smokey not, and they sound isn't' really loud, but you need to raise your voice a little when talking..

Who doyou talk to while bombing along in one of those?

- Other idiots that own a solex and for a reason drive next to you
- People who arent moving when riding behind them (shouting would be more appropriate)
- people that follow you on racing bicycles
- people at traffic light talking to you about they owned one way back
- or to myself, but that is better to do silently

There is a place here in the village where people can hire a solex.
Most of them are in groups from about 10 or more, they drive as if they own the whole road and shout to each other . Even if they are some distance apart they think the other solex-driver should hear what is being said.
I don't mind,if this happenes during daytime, but more often they drive late at night and that is really anoying.
But then , they are not the true Solex drivers.

Picking the bike up tommorow,Yee Ha

Good times!

are there some sort like a haynes manual for solexes in english?
over here we have a good dutch booklet, old, but has everything in it that you should know for maintaining and repairing or rebuilding your solex.

Apparently there is a worshop mannual in English with the bike .

Got it,got it .Its lush.I think its been painted at some time in the past,but WTF,it goes like stink.Only trouble is,its only got one throttle setting,flat out .Cables fubbared,and what about the front brake?Is it supposed to work or what ?
Will post some pics tommorow,need to get a new cable from somewhere!!!!

Dave, to answer your question about being smokey, no they are mostly quite clean running however the original oil mix when new was 6% but with modern oils 2% is plenty. We use fully synthetic 2 stroke motorcycle oil and works fine. Also people leave the fuel in the tank for months and petrol evaporates off leaving a much higher ratio of oil so drain it and put a fresh mix and off you go,
regards, Geoff

Well,here it is.


I fitted a cable for a rear deraliur onto the throttle,works really well.Adjusted the front brake,and the rear,they stop you much better now.
Just wondering though,how do you tell if the throttle is opening fully and is there any idle adjustment on it?I took the air box off,and when you look down the inlet with the throttle closed.it appears that you can see right down the inlet,then as you open the throttle,a barrel starts to close off the main inlet.When I have it at full throttle on the handlebar,the hole is only half open/closed.Should it be closed completly?