Back in 1961 I used a Raleigh RM1 as my commute in the city. No clutch, no gearbox and a weight of 84 lbs; it was hard work to pedal. In 1963 my commute became 75 miles each way to my military base, so a new 250 Jawa was bought; ultra reliable. Later (1970), a BSA Bantam D14/4 served in the city role, followed by a BSA C11G. These days, it's a Suzuki VL250.
@@bikerdood1100 Agreed. The bikes I mention previously were in the UK. Smaller machine haven't been a consious choice, it's just that in the UK and most of my riding here in Oz has been city-based and my RD250 (last of the air-cooled models) and 350 Jawa have suited nicely. That said my Yamaha SR500 and Kawasaki Z750 L1 also suited my location at that time, as I had longer distances to contend with. In the Philippines last year I bought a new Skygo Earl 150 (actually a locally-assembled Lifan) which was perfectly-sized for that very conjested country, where anything over 250 is viewed as a big bike, though bikes of less than 400cc's are not allowed on the expressways.
Yes, there was a large choice of small capacity commuter machines on offer from the various manufacturers. A mate of mine had a rather nice Raleigh Roma.
Thanks for showing the BSA Bantam. I have some childhood memories from the early 60's riding pillion on my Dad's Bantam before he got his car licence and chopped in the Bantam for an old van. I still remember that the garage he used had a special pump in those days which premixed the 2-stroke oil.
It’s one of those bikes that everyone had a family member who owned one Although in this video I think it was the poorest seller despite being the British no1 1.8 million Puch Maxis , amazing numbers and the Cub is on another planet
I also loved seeing the Bantam! My dad bought one when I was 12. He would put me on the back and ride to an old farm, where I learned to ride and love motorcycles! My second bike was a Harley Scat, which was almost the same bike. From my house, I could ride through the woods to get to high school. I was only 14 and didn't have a license.
@@savage22bolt32 not many people realise that Harley also took the plans to the DKW RT125 and made their own version The little RT was the gift that kept on giving
I visited the MOLOT factory in Russia almost 20 years ago and was amazed by the range of scooters and mopeds that they had produced but had since stopped production. I took many photographs of the bikes and was really taken by the styling that they had. It would be a great topic for you to follow up on and one which I am sure the vast majority of people was have no idea at all about.
Graduating from a bicycle, a decade-old Puch Maxi was my first mode of powered transport back in the mid 1980s. It was painfully slow, noisy, was always at the front of a half-mile-long plume of smoke. It was an awful machine & I loved it.
Back in the 70's when I was just 15, not old enough to drive a car or big motor cycle, , My friends and I had Puch Mopeds. It was a fun summer, we ran the hell out of our Puchs, We cut the pipes and clamped or spot welded the baffle chamber back on to create an expansion chamber, We had Ron at Moped Magic in North Miami Beach install a larger fuel jet and tune our bikes to max power, 40 MPH with the wind at our backs, pretty fast for a 50cc, single gear bike. After working all summer though, I purchased a used 1976 RD400, and that was great too.. !
@@bikerdood1100 yes, they were every where, also the Safari . Peugeot and other brands, But Puch was the best, tough, reliable and could really cover some ground....
My dad had a Bantam way back when. His enduring memory is riding to work in the winter. I myself had a 50cc Honda scooter in the late 80s, and then a Honda CT110 ex postie bike, which was an absolute hoot. Thrash it hard and still only be doing 90kph.
I remember seeing quite a few of these machines during the 1970s and early 80s. I bought a Honda C90 in August 1981 for commuting. It was a great little bike with Excellent fuel economy and a top speed of over 50mph indicated.. I felt it better to avoid dual carriageways in busy periods though, as the side draft and slipstream of the larger overtaking vehicles would sometimes push the bike off its track. Thank you for another interesting video.
I had a CD175 as a commuter bike and I suppose it _was_ reliable, but I was forever changing the oil, fitting chains, sprockets and exhausts, and adjusting the points! I rode in all weathers, because as an apprentice, I was too poor to buy a car. Once I _did_ get a car, I tended to choose that at the slightest excuse, and eventually sold the Honda.
I would add the Honda trail series. They are versatile, the racks are very handy, and the larger engined versions with the 2-speed sub transmission makes them better than the Cub in many street applications. When I owned my dealership, I had a Trail 110 fitted with an upgraded front brake, street tires and modified Cub splash guards (which weren't exactly bolt-on) that I rode back and forth almost daily. Light and quick, it was a MUCH better commuter than my heavier mounts...and I kept it for dogs years as a grocery-getter. Kinda wish I still had it, but not enough to build another one (I'm getting a bit old for such projects - 86 next month!). Good video.
15:26 I had a Simson and it was rubbish, even by moped standard. It did however get me to work for a while when I was an apprentice engineer. Keep up the great videos, no guff or whooping etc, just interesting content 👍
We still have our 80 or 81 C70. I remember my dad coming to high school baseball games with a six pack in the front basket smoking a cigarette wearing flip flops.
80s bikes are becoming something of a rarity in general, never popular because their styling was very much of its time so few people have taken good care of them, some very good machines in the period too although the big bikes were too big the rest were good
Loved the video . I passed my test in 1981 on a Honda C70 i think it cost about £5 to take a tested back then . i also had the 50cc Simpson S reg it did 45 on a good day..stay safe..V.R..
@@bikerdood1100 Sad news but you could pick up a good C70 for a £ 100 back then i rode down to Sussex with a gang of mates on mopeds but only the C70 got home £45 well spent one of the best bikes of all time...
Excellent, thank you. I'm an old geezer and except for the Simson I know all these bikes in the flesh. I do most of my commuting on a ST1100 Pan European... But I am considering some small bike for this task, especially in winter. The Pan is 33 years old and not allowed to be on salty roads...
My first bike back in 1975 was a Puch Maxi. In purple. I even remember the reg number. MDA 229K. I wanted a sports moped like my mates but my parents put the kybosh on that. 'Sports mopeds? They all do 70 and you'll be killed!' Besides, my dad had to countersign the finance so I couldn't argue. It took me everywhere though (slowly), and I have great memories of it. My first independent transport. And it got me into bikes.
Great little video, remember all the models you've covered , had mates used them to get to work on everyday all year round Great little bikes for that purpose 👍
My dad had one of the first Honda cubs, it was a pre suffix number plate, my mum had a blue mobylette at the same time. When I was coming up to 16 I wanted a moped but was told “No!” I bought a mobylette X7 & nothing was said & that started my bike life. Never been without a bike since 1979.
Nice video, the only one I had not heard of was the last model, ie the Simpson. When I was 16 I bought a Suzuki 50 cc bike, it was the base model with leading link forks, they did a sports model has well at the time. Of course Yamaha did a series of 50 cc motor cycles too, it would be nice to see a video of these types of bikes before they did the silly thing with making them have pedals of course. My next bike after the Suzuki was a Honda CB72 250cc, I had all sorts of problems with that bike, mind you if I hadn't I would not know has much as I do now. Chris.
I have 3 puch maxi sat in the garage at the moment. They have a big cult folowing and all parts are available brand new and cheap. They have a serious grin factor 😀
Thanks for the review, some interesting machines in there. Maybe if you've gone this far, you could do a segment on ( gasp) scooters, since a huge proportion of bikes sold are in fact of the scooter persuasion 👍🇦🇺
Remember the Nsu with much fondness friends mum had one we socconded it as a feild bike when we were short of runners it felt like a bicycle even to us 8 r 9yr olds I think it ran on as transport despite our meddling 😮
Raleigh Runabout and Supermatic deserve a mention as there were loads about and various guises of Garelli mopeds and small motorcycles and then there was that weird Honda 2-stroke almost scooter with the spring starter, the Honda Camino with the variable ratio transmission and the P50, a new try at BSA's Magic Wheel. I started with a James Flying Cadet (AMC engine) and then a Suzuki Sportsman while a friend chose the Yamaha version. Another friend had a longer commute and chose the Suzuki B100P. There were more commuter bikes in the 60s and early 70s than a stick could be shook at...
@@bikerdood1100 - I had a Kerry 2-speed moped, later a Raleigh Runabout and a Honda Cub, among others. I never actually encountered either the Raleigh Wisp or the Ariel 3. How do you fancy doing something different - Britain produced a large number of cyclecars in the first half of last century but I have yet to see any sort of collective review of the many types - there is barely a smattering of information about this once popular alternative to the motorcycle combination, usually using motorcycle power. Quite a lot is available about the 3-wheel Morgan but not so much about the Bond Minicar, the 3 and 4 wheeled Berkleys or the little wheeled cubicles that were the tiller-steered Villiers powered Invacar...
Like many of my generation in the UK, I learned to ride on a Bantam. Later I got a job in central London and had to commute from Middlesex, I was surprised to find that my my Honda C200 runabout got me into the city quicker than my 650 BSA, because it was slimmer for filtering and easy to bump off and onto pavements.
Literally everyone knows that The video says it Every article on the bike too as for magnetic recording well that was old tech which had previously wire. And given that the sound on cinematic film is recorded magically on the film margins this seems to have been around some time It’s unwise to assume the Germans were technically superior because this simply is most definitely not the case People marvel at their tanks for example but they were too big and thus ineffective being unable to ford a lot of bridges and were unreliable and more importantly took too long to make There’s a reason they lost Let’s not forget they made extensive use of radar throughout the war A British invention and their aircraft fell behind the allies True they got their jet fighter in the air first but it was dangerously unreliable They were also the least mechanised army of any of the major combatants this surprises many who see German newsreels but they were of course propaganda Britain field by far the most Motorcycles incidentally and the German copy of the Mosquito was totally crap 😂 They spent more on the V2 than the cost of the Manhattan project Fat lot of good that did them 😂😂 Check out their tank projects Hilarious, massive impossible things that you would think were dreamed up by a ten year old. 😂😂😂 One of their earliest innovations was the use of amphetamines They had their men hyped up on speed essentially Nice one 😂😂😂 True they had designs taken as war reparations but they did extensive damage to allied country industries and factories such as VW and BMW were saved by the British army who essentially nationalised them to ensure German economic recovery so it was hardly a one way street.
Interesting video again. I use most of my bikes for commuting. I have always preferred bikes to cars. I pulled my best wheelie on a C90, I had never ridden a semi automatic before! A Honda CD175 was another great commuter bike.
I really like your videos. However I do have a couple corrections regarding the Puch Maxi. The Puch Maxi N came first. As there was no Maxi S at the time, it was simply called the Puch Maxi. After the Maxi S came out, the rigid frame model was renamed Maxi N. The ZA50 engine never replaced the classic e50. It wasn't as reliable as the e50 and you couldn't tune it a lot before the engine gave up. Especially Puch Maxis are very sought after in Switzerland (where I live) and a lot of teenagers still ride various mopeds like Sachs, Pony, Piaggio and Tomos. I'm also a teenager and have a Piaggio Ciao (in my profile picture) and I'm actually restoring a Puch Maxi N from a friend in school right now. Edit: There was probably also a version that was limited to 25km/h for Germany. By the way, your correct pronunciation of Puch was still not right 🤭
The NSU Quickly operated in the same UK market as the Raleigh Runabout and Mobylette, basic transport to work that was slightly faster than a bicycle. These were a development of the autocycle, bicycles with an engine added, often in the back wheel. The Japanese introduced more capable and better built lightweights, like the Cub and it's bare bones stablemate the PC50. Curiously, Honda persevered with an engine-in-wheel moped from 1966-68 with the P50. A chap local to me used his P50 for daily transport into the late-1980s. This series could run and run. How about non-Italian scooters?
I had a Bantam 125 and used it for commuting briefly. Mine topped out at about 35 mph unless there was a tailwind or decent hill. My favorite commuter bike was a Suzuki GP 125 which was a disc valve two-stroke single. Disc valves being the ultimate intake configuration for a two-stroke. It went like a rocket and was reasonably economical as well.
Brill vid Dad had a NSU Quikly and I had A Honda 50 ,70, 90 and all were to get me to work. They all did the job and with little work on them. Could you do one on the next size up the 175 - 250 please
After seeing how reliable my fathers 1964 Honda 50 Cub ( c100 ) was in the 1960’s ,I bought myself a brand new green & white 1971 c50 to get to work. A couple of years later I bought an almost mint used yellow & white c 70 cub to commute on . Both bikes did 40 - 45 mph on flat on clock & up to 53 mph on clock down long down hill on the odd favourable conditions . The c70 picked up speed a bit faster & had the best cub duel seat ever .Never had a Honda Cub let me down only the odd puncture . I also owned a Suzuki FR 80 which was a two stroke step thru cub type commuter ,which was quicker than a c90 & with CCI 2 stroke lubrication system just as reliable as the Honda cubs . The MZ Simson 50 & 70 cc two stokes were not bad value & better than they looked ,& the Suzuki shop I bought my GP 100 u from ,would order the odd MZ Simson or TS 125 for punters requiring one . I remember lots of bantams in the 1960’s ,the GPO telegram boys used them. My cousin had one it was always breaking down ,& he was always fiddling with the points. The NSU quickly was the best commuter or moped to get your hands on before the Honda 50 ( c100) came along kicked it plus the bantam into touch . For those who commuted further afield the Honda CD 175 twin was the daddy & later the CD 200 Benly also .
No mention of the Simson Schwalb here. I owned one in the 1980s when I lived in London and used it to commute to work. It was only 50cc, but did well over 40mph on the flat. It was also probably the ugliest moped ever produced..
Covered Simson in a video on Eastern bloc bikes Can’t put every single bike in that would be nuts 😂😂 Why not focus on what’s in a video instead of what isn’t No Ariel pixie either 😂😂
NOW DONT TAKE THE PISS . BUT AS IT GOT I COULD NOT RIDE BIKES ENEY MORE DUE TO ARTHRITIS. I WENT DOWN TO THE AERIAL 3 WHICH IS A 3 WHEEL MOPED . DO ONE ON THAT IF YOU CAN FIND ONE .
I’d rather not if I’m completely honest It will feature but being positive about the beast will be challenging When it’s own advertising says here it is, what ever it is, your off to a bad start. Producing a commuter moped was a very good idea, making a three wheeler with drive to only one wheel wasn’t too clever. In fairness Honda had a go at a very similar thing in the early 80s with slightly better results but wasn’t exactly a success. It’s an idea with out a market I think. Why they didn’t just build a step through moped is anyones guess
It seems a shame to classify these little bikes as Commuter's.Personaly. I have owned a puch ms50d when I was 16 and it took myself and my girlfriend length and breadth of the uk dureing the 70's I still have my c90 from the 80's which was used allmost every day carrying ridiculous loads including (I'm serious ) a new kitchen sink on one occation .Alltho i have moved on to larger bikes since then I still enjoy my C90 . Honda wave 110i and my msx (grom)all of which haave done many thousands of touring miles .
Back in 1961 I used a Raleigh RM1 as my commute in the city. No clutch, no gearbox and a weight of 84 lbs; it was hard work to pedal. In 1963 my commute became 75 miles each way to my military base, so a new 250 Jawa was bought; ultra reliable. Later (1970), a BSA Bantam D14/4 served in the city role, followed by a BSA C11G. These days, it's a Suzuki VL250.
Always a fan of smaller machines then ?
I can respect that, I like 250 as a capacity, if you don’t carry a passenger very often they are very capable
@@bikerdood1100 Agreed. The bikes I mention previously were in the UK. Smaller machine haven't been a consious choice, it's just that in the UK and most of my riding here in Oz has been city-based and my RD250 (last of the air-cooled models) and 350 Jawa have suited nicely. That said my Yamaha SR500 and Kawasaki Z750 L1 also suited my location at that time, as I had longer distances to contend with.
In the Philippines last year I bought a new Skygo Earl 150 (actually a locally-assembled Lifan) which was perfectly-sized for that very conjested country, where anything over 250 is viewed as a big bike, though bikes of less than 400cc's are not allowed on the expressways.
Yeah Japanese number one is
Not forgetting the, zundapp,
Norman nippy, triumph Tina and sachs.
Yes, there was a large choice of small capacity commuter machines on offer from the various manufacturers. A mate of mine had a rather nice Raleigh Roma.
Hi another great video allways look forward to them
Thanks
Glad you enjoy them
Thanks for showing the BSA Bantam. I have some childhood memories from the early 60's riding pillion on my Dad's Bantam before he got his car licence and chopped in the Bantam for an old van. I still remember that the garage he used had a special pump in those days which premixed the 2-stroke oil.
It’s one of those bikes that everyone had a family member who owned one
Although in this video I think it was the poorest seller despite being the British no1
1.8 million Puch Maxis , amazing numbers and the Cub is on another planet
I also loved seeing the Bantam!
My dad bought one when I was 12. He would put me on the back and ride to an old farm, where I learned to ride and love motorcycles!
My second bike was a Harley Scat, which was almost the same bike.
From my house, I could ride through the woods to get to high school. I was only 14 and didn't have a license.
@@savage22bolt32 not many people realise that Harley also took the plans to the DKW RT125 and made their own version
The little RT was the gift that kept on giving
I visited the MOLOT factory in Russia almost 20 years ago and was amazed by the range of scooters and mopeds that they had produced but had since stopped production. I took many photographs of the bikes and was really taken by the styling that they had. It would be a great topic for you to follow up on and one which I am sure the vast majority of people was have no idea at all about.
Interesting 🤨
Graduating from a bicycle, a decade-old Puch Maxi was my first mode of powered transport back in the mid 1980s. It was painfully slow, noisy, was always at the front of a half-mile-long plume of smoke. It was an awful machine & I loved it.
That’s mopeds for you
Back in the 70's when I was just 15, not old enough to drive a car or big motor cycle, , My friends and I had Puch Mopeds.
It was a fun summer, we ran the hell out of our Puchs,
We cut the pipes and clamped or spot welded the baffle chamber back on to create an expansion chamber,
We had Ron at Moped Magic in North Miami Beach install a larger fuel jet and tune our bikes to max power, 40 MPH with the wind at our backs, pretty fast for a 50cc, single gear bike.
After working all summer though, I purchased a used 1976 RD400, and that was great too.. !
I seem to remember Puch being a very common site back in the 70s
@@bikerdood1100
yes, they were every where, also the Safari . Peugeot and other brands, But Puch was the best, tough, reliable and could really cover some ground....
My dad had a Bantam way back when. His enduring memory is riding to work in the winter. I myself had a 50cc Honda scooter in the late 80s, and then a Honda CT110 ex postie bike, which was an absolute hoot. Thrash it hard and still only be doing 90kph.
Fun doesn’t always = power
I remember seeing quite a few of these machines during the 1970s and early 80s. I bought a Honda C90 in August 1981 for commuting. It was a great little bike with Excellent fuel economy and a top speed of over 50mph indicated.. I felt it better to avoid dual carriageways in busy periods though, as the side draft and slipstream of the larger overtaking vehicles would sometimes push the bike off its track. Thank you for another interesting video.
Yes I don’t think having a truck running up ya back side when your stuck at 50mph seems like a good idea so I’d avoid some roads too
Had 2 Simsons and what a great little machine they were. Light , nimble and could cope easily 2 up.
Hopefully with an appropriate licence of course 😂
think you missed out the Honda CD175 as an ideal commuter bike, proper motorcycle with excellent economy at a good price and very reliable
Only one bike per company per video and the super cub is a shoe in
I had a CD175 as a commuter bike and I suppose it _was_ reliable, but I was forever changing the oil, fitting chains, sprockets and exhausts, and adjusting the points! I rode in all weathers, because as an apprentice, I was too poor to buy a car. Once I _did_ get a car, I tended to choose that at the slightest excuse, and eventually sold the Honda.
I would add the Honda trail series. They are versatile, the racks are very handy, and the larger engined versions with the 2-speed sub transmission makes them better than the Cub in many street applications. When I owned my dealership, I had a Trail 110 fitted with an upgraded front brake, street tires and modified Cub splash guards (which weren't exactly bolt-on) that I rode back and forth almost daily. Light and quick, it was a MUCH better commuter than my heavier mounts...and I kept it for dogs years as a grocery-getter. Kinda wish I still had it, but not enough to build another one (I'm getting a bit old for such projects - 86 next month!). Good video.
True but the cub has simplicity
15:26 I had a Simson and it was rubbish, even by moped standard. It did however get me to work for a while when I was an apprentice engineer.
Keep up the great videos, no guff or whooping etc, just interesting content 👍
Leaving the whooping to the young Americans
We still have our 80 or 81 C70. I remember my dad coming to high school baseball games with a six pack in the front basket smoking a cigarette wearing flip flops.
Approve of the bike
Not the smoking of course
I do work in healthcare after all 😂
Looks great. Thanks for your build vids
Glad you enjoy them
HO MAN THAT TAKES ME BACK THE BANTOM HAD THE MOST FUN ON ONE OF THEM .
Ahh our bantam, not my favourite Brit bike if I’m honest, our D14 was quick but rather fragile
Thank you for the input, I have a 1980 SACHS 1-D g=3 that was tuned by Crazy Wayne of Treats fame, he's the guy who puts out the 13 port kit
Sounds naughty
@@bikerdood1100 CW bored out a V-1 on a Motron moped that would do 65 mph plus, the problem was the brakes could only stop it at 35 mph, true facts.
Zündapp cs50 was very much the most desirable comuter moped in the Netherlands.
Easy to see why, a very sporty little number
Very nice video. I restored a 1984 Suzuki Love 3 50cc ,2 stoke scooter. A fun little scooter, and it is rare model.
80s bikes are becoming something of a rarity in general, never popular because their styling was very much of its time so few people have taken good care of them, some very good machines in the period too although the big bikes were too big the rest were good
Loved the video . I passed my test in 1981 on a Honda C70 i think it cost about £5 to take a tested back then . i also had the 50cc Simpson S reg it did 45 on a good day..stay safe..V.R..
My second bike was a C70 which I killed, to my shame
@@bikerdood1100 Sad news but you could pick up a good C70 for a £ 100 back then i rode down to Sussex with a gang of mates on mopeds but only the C70 got home £45 well spent one of the best bikes of all time...
@@victorromeo2238 it’s a mad world these days
Great video
Well done 👏
My wife had a Puch maxi 😅😅
She loved it
Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent, thank you. I'm an old geezer and except for the Simson I know all these bikes in the flesh. I do most of my commuting on a ST1100 Pan European... But I am considering some small bike for this task, especially in winter. The Pan is 33 years old and not allowed to be on salty roads...
Simson was a common site in the midlands when I was young
Had the Cub 90, yam T80 & Honda cg125 for commuting back in the late 80’s early 90’s
Have had 2 of those, managed to seize the CG which was fun
Puch did a John Player Special and restyled as non step thru.kool
Check out my videos on mopeds for that model
i started on a c70, 20 quid with a helmet, 40mph flat out, then a cg125, cheap bikes seem to have disappeared
They do indeed
The world has gone crazy
My first bike back in 1975 was a Puch Maxi. In purple. I even remember the reg number. MDA 229K. I wanted a sports moped like my mates but my parents put the kybosh on that. 'Sports mopeds? They all do 70 and you'll be killed!' Besides, my dad had to countersign the finance so I couldn't argue. It took me everywhere though (slowly), and I have great memories of it. My first independent transport. And it got me into bikes.
Purple very 1970s
@@bikerdood1100 Just a bit.
Excellent 👍
Thanks
Great little video, remember all the models you've covered , had mates used them to get to work on everyday all year round Great little bikes for that purpose 👍
Glad you enjoyed it
My dad had one of the first Honda cubs, it was a pre suffix number plate, my mum had a blue mobylette at the same time. When I was coming up to 16 I wanted a moped but was told “No!” I bought a mobylette X7 & nothing was said & that started my bike life. Never been without a bike since 1979.
It’s strange how many parents who rode and enjoyed it refused to let their kids ride
Mystifying to me. I was very keen to get my son on two wheels
I tour around the bush in NSW on my MZ250 along with my mate on a ex post office CT110. Is a good combination.
Sounds a ton of fun
Nice video, the only one I had not heard of was the last model, ie the Simpson. When I was 16 I bought a Suzuki 50 cc bike, it was the base model with leading link forks, they did a sports model has well at the time. Of course Yamaha did a series of 50 cc motor cycles too, it would be nice to see a video of these types of bikes before they did the silly thing with making them have pedals of course. My next bike after the Suzuki was a Honda CB72 250cc, I had all sorts of problems with that bike, mind you if I hadn't I would not know has much as I do now. Chris.
Simson was a common site where I grew up
Smell the poverty 😂
I have 3 puch maxi sat in the garage at the moment. They have a big cult folowing and all parts are available brand new and cheap. They have a serious grin factor 😀
Good to know that they are still being used
Must do a test on one sometime
Thanks for the review, some interesting machines in there. Maybe if you've gone this far, you could do a segment on ( gasp) scooters, since a huge proportion of bikes sold are in fact of the scooter persuasion 👍🇦🇺
A valid point
I have considered it in truth
I don’t see why not, still a bike after all
Remember the Nsu with much fondness friends mum had one we socconded it as a feild bike when we were short of runners it felt like a bicycle even to us 8 r 9yr olds I think it ran on as transport despite our meddling 😮
I do wonder how some of my bikes kept running with my ham fisted spanering in the early days
In Ireland 🇮🇪 the honda 50 was known as the country man's camel. Christy Moore has a song 🎵 called "my little honda 50".
Love that
Raleigh Runabout and Supermatic deserve a mention as there were loads about and various guises of Garelli mopeds and small motorcycles and then there was that weird Honda 2-stroke almost scooter with the spring starter, the Honda Camino with the variable ratio transmission and the P50, a new try at BSA's Magic Wheel.
I started with a James Flying Cadet (AMC engine) and then a Suzuki Sportsman while a friend chose the Yamaha version. Another friend had a longer commute and chose the Suzuki B100P. There were more commuter bikes in the 60s and early 70s than a stick could be shook at...
Yes a think Brit peds would make for an interesting video
@@bikerdood1100 - I had a Kerry 2-speed moped, later a Raleigh Runabout and a Honda Cub, among others. I never actually encountered either the Raleigh Wisp or the Ariel 3.
How do you fancy doing something different - Britain produced a large number of cyclecars in the first half of last century but I have yet to see any sort of collective review of the many types - there is barely a smattering of information about this once popular alternative to the motorcycle combination, usually using motorcycle power. Quite a lot is available about the 3-wheel Morgan but not so much about the Bond Minicar, the 3 and 4 wheeled Berkleys or the little wheeled cubicles that were the tiller-steered Villiers powered Invacar...
Like many of my generation in the UK, I learned to ride on a Bantam. Later I got a job in central London and had to commute from Middlesex, I was surprised to find that my my Honda C200 runabout got me into the city quicker than my 650 BSA, because it was slimmer for filtering and easy to bump off and onto pavements.
Power means nothing in city traffic does it
My commute these days is quite rural but used to be very much the same
The BSA BANTAM was a German Designed bike plans were taken from Germany after the war along many other Designs, Tape recorder etc the list goes on
Literally everyone knows that
The video says it
Every article on the bike too as for magnetic recording well that was old tech which had previously wire.
And given that the sound on cinematic film is recorded magically on the film margins this seems to have been around some time
It’s unwise to assume the Germans were technically superior because this simply is most definitely not the case
People marvel at their tanks for example but they were too big and thus ineffective being unable to ford a lot of bridges and were unreliable and more importantly took too long to make
There’s a reason they lost
Let’s not forget they made extensive use of radar throughout the war
A British invention and their aircraft fell behind the allies
True they got their jet fighter in the air first but it was dangerously unreliable
They were also the least mechanised army of any of the major combatants this surprises many who see German newsreels but they were of course propaganda
Britain field by far the most Motorcycles incidentally and the German copy of the Mosquito was totally crap 😂
They spent more on the V2 than the cost of the Manhattan project
Fat lot of good that did them 😂😂
Check out their tank projects
Hilarious, massive impossible things that you would think were dreamed up by a ten year old.
😂😂😂
One of their earliest innovations was the use of amphetamines
They had their men hyped up on speed essentially
Nice one 😂😂😂
True they had designs taken as war reparations but they did extensive damage to allied country industries and factories such as VW and BMW were saved by the British army who essentially nationalised them to ensure German economic recovery so it was hardly a one way street.
Interesting video again. I use most of my bikes for commuting. I have always preferred bikes to cars.
I pulled my best wheelie on a C90, I had never ridden a semi automatic before!
A Honda CD175 was another great commuter bike.
Definitely need a 175 film
Honda mtx200 honda mt50.Great video
Interesting two strokes both
Brilliant, i used to lust over those Simpsons in BJ Wests motorcycle shop when i was sixteen👍
I have to say the design has aged surprising well
Surprised not to see a British Raliegh Run About
Will be doing one on British mopeds at some point
Although they were really French Mobylettes of course
I had 200 Benley Twin. Great bike 80 mpg…+
😎
I really like your videos. However I do have a couple corrections regarding the Puch Maxi. The Puch Maxi N came first. As there was no Maxi S at the time, it was simply called the Puch Maxi. After the Maxi S came out, the rigid frame model was renamed Maxi N. The ZA50 engine never replaced the classic e50. It wasn't as reliable as the e50 and you couldn't tune it a lot before the engine gave up. Especially Puch Maxis are very sought after in Switzerland (where I live) and a lot of teenagers still ride various mopeds like Sachs, Pony, Piaggio and Tomos. I'm also a teenager and have a Piaggio Ciao (in my profile picture) and I'm actually restoring a Puch Maxi N from a friend in school right now. Edit: There was probably also a version that was limited to 25km/h for Germany. By the way, your correct pronunciation of Puch was still not right 🤭
Interesting 🤔
The NSU Quickly operated in the same UK market as the Raleigh Runabout and Mobylette, basic transport to work that was slightly faster than a bicycle. These were a development of the autocycle, bicycles with an engine added, often in the back wheel. The Japanese introduced more capable and better built lightweights, like the Cub and it's bare bones stablemate the PC50. Curiously, Honda persevered with an engine-in-wheel moped from 1966-68 with the P50. A chap local to me used his P50 for daily transport into the late-1980s. This series could run and run. How about non-Italian scooters?
Well not always better built
Pc 50 is an odd beast indeed
Hang over from Hondas early years
I had a Bantam 125 and used it for commuting briefly. Mine topped out at about 35 mph unless there was a tailwind or decent hill. My favorite commuter bike was a Suzuki GP 125 which was a disc valve two-stroke single. Disc valves being the ultimate intake configuration for a two-stroke. It went like a rocket and was reasonably economical as well.
World moved at a slower pace in the 50s
@@bikerdood1100 your knowledge about so many bikes and different genres of bikes is amazing.
@@brodiejones2028 not really
I read a lot
In the next video I’ve found some machines even I’ve never earn of
Research needed
Brill vid Dad had a NSU Quikly and I had A Honda 50 ,70, 90 and all were to get me to work. They all did the job and with little work on them. Could you do one on the next size up the 175 - 250 please
Certainly on the horizon
Suprised a classic vespa was not on the list it mobilized post war italy and was made for commuting
I’ll do a scooter video at a later date, can only fit so much in
MZ ETZ 250 I think is possible the best commuter bike. Would love to see information on this bike. Good vid and some nice little runners hire.
Previous video is about Eastern European bikes and of course includes MZ so my be of interest
Gas station! Only our colonial cousins say that; it's petrol station, my good man.
You don’t say sir
Raleigh Wisp. Please… 👍🏼
Will get to 60s mopeds at some point
Europeans are lucky to have those cool Tucano Urbano skirts for scooters and motorcycles.
Skirts on motorcycles & scooters are for nesh sissys & people better suited to driving granny cages .
After seeing how reliable my fathers 1964 Honda 50 Cub ( c100 ) was in the 1960’s ,I bought myself a brand new green & white 1971 c50 to get to work. A couple of years later I bought an almost mint used yellow & white c 70 cub to commute on . Both bikes did 40 - 45 mph on flat on clock & up to 53 mph on clock down long down hill on the odd favourable conditions . The c70 picked up speed a bit faster & had the best cub duel seat ever .Never had a Honda Cub let me down only the odd puncture . I also owned a Suzuki FR 80 which was a two stroke step thru cub type commuter ,which was quicker than a c90 & with CCI 2 stroke lubrication system just as reliable as the Honda cubs . The MZ Simson 50 & 70 cc two stokes were not bad value & better than they looked ,& the Suzuki shop I bought my GP 100 u from ,would order the odd MZ Simson or TS 125 for punters requiring one . I remember lots of bantams in the 1960’s ,the GPO telegram boys used them. My cousin had one it was always breaking down ,& he was always fiddling with the points. The NSU quickly was the best commuter or moped to get your hands on before the Honda 50 ( c100) came along kicked it plus the bantam into touch . For those who commuted further afield the Honda CD 175 twin was the daddy & later the CD 200 Benly also .
That’s because it’s cold and wet 😂
Ye cd 175 was and is a great bike ❤
A video on 70s 175s ?
@@bikerdood1100 lol go for it
No mention of the Simson Schwalb here. I owned one in the 1980s when I lived in London and used it to commute to work. It was only 50cc, but did well over 40mph on the flat. It was also probably the ugliest moped ever produced..
Covered Simson in a video on Eastern bloc bikes
Can’t put every single bike in that would be nuts 😂😂
Why not focus on what’s in a video instead of what isn’t
No Ariel pixie either 😂😂
I'd like to see the top two cylinder two stroke bikes from each period from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, up to 500 CC. Twins only, please.
Interesting idea
NSU Quickly, I was told you could catch that off a toilet seat lol, did they make a STi Model?
Oh dear
🙄
NOW DONT TAKE THE PISS . BUT AS IT GOT I COULD NOT RIDE BIKES ENEY MORE DUE TO ARTHRITIS. I WENT DOWN TO THE AERIAL 3 WHICH IS A 3 WHEEL MOPED . DO ONE ON THAT IF YOU CAN FIND ONE .
I’d rather not if I’m completely honest
It will feature but being positive about the beast will be challenging
When it’s own advertising says here it is, what ever it is, your off to a bad start.
Producing a commuter moped was a very good idea, making a three wheeler with drive to only one wheel wasn’t too clever.
In fairness Honda had a go at a very similar thing in the early 80s with slightly better results but wasn’t exactly a success. It’s an idea with out a market I think.
Why they didn’t just build a step through moped is anyones guess
It seems a shame to classify these little bikes as Commuter's.Personaly. I have owned a puch ms50d when I was 16 and it took myself and my girlfriend length and breadth of the uk dureing the 70's I still have my c90 from the 80's which was used allmost every day carrying ridiculous loads including (I'm serious ) a new kitchen sink on one occation .Alltho i have moved on to larger bikes since then I still enjoy my C90 . Honda wave 110i and my msx (grom)all of which haave done many thousands of touring miles .
Nothing wrong with commuting
A bike used as intended is a noble thing much better than bing a pampered toy I think
I had a Bantam D7 as a field bike in my youth it was great until the first gear went😢👍
Whoops
Can you do the next stage up ie 100-125 cc bikes?
A 125video is planned
My first proper bike was a Suzuki GT185 are these still available on the used market?
True they do crop up
Bit thirsty but pretty good little bikes
Suzuki were good at making great usable two strokes
A practical two-stroke made in Japan, the Suzuki TS185ER is still available new in the Caribbean and in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
CUB BEST FACT
Had two in my youth
Iconic and unfortunately very popular
Necker saum union on the bank River Saum
Can’t help but think I’m missing something here
Things you name after a chicken never sell well
Well BSA proved that statement to be total crap now didn’t they
Tex 😂😂😂😂
1980 SACHS 505 1-D g=3?
Maybe another video
Can you do a video on the honda, yamaha, suzuki, and kawasaki shifty 50s like the honda mb5 and yamaha rx50 or rd50?
Seems like a good idea