A mobile sensation was brewing 75 years ago: The first Vélo-Solex hit the French market in autumn 1946. The prototype was made in 1940, but due to the war it took another six years to produce the first series copies. From 1947 on, production then picked up speed. The Vélo-Solex can be described as the two-wheel counterpart to the Renault R4 or Citroën 2CV: small, inexpensive, weakly motorized, but frugal to maintain and built in huge numbers over a very long period of time. The minimalist two-wheeler continues to win hearts to this day. Celebrities like Jacques Tati, Brigitte Bardot and Steve McQueen were not only photographed on the Vélo-Solex, they also drove it.
Two Frenchmen laid the foundation for this success at the beginning of the 20th century when they founded an automotive supplier company called Solex. Radiators and carburettors for cars were built there. In 1940 the first two-stroke engine was created, at that time still with a tiny 38 cubic centimeter displacement. As a trial, it was mounted on a men's bike over the front tire, and so initial attempts were made to ride it. Over the next five years, the developers refined the drive and bicycle frame more and more, so that series production could begin in Courbevoie, France, in 1946. Three years earlier, the French state had officially introduced a new vehicle class, "bicycles with reserve engines". From the beginning, the Vélo-Solex was a huge success, initially with a few thousand units built per year,from 1953 onwards, more than 100,000 units were produced each year.
Over time, a centrifugal clutch was installed to make stopping easier and not have to stall the engine every time. Similar to Henry Ford's T-model, the Vélo-Solex was only available in black until well into the 1960s. Bright colors were only offered in the Solex world parallel to the hippie movement from 1968 onwards. A version with smaller wheels, the 5000 model, was also created during this period and was primarily intended to attract female buyers. Around six million rolled off the production line at the French carburetor manufacturer Solex-Sinfac between 1946 and 1988. Even after production was discontinued in France, the Solex continued its triumphant advance. It was built under license in Hungary until 2002.
Today there are similar two-wheelers again, but assembled with parts from Chinese production or even as an electric version.
This is a straight fraudulent label because the motor is no longer located above the front wheel, but in the rear wheel hub.
In the 40+ years of production of the real Vélo-Solex, the output almost doubled, although the absolute numbers remained tiny: 0.4 hp at the beginning and 0.7 hp at the end of production, the 47 cc two-stroke engine produced.
The power specification of "1 kW", ie 1.36 HP, in the operating license is always a gross exaggeration.