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Showing posts from October, 2018

Engine anatomy

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The engine is usually the first thing I tackle - it's fun to work on, and without a working engine the bike is not worth doing anything to.. And this one has seen better days, and was tinkered with by someone who may not have known the difference between metric and SAE... Its plenty dirty, which makes me imagine the speedo counter stoped working as it only shows 81 miles.. That blue wire from the coil is definitely not original and the fuel pump lines were glued to keep them tight... some of these bolts are not original, I just hope they use the metric sizes otherwise retapping the aluminum block may be a problem Dirty you said, this is like varnish on the head and piston top. not sure what kind of mix of gas the previous owner decided to use. The coil has been messed with for sure, this is some artisanal fix right there, I'll have to get that back to something more original with what I have in my stock..

Micronology - Finding a Micron

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I found a Micron, or rather it found me, in the US - As far as I know very few of these crossed the Atlantic Ocean from France. This one comes from Iowa and found its way from the original owner to an estate auction, purchased by a motorcycle guy in Maryland, who ended putting it on eBay. My friend Cedric saw it and alerted me, I bid for it and it's now mine, Mine, MINE!!! Micron were a very limited run by Solex or Velosolex in France. These moped came later in their production and were not a hit since without pedals it did not qualify as a bike with motor assist or as a moped but as motorcycle and required a license. Here is mine, which was generously spray painted at some point to 'beautify' the little guy. It will go through a complete clean up or resto. The engine will be completely rebuilt and it will be enjoyed!