Thought it was time to move on from the Terrot saga so starting another less fraught, easier, less stressful less urgent rebuild of another French folly, my 1952 Peugeot BIMA 'moped'.
Got my fire-proof gear on for comments from Mini, but I hope some will follow this with interest and guidance.
Bought this about 4 years ago and registered it in the UK then bought the Terrot to do first, so this has come out of the shed at the bottom of the garden for an inspection of what it actually might mean.
My current intent is to do a re-commission, an oily rag rebuild in the loosest of terms, but to get it working reliably and safely but keeping all the originality I can.
Never tried to do this before, and the urge to strip, restore, painful rebuild to original 'new' status is hard to keep in mind.
It owes me £600 already. It is worth about the same, tops, so as ever a loss making machine but should be interesting as a mini garage-in-the-winter project.
It was made when I was born, and has a few negatives, much like it's fragile owner...
Good bits:
Engine is nice and free, compression, and the de-compression valve is all free. I hope to leave the engine intact. (49cc 2 stoke)
Carb is in great condition, just full of dried French fuel and missing it's filter cover, £40 off ebay.Fr
It is the early chain drive so my fingers are crossed (notorious for snapping) but a good clean and maybe a new one.
Magneto looks great, coil is old French and not original (I think), need to check for a spark.
All metalwork is clean, rust free but some cosmetic surface rust all over, but was light cream and royal blue. Decals all distressed by time alone.
Saddle needs some delicate re-stitching, might send this to a DDK'r to rescue.
Over time the bike has been worked on and some original fasteners are lost. Can you buy 'distressed' steel fasteners? (ie M4 and M5)
Bad bits?
Not many.
The parts that are perished are the tyres, tubes, brake shoes, control cables, wrong fuel tank cap and a cracked rear reflector.
Budget is £500.
The way it all worked is a bit 'demanding' in that you can/have to pedal the bike like and push bike. The engine is engaged with the exhaust valve open (controlled by twist grip) by pulling an over-centre cam that presses a gritted roller to the tread of the rear tyre.
Still pedalling hard, you close the de-compression valve and open the throttle and the engine then runs and takes over.
Speed is controlled by twist grip and the engine will tick over so slowly you only need to kill it at very near zero mph.
A challenge then.. :lol:
Here we are: Engine covers off