Project Moby

[cavboy80]

A good friend of mine has been rebuilding a 1969 BSA Bantam, it was whilst helping him that i got drawn to the idea of having a moped project that i could tinker with and it'd make a change from cars.

My Uncle has been a collector of bikes for years,in fact the Bantam came from him and it was whilst looking at this i saw this Mobylette.

18 months later i enquired as to whether he'd sell it and being family he would as normally he doesn't let stuff go.

Thursday evening i had a look at it and today i used my works van to collect it.

It's a 3 owner bike that's spent it life in South Norfolk and was supplied by WR Cobbs of Diss in June 1978.

It's covered just over 3000 miles and was last on the road 9 or so years ago.

The plan is to get it running, go through the mechanicals and get it on the road as it's largely original.

[rblote]

Awesome bike mate. My oldest brother's first moped was a Mobilet Kaptijn.
This was his wapon

[cavboy80]

Lovely looking bike rblote, you can see hints of it in my later 50V.

[cavboy80]

Update time, myself and a friend got the Moby started two weeks ago. Plug cleaned and fuel added and away she went. Unfortunately the carb leaked worse than a sieve due to knackered seals and gaskets.

Yesterday i visited Mark Daniels who runs Mopedland near Ipswich. He has a huge amount of classic 'ped spares i came away with a small stash of new parts and today i started fitting them.

Plug, Lead, Cap, Drive Belt, Fuel tap and hose and a gasket/ seal kit in the carb.

Now she fires up nicely and has the good manners to retain her fuel inside.

Front tyre and exhaust sealing gasket are getting done during this week and then with luck MOT time will be Saturday.

Insurance was purchased last week, with Carol Nash, fully comp, 2000 mile limit (very optimistic) all for £90 !!!

Also i've discovered that my Mobylette was last on the road in 1983 so Saturday will be a big milestone.

[cavboy80]

Further update.
Carb leak has plagued me, i tried to fix it yesterday by stripping the carb down and carefully cleaning it (or so i thought) I checked and all seemed good, it sat outside mine for a further hour until i rode it 2 miles to the MOT station. It failed......loose lock-nuts underneath the brake levers (i never touched those nor realised they were there) and a leaking carb !! Right, that's bloody well it. Once home i got onto the Classic Moped site and ordered a brand new carb £40 delivered......that'll sort it once for all. Once here it's getting fitted and MOT'd.

[cavboy80]

The new Gurtner carburettor arrived yesterday and last night i fitted it. No more leakage and it runs so sweetly now too.
So today for the first time since 1983 my Mobylette is roadworthy. MOT'd and taxed today i took it on a 14 mile run.
It's slow and noisy but it's a brilliant little bike that just makes you smile.
The next part of the project is to get the cosmetics right. The plan here is to retain as much of the originality but to get it looking cleaner. In between though i'll be using it.

[cavboy80]

The weather today in Norfolk was lovely, as i couldn't give a flying for either the Royals or Football i decided to take the Mobylette out for a run.
I headed south again but this time it was to the border, the 100th Bomb Group museum at Thorpe Abbotts is a real favorite of mine so i 'ring-a-ding-dinged' down the A140 at a leisurely 35 mph.
40 minutes later i got there without incident and had coffee and a relaxing couple of hours looking around.
Heading for home i took the back roads and stopped for pictures a couple of times.
The Moby didn't miss a beat, it hummed along happily.
Next step is to get the bike looking a bit fresher, i've ordered a new period plate for it and some panels are on there way too. A friend during the week gave me two better looking chrome panels for the tank.
Updates are coming soon.

[duggers]

That's a beauty. Whatever you do don't over restore it. That patina is history, albeit slow and noisy

[trabbimadman]

great looking mobylette you have there
my first ever bike as a spotty teenager (13 yr old) was a mobylette, my dad rescued it from a skip on the local farm with a seized engine. luckily for me he just happened to have a spare engine in the cellar at my nans! - as you do lol
i was REALLY ill the day after so couldn't go to school - but managed (ahem) to peddle my sisters raleigh shopper to my nans to recover said engine which i then fitted to the moby.
that poor little bu**er then spent the last 4 yrs or so of its life thrashing around with me and various mates on it - usually two up! it was ace.
always wished id kept it since.

[cavboy80]

Here's a long overdue update of my Mobylette.
Summer 2018 was spent just using it for both work (30 miles per week) and pleasure rides, one being to The Norfolk Motorcycle Museum in North Walsham.
Most of you guys are probably aware of this museum, for anyone who hasn't visited it's well worth an hour or so to see the impressive collection. Mobylettes are well served with 4 in the collection.
I carried on used it, though with winter looming i decided that it'll be off the road before the salty roads appeared. My hand was forced though when in early November i was on a ride out with a friend when i noticed that the Moby wasn't as spritely as it could be.
The front brake was red hot to the touch so i disconnected the cable so as to not totally roast the bearing etc and took an even more gentle ride back home.
Wheel off and the reason was apparent, one of the brake shoes had come away from its backing and was jamming against the other shoe.
So a phone call to Brian Alpin (such a friendly and knowledgeable chap) and a few days later a parcel arrived.
New shoes, speedo cable (the original broke two weeks previously) front drive sprocket, rear drive sprocket and chain (the old ones were worn and the chain baggy)
Over December '18 these parts were fitted, the cable didn't bring the speedo back to life so Danny supplied another speedo drive as the old one had rounded its internal drive, this was fitted and still nothing! The speedo itself is out now for a strip and clean as i think that was the cause, dry old grease causing the cable to 'drag'.
With the speedo out i took the chance to repaint the dull and tatty looking headlight shell and sidepanels in white with lacquer, the original dealer sticker was retained and sealed in. I don't want to over restore it just make it a tidy, useable bike.
One night recently i was looking through the net when i ended on the lesolex.com site. On there was a NOS speedo chrome bezel and as mine had been handpainted silver at some time it seemed rude not to buy it, once here i'll then strip down the speedo.
Last Saturday was sunny and dry (a rarity in Norfolk of late) so i took the Mobylette for a short run to blow away the cobwebs, it ran really well and has made me miss riding it even more, roll on spring.
So, that brings the story up to date, once the salt has gone i'll be back on the road though a 2004 Yamaha Neos was purchased in November as my out and out daily.