Restoring the Velo SoleX! (a cross post from the family Blog)

As some of you may know I am working on restoring a Velo Solex like the one pictured above (yes that is a french priest riding his velo solex in a cassock!). I have uploaded some photos of the restoration progress starting with a few pictures from today when, with the help of a Solex expert named Brian, I finally got it up and running. It was perfect!!

The photos can be found on www.flickr.com/photos/jmorthodox/sets

Last week I ordered and replaced the unique 1.75 X 19" Solex tires and tubes. After trying for 2 hours to get the new tires on the rims I decided to make a trip to the bike shop in Yonkers for some other tools and a special tire wrench to help pry the new tires onto the rims - very hard!

Today we cleaned out the old corroded carbon and oil from the gas tank and the fuel lines (this required carberator cleaner and rubbing alcohol with a lot of time and a long paperclip), replaced the fuel filter in the bottom of the gas tank and at the air intake before the gas return line, and replced a gasket and diaphram from the guts of the fuel pump. Next we tightened some brake lines, fixed some springs (on the light switch and on the choke/frontbrake mechanism). Once all of this was done it ran beautifully and I got to ride it around for the first time! It was much quiter than I expected.

Anyone interested in more info on the velo SoleX start here:
http://solexin.free.fr/us/index.html
or here:
http://solexin.free.fr/us/history/histo/index.html

The solex is not only a more ecomomical way to travel to and from my parish and around town but since it gets over 100 miles per gallon I can do my small part to reduce our family's environmental impact. (not much but its a start...)

A friend at the seminary gave me a wonderful wicker 2 bottle wine basket with a wicker hinged top for the rear rack and I plan to get some other accessories as I can afford them over the years (leather vintage Solex saddle bags, Solexine spare gas can for longer rides, a Solex tool kit and bike pump that mount under the rear carrier rack, original 3800 Solex rear light lens, etc.)

Its not 500 lbs Triumph like Jodi's brother's got but hey a priest in a cassock just wouldn't look very cool on that.

Enjoy!
FJM