.
Did you check out the second video in the series, it features Italian made peds
Brilliant, I never knew Testi and Gitane were one and the same; was that also true of Motobecane and Mobylette, or did they with Raleigh just use the same automatic engine/transmissions?
The Portugese? manufacturer Casal made a very motorcycle looking 50 too in the 70's
😀
They were indeed imported by Raleigh. I believe the Wisp used a Raleigh frame but still has a Mobylette engine whine the rest are just the French bikes rebadged
Hmm a video about French bikes 🤔
Casal was indeed Portuguese.
bonne vidéo,j/ai possédé le itom astor 4m ,un merveilleux cyclo-sport !
👍
Started my biking career at this time so knew all these names but I bought a Kriedler RM 50. Quite rare in England but we'll known on the continent and in racing where they were very successful and also had some world records to their name.
Definitely better known in Racing in the Uk back then
I can remember a Gitane something or other being displayed in a shop window in Old Hemel High Street. It was ridiculously expensive and the shop had nothing to do with motorcycles, just getting on the bandwagon of super mopeds. It was very flashy but by then my mates and I had moved on to proper motorcycles up to the 250cc limit, as was the law back then for L plates.
They were bloody expensive indeed
What can I say, the Testi, what a beautiful machine. Yes Italian bikes were expensive and sometimes fragile but the handling and general performance beats the opposition hands down. Styling , beautiful alloy castings, virtually no plastic I could go on! O.k I admit you did have to carry a toolkit and a spare plug or two!🤣🤣
They do indeed now how to make things truly beautiful
The Gitane and Testi mopeds sold in the UK in the 1970s had Motori Minarelli engines, similar to those used by Fantic and several other manufacturers.
They were a very common engine choice
@@bikerdood1100 I think the popularity of Minarelli engines was well deserved. They are very well-made and very reliable as long as they are not over-revved; over-revving results in a broken top piston ring and a score mark in the cylinder. I did about 40,000 miles over several years on a Fantic TI. It never let me down, although there were a few occasions when it would have if I had not been carrying a spare chain link and a puncture repair kit and a bicycle pump.
@@cedriclynch I think two strokes generally are much more reliable than they are generally given credit for, the often broke due to over revving as you say but also neglect and the use of poor quality oils
@@bikerdood1100 Thinking about it, I think a common cause of over-revving on "sixteener specials" was that almost none of them had tachometers so the rider was left to guess how fast you could safely go in each gear. Some riders used to change up when the bike ceased to accelerate in the gear it was in. Some also investigated how fast the bike could go down the steepest hill they could find, and believed the speedometer (even if it was Italian) for the result . The only sixteener special that could withstand this without a risk of damage was the Yamaha FS1E.
@@cedriclynch although heavy handed teens played a part 😂
I see you have my red tank Testi Champione in this video,in the video it's powered by a Minerelli 4 speed P4 engine,it now as of 8/6/24 a 6 speed p6 engine with a Polini 70cc big bore kit and when last ridden capable of 70 mph.it is now residing in my living room.
Better resting on tarmac perhaps
@@bikerdood1100 the extreme riding position isn’t great for my 60+ years bones and muscles,and the engine being highly stressed has the need of a new bearing for the first motion shaft to the clutch and the most basic thing is I ‘ve no space in my shed so myself and a neighbour dragged up stair in to my first floor flat where it’ll stay for now.
Brilliant
I started to ride bikes in the early 1970s, gillera, motor-morini, malagutti, and many more exotic names adorned the roads back then, then came the game-changing FS1E the fizzy, Yamaha did a HP deal on them, I think it was £20 down and ride away on it if your mam would sign the HP forms, the interest was very low and in a few months everyone had one, they cost under £200 and they sell for up to £8K for a concourse machine now, I still think suzuki's AP50S was the best of all the "fast fiftys"
I did own an AP myself and thought the engine very strong, relatively speaking of course
Not forgetting the rare, fast and very expensive Malaguti Olympique
In the the 2nd video covering Italian 50s
@@bikerdood1100 Thank you
Great collection, but a sleight correction; The Tesli shown here has a Motori Minarelli engine.
Well they used a couple of different motors
that testi is a cracking looking bike
Isn’t it though
The red one is mine.
I was a biker or moped rider back in the day, but how did we get fueled up before auto lube ! i dont remember how we got our 2 stroke mix as a daily thing ! ?
Well there used to be oil dispensers or cans at the pumps many moons ago
I suppose people carried bottles of oil.
This likely explains the regularity with which the bikes seized. Trying to get the correct ratio and I don5 expect the stuff at the pumps was the best
@@bikerdood1100 I worked at a gas station that also sold Saab cars back in the 60's when the Saab had a 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine. Two stroke oil was added to the fuel tank.
What about Simsons? They were pretty popular in my area in the 70's.
True
You will find them on one of my videos on motorcycles from the eastern bloc
The Simson (made in East Germany) did not appear in the UK until after the 30mph no-pedals moped law of August 1977. I think the manufacturer didn't want the bother of fitting pedals just for the UK market. The Simson did have to be slowed down in order to meet the speed restriction; I have heard somewhere that this was done by lengthening the exhaust pipe by about 100mm so as to lower the resonant frequency. The Simson certainly has amazing low-speed torque; it will cruise two-up in top gear up hills on which you would have to go down two gears on a Yamaha RD50.
@@cedriclynch true but I do cover the company else where under eastern bloc bikes
You keep saying the engines are Morini. Moto Morini made the famous 3 1/2 V-twin motorcycle. You meant Moto Minarelli who made many of the engines fitted into Italian mopeds. The two company names are linked by ownership I believe.
Franco Morini engines, not Moto Morini
I expect it’s a common name
Franco morini was a cousin of Alfonso Morini the founder of Moto Morini, two different factories
Morini and Franco Morini were cousins.Morini now owned by the Chinese.Franco Morini owned by Yamaha.
There was a sports moped by a company called Casal (think that's how it's spelt) and I've never seen one since 🤔🙄
Think it’s in my video on European mopeds
The Casal, which was made in Portugal, was one of the first "sixteener special" mopeds to be introduced in the UK after the change in the licensing law of December 1971 that limited 16-year-olds to mopeds.
@@cedriclynch did I cover Casal in this video
Honestly don’t remember which vid it was
When you was revering to the testi and the gitane . Use said the engine was franco morni. Wrong minrelli
Oh my God your right !!!
Except it’s Franco Minarelli
It keeps me up nights does that error of galactic proportions
Hoe could I have added Franco to the front of moped engine
The Horror
The Horror 🤪
What about the Itom Competition?
It’s about road bikes
@@bikerdood1100 I had one, it was used and sold as a road bike...though a fast 50cc one lol I used it to go to college and could be heard by the people at college as I left home to get there.
Testi's engine was a Minarelli P6, not a Morini One.
Testi used more than one make
Engine discussion doesn’t always relate to the one in the film
Never heard! I have 33 itoms
Well I have it’s a company famous for its rink GP bike
All I remember here in Afrika is the Flandria.
In most case’s it’s the opposite. Few people in the UK for example have heard of the Flandria at all
IN THE STATES....MOTOBECARNE.....SOLD BICYCLES
They sold bicycles everywhere 😂
Familiar with all these names partly due to the Observers book of motorcycles that was around at the time & earlier motorcycles publications.
I used to have a copy I think
Very small pocket size publication I think
I got a Gitane Grand Sport in 1977. It had a Minarelli engine.
Nice
I've had a gitane testi back in the 70s. Bought new it's how i learnd to ride. Loved the bike look and the performance. Stock for a while then quite heavily modified.. this was a pocket rocket. There was nothing better than the Corsa. 50cc on fire. This little bike lead to bigger and more powerful bikes. Last one was a 1100 GSX R yoshimura. Last one unfortunately.... no regrets. Well a bit.
No such thing as last bike
Only most recent
No such thing as last bike
Only most recent
What about the Balkan 50? Very popular here in Bulgaria.......... as well as the more common Simsons
Will be covering the simson at some point
There was someone in my home town just north of London who ran a Balkan 50 for some years.. I only found out what it was when I saw it in a breaker's yard and looked more closely. It had a registration that was almost consecutive with that of a bike that I had that was originally sold by a dealer in Tottenham, London.
Gitane testi,s used Minareli not Franko Morini engines.
Well the one pictured my reading shows a few motors over the years
@@bikerdood1100 Ok, not splitting hairs, but I "teenaged"all the way through the height of the Sports moped era, having owned a Suzuki AP50 and a Garelli tiger, ( Garelli more fun but not reliable) anyway was part of a local fraternity, and yes Testi, Malagutti, Cimatti, Fantic all well represented, never saw a Testi with anything other than Minareli. Malagutti used Franko Morini . If you,ve seen a Testi with FM engine in Ok, but even your video clearly shows Minareli . Also I used to be "tea boy" helping out as a Saturday job at a small bike shop that sold AJW greyhound, and wolfhound, so would recognize Minareli blind folded.