Go to the Archive index Go to previous Amis newsletter, Dec A New Year and the start of a new millennium, how about all those resolutions? To take part in more club runs, to start a new restoration or just to make plans. My first priority is to rebuild my Winged Wheel, which is sitting forlornly in my garage and makes me feel ashamed when I see it surrounded with a number of refurbished Solexes.
At an autojumble last summer I bought several small Solex items from a stall-holder who said that he was a baker with a shop in a small town some distance from where I live. By chance I happened to be passing through that town and decided to pay him a call. The outbuildings of his house were crammed full of things that most of us would kill for. Altogether, he estimated that he had around eighty machines of various kinds either complete or incomplete.
Complete with all the optional extras such as centre stand, steering lock and other accessories. It would surely be the definitive example for anyone seeking originality. Like a number of other collectors, he is extremely reluctant to part with anything although he freely admitted that he would never have time to restore more than a fraction of the available machines. Yet another variant of the Solex has been produced. The wheels are alloy, twelve inches in diameter with drum brakes front and rear.
Should you wish to buy one a list of concessionaires is available on www. Received too late to include in the last Les Amis was a report on the 7th Transolexine at Saint-Nazaire. The rally attracted around one hundred and forty riders including a number from le Solex Club Spirales de Calais.
Most of the entrants were mounted on the later Solex models whilst the earliest model was from A most interesting entry was a tandem Solex constructed by a concessionaire using various parts from three late models. Saint-Nazaire is not a great distance from the port of Roscoff and the rally might provide the excuse for a late holiday on the Atlantic Coast.
