Book review- la Mobylette Universelle - National Autocycle and ...

The Moped Connection Ian Chisholm
(continued from The Moped Collecting Bug in February’s Buzzing)
With the restoring bug now underway on the BSA Bantam, I realised that if I wanted to get the
bike back to “as new” condition, it was going to take a lot more of my tie than I had anticipated,
for I didn’t know where or even if it was possible to obtain replacement parts, as long ago bikes
had ceased to feature in my hobbies. However, one day at work, I had a visit from a Sales Rep. and
seeing bits of my BSA around the offi ce we got to talking about my Batam project. He nipped out to
his car and returned, not with sales brochures but with a few back copies of Old Bike Mart monthly.
Wow! This opened Pandora’s Box for me and as I pored over every article and advert, seeing old
machines which had once, many years agi, been my envy and desire, now available whole or in
bits and from many sources, I realised I had got to get out there. Armed with the latest OBM (for I
had quickly singed and paid my subscription) and together with a list of the nearest shops to me, I
started my journey. This happily still continues, discovering Alladin’s Caves of obselete bikes and
bits. Then there were many auto and bike-jumbles, and the shows- culminating with the wonderful
and inspiring Stafford Classic Bike Show.
During this re entry to the old bike
repair job I became aware of just
how much prices had rocketed
for even the smallest bits- that’s
if you could fi nd them. So the
Bantam job was slowly put on the
back-burner whilst I evaluated all
the parts I either need to replace,
or to save money, restore some
way or another. Looking back at
this early period of my restoration
hobby I recall the many visits we,
my long suffering wife, alongside,
made to lots of premises and the
great help and often long standing
friendships we struck up. Oh, and
the sales representative who started
this trail- he was Keith Walker
and he became a life time friend,
or should I say adversary, taunter,
micky taker, you know the type-
always telling you what you’ve
done wrong after you have done it!
A great pal, a riding and drinking
companion and long time NACC
member. This brings me into the moped stages of my bikes, for Keith also told me about the NACC.
Which I joined. As I have previously stated Mopeds and other such low powered machines had
never been of any interest to me in my more youthful days but then looking through the pages of
my fi rst issues of Buzzing magazine temped me to explore this mode of two wheel fun, after all they
should be cheap, easy to fi nd and spares must be in abundance, shouldn’t they?
(contd next page)
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