James May's Old Moped - Suzuki AP 50
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ต.ค. 2022
- Hi Welcome to Hardy Classics. Today we take another of the 16 sports mopeds out of the collection. The Suzuki AP50 , this one was formerly owned by Grand Tour presenter James May. We bought this bike at auction when James May and Richard Hammond put a few of there Mopeds in an auction around the time when they stopped presenting Top Gear. This one is a lovely example, we take a look around the bike and also compare it to its two biggest rivals, the Yamaha F1S-E and Honda SS50.
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Bringing back memories I had a brand new suzuki ap50 in 1977 £277 on the road 😍did 6500 miles In six months fantastic times
I had a new Casal K 196 in 76 and was quicker than both of those and only 4 gears, yup good times with true freedom to go anywhere at anytime, thing is those casal's are as rare as hens teeth but would love to get my hands on one, nostalgia ? probably but I would use it.
I had just over 50 out of mine 2 up (admittedly, we were both skinny rakes in those days). Overtook a friend on a Yamaha TY50 with both of us on it!!! Great fun. Sold it at 17 and bought a white X7.
A gang of us had the ap50 in 76, blew the pants of the fsie all day long 😅
Loved mine purchased new back in 1975, I used to go between Loughborough and Nottingham everyday and it never let me down. Wonderful bike, before upgrading to the 250 and then 750 once I had passed my test.
The official MIRA tested top speed of the FS1E was 44 MPH. The A50P's MIRA tested top speed was 61 MPH, mainly due to it having a 5th gear overdrive advantage over the FS1E.
Lmfho 61 my arse! Get a life.
I loved my FS1E, but being honest with myself had to admit my friends AP was simply a superior machine. 5 gears v 4 gears, slightly more power, oil pump (no premixing), quicker & faster. My FS1E could only just keep up after 60cc big bore kit & sprocket change whilst the AP was bog standard. The only thing my FS1E had in its favour was a front disk (DX model). Ironically it was the AP that needed a front disk, not the FS1E!
All these are Classic bikes 🙂 I have a restored Blue AP50 P reg and every time i take it out for a spin....I feel 16 again 😎❤
Had a blue one, when you're 16 you just want to ride, 56mph the best I had out of it. Couldn't afford mods and wouldn't have wasted my money on them. Went to a RD250 at 17.
Same top speed here! Always beat the fizzers, not the Fantics though.
Fizzy all day long for me
hi pal i bought your old red ap50 , got it from a guy in Scotland but i think you sold it to a fellow in Hornsea,, i think i sold it to a guy from the north east so might be back on the road now,
i have had about 14 ap through my hands in the last few years, my first bike at 16 so special to me, have one of each colour on my garage now ti sell on
I had exact same one / colour 1982.
The AP50 was just an adapted A50, so it was an old commuter bike. The footrest A50 had been around a few years and the AP version which a quick and dirty adaption to catch the last year of the sports moped era...
👍
The bigger version was the A100, they had the same frames, the B120 was quite a different style
I've ridden, in the past, the Yamaha FS1E, Suzuki A50P, Jawa 50-23 Mustang & Puch Grand Prix.
The FS1E could have the Yamaha YB100 installed. I knew somebody who did this. The Suzuki A50P could take the Suzuki A70P & A80P engines.
With an OEM top speed of 72 MPH, the Puch Grand Prix was already too fast for its brakes & frame, so messing with it wasn't a good idea. I took a friend's one up to around 65 MPH once and it was like hanging onto a runaway shopping trolley. Out of all the sports mopeds, the 40 MPG that the Puch Grand Prix achieves, makes it the most gas guzzling moped of all time.
Never heard such nonsense in over 40 years of having bikes. The AP50 was a cool little bike nobody but nobody ever referred to them as an old man’s bike or shopping bike. I have know idea where or why he’s come up with this idea. For a start it had 5 gears that functioned like a big bike unlike the fizzy. It was at least a half decent size for actual proper sized teenagers to fit on instead of being a midget you had to be to ride a fizzy. Also as anybody around at the time knows it was faster. Anyway not a very good sales pitch from this seller.
We called them old man’s bikes up north bonnie lad ! And it’s not for sale it’s out my personal collection 👍
Agreed. I turned 16 a few years after mopeds were restricted to 30mph and the AP50 was at least as desirable, if not more so than the FS1-E because they were faster. I actually had an FS1-E though as the AP50's were harder to come by. No one ever modified either of them in my circles, apart from trying to polish the ports.
I had that exact same AP50 in 1977. In terms of 'coolness' i don't recall there ever being much difference. When you're 16 the bars on the Suzuki made you think you were riding some sort of chopper! The Suzuki always seemed to be few mph faster than the Fizzy..maybe those 5 gears. Don't recall we ever did much modifications to them, other than bigger rear tyre as soon as the original wore out...oh and taking the baffle out of course!
i had an FS1E because it was cheaper than the AP50, my one was quite fast, it could do 49 mph (was always racing other FS1E's and winning ) at the time, A friend bought the AP50, I thought it looked better, and it was faster, if I had had enough money, I would of bought the Garelli Tiger Cross, it was the fastest, the biggest, and the best looking
me mate put an a100 engine in his. tuned it aswell. 60 mph easily.
I have to chime in after hearing so much nonsense for the viewers. Suzuki just added the pedals for legal reasons to sell it as moped. The bike was known as A-50 in the rest of the world(without pedals), like the A-100 and was a full 50cc motorbike. The 'P' in the name was for the pedals version in Europe. As a proper bike it was also the fastest 50cc by far, too quick, because it led to a change in 50cc regulation in the UK with speed limits for mopeds. With its 5-gearbox, it could reach lying up to 55-60+ miles. So James had the fastest 50cc on the market.
AP50 was well better then the FS1E chunkier and meatier. The FSIE was like a toy compared!
Blue bikes are faster. WYA 201R
Ap50 was faster than ss50 and fs1e
That’s a matter of opinion and definitely bragging rights in the pub on a Saturday night lol
I had the 100cc, passed my test on it !
That isn't a MOPED ! It's a 50cc motorcycle !
Am I in a minority in thinking that James may is a COMPLETE PRAT ?
Yes your the only one
@@garyevans9509 Oh I'm sure that's *not* the case ! 🤣
@@MrGradyjohnson You are in a tiny minority.
Can you peddle it? Yes. It's a moped
Its under 50cc and considered by law a moped, but they built them like that back then to engage the younger rider and I for one was very glad they did, mine was a Casal K196 Sport and as a matter of interest was quicker than both the fizzy and the AP, what a trip man lol.