Sep 02 2008
French Icons: Vélo Solex
One of the things that epitomises France for me is a French person going down the road on their vélo solex. Whenever I see one it always reminds me of the French countryside, they’re a great way to get around the country lanes!
In fact they still seem to be quite popular, perhaps because there aren’t many of the original ones around any more. Apparently they’re still made, although I haven’t found a website that seems to sell them other than Ebay, where there’s a new one for sale at a price of £250 (with 2 days bidding left).
The maximum speed is 35kms/ hr - they probably almost run on fresh air, but at that speed it would take quite a long time to get to your destination! I think the old ones are definitely the best if you can find one!
If you want to see lots of them in action, you can check out this video on YouTube - with some great French background music!
This is what you are looking for (although they are now electric):
http://www.e-solex.fr/index.html
Beep! Beep!
Thanks Craig, I knew there must be a website somewhere for them!