Right, but since Google has added a translation site it is simple to translate this site. Not everything but enough to understand
and to communicate.

We use this site also to decode questions.

Founding clubs is a national habit in the Netherlands. You will find lots of different clubs with regard to moped and motor cycles.
Why don't you come across a Kaptein or Dutch Motobécane Club?
The answer is simple: such a club would not have enough advantage for the majority of the Kaptein and Motobécane enthusiasts.
Most of them are self-supporting and by way of Internet, phone, jumbles, runs and magazines, lots of contacts are made.
Besides there is a Virtual Network Group that can assist. The result of this involvement is a lot of restored Kaptein and Motobécane engines.
Special attention for youngsters is part of our mission, too.

Secondly, a club often means a lot of work and obligations for just a few people, while the majority is watching passively.
Another reason is the advantage for an international run initiator. He chooses the team members of this run.
Within a club it is harder to refuse certain members, who often ignore social or traffic rules.
Safety first is the most important statement of every run.

Belgium Club?
In Belgium Rudi Kennes has taken the initiative to found a Belgium Club for Motobécane mopeds.
Its structure is also network based. Mobyplace.com  and this website Pantin.nl share the same forum.

This cooperation between Belgium and the Netherlands is wise, because thus a critical mass of visitors is obtained. 

Plans for long runs in the future
- Munich - Verona in ?
- Tour de France for variator models.
- Arnhem - Paris - Arnhem in 2009 ( Kaptein 60 years).
- New Zealand run (waiting for a sponsor, who will finance the expensive logistic operation).

It is not necessary for you to write an E-mail in English:
Most languages are directly supported:

WARNING:

• Don't expect an answer, when your E-mail address wasn't left behind.
• Don't expect an answer about year of construction when only the colour of your motor cycle is given!

My fascination for MIDI-files is quite old. Midi-files are quite small and they use the capabilities of your synthesizer chip on your motherboard.
Midi-music is limited to about 100 different instruments and sounds. Voices are poorly generated. Very often music sounds a bit robotically or synthetically; however with a professional chips it can sound very naturally.
So the music chip quality on your motherboard together with your audio system determines the end result.
You can edit those files easily. Mostly I change some instruments before I add them on my site. It always hard to find the right instrument replacing the voices. This quest for better files will probably never stop. When the music sounds lousy you should consider that it is your cheap soundcard.
When you find a nice MIDI-file on the web or when you have composed an ultimate song for Midi: a copy would be appreciated.

How to recognize type, year, frame number and motor number? (for the Dutch version ) 
Besides all kind of information on those small production plates on the engine and sometimes on the frame, there are several other ways to check this:

• On the carburettor (Gurtner) there is very often a production date.
• On the rim made by RIGIDA you may find two rhombuses one before and one behind the word RIGIDA. In many cases you will find month and year of the rim production in these rhombuses.
• The construction itself gives an indication, too. Wheel size is one of the most important properties.

25"" = 1950 - 1960
24"" = 1955 - 1960
23"" = 1957 - 1969
22"" = 1968 - 1975
21"" = 1970 - 1975
20"" = 1968 - 1975

My e-mail address = info@pantin.nl

Messages in French, German or Dutch shall be answered in the same language as received.

Henk van Kessel registration form for Motobécane and license holders

Please send an e-mail instead, because spam is sent by commercial parties.

As soon as a filter has been applied, this option will be available again. 

Your E-mail address:
Model/Type:
Frame no.:
Engine no:
Year:
Message:

The old Motobécane network does not exist anymore and you must have a lot of patience.
Nevertheless there are some enthusiasts and companies, who probably can help you.

info@pantin.nl
Yes, indeed this site. Since we have focused our activities on more expensive variator models, many spares of the fifties and early sixties are for sale now.
If you are looking for spares send us a mail. Sometimes we cannot help you, but  we shall always give you an advice where to look for that specific part..
You could also ask for those in our guestbook. Because this is a non-commercial site we also give you other addresses.
Spares of ancient Motobécane bikes are spread all over the world and that is why we like Internet so much.

But we do more:
As we want to ride properly; we sometimes have to develop new solutions for old problems.
A lot of small projects have resulted in new spares or solutions: ignition system, emblems, license plate, tools, relay-box repair procedure and spares, special tyres and so on.

 

-  Tank emblems project has finished and all parts including the non-standard M3x 0.6 screws can be produced.

 - Variator for relay box models:
How to change a Transval AV88 variator in a relaybox type from counter clockwise to clockwise?
Not simple, because you have to change several parts because of the direction of rotation.
Besides the belt for a relay-box variator is much wider than the small belt for the Transval variator.
Happily we were able to buy a lot of fixed flanges with the old dimensions, so the wide flange enables the belt running in the utmost lower position. I have tested it on the Mont Ventoux in France, where it performed perfectly.

- Ignition coils for the very old models
When your old ignition coil doesn't work anymore, it could still be used as a feeding coil for your external coil.
The main advantage is that there are no fixing problems. Secondly it works quite well.

H.van Gestel & Zn (Eindhoven - NL).
Tel. +31 (0)40 2111393

Brain Aplins
Motobécane dealer in Bristol (GB) Tel.+44 117 977 7376.

Marc Duchamps
http://www.lesolex.com/
Besides Solex stuff; he is selling Motobécane spares.

Websites for public sales /auction
www.ebay.fr
www.leboncoin.fr
www.Marktplaats.nl
http://www.veilingkijker.nl/index.cgi

are also interesting places to look for spares, motor cycles and mopeds.

Motobécane Club de France.
An other way is to visit the site of Motobécane Club de France. You can look at the adds and ask for spares on that site.
Of course you should visit special old-timer shows like I do. In the Netherlands there are lot of them. My favourites are: Barneveld, Heerhugowaard, Autotron Rosmalen, Moto salon Paris, NVT-Woerden. On the big Vehikel Event in Utrecht you won't find much Kaptein or Motobécane spares.

Addresses on Mobysplace
On this site you will find a lot of links to suppliers and free manuals

Mobylette forums
Suppose you are looking for a special spare and nobody is offering it.
Perhaps a forum member will respond on your interesting story and need for that particular part.

Sale instead of purchase
But, suppose you have a lot of spares for sale?... Just give us a call, mostly we know somebody, who is desperately seeking for those parts.
Quite often we bring people of a deceased relative into contact with a person, who lives around. Mostly there is nobody in such a family, who wants to take care of the old vehicle. Very often no money is involved and the collector moves home happily. 

Some people use an extended spark plug that blocks the piston. A better solution is a big clamp, which will be attached on the flywheel. Sometimes an oil filter wrench band can be used, too.

Attention: Except the roller driven types: the type of thread for most types is LEFT!
This means : turn the nut clockwise to loosen it!

 Success!

Never use NOS-COILS

Since 15 years we have received a lot of questions with regard to those ancient coils. Next we have offered a solution to several hundreds of people.
Our advice is: take an external coil and your moby will run like hell!
External coils are easy to find and use them together with a low tension coil to feed it.
This was already done by Motobécane in 1962. So nothing new, but old engines even from the fifties can make use of this solution.
Connecting is easy: the difference is an extra connection cable from the feeding coil to the external coil, because in the old construction this is combined within one double coil.
Extra hints: Vespa coils (Vespa Ciao) perform very well. From an old 1970 engine or later you can take the low tension coil.
On request we can offer you a complete system: feeding coil, external coil, wiring, external capacitor, contact breaker ends and manual.
   

Very wise. The old stuff they sell you at jumbles is mostly rubbish.
In a Dutch publication of INNOVAM we have found a very simple procedure.
The resistance should be more than 200.000 Ohm. Use a simple multimeter (Voltmeter) to check this.
If the resistance is less than 200.000 Ohm, leakage is very likely and your capacitor is deceased . However this is not an ultimate test. When a capacitor warms up its resistance will decrease; besides the best test is done during operation, when the capacitor is heavily charged.
During our Luxembourg ride we had sometimes extreme circumstances: 30 degrees Celsius, high speed and very steep hills.
Several capacitors were malfunctioning. Later we changed its position to a much cooler spot.
Nowadays we apply capacitors with an insulation value of 1000 Volts with excellent results.
Remember that when the contact breaker opens the capacitor is charged; a split second later the capacitor discharges. The tension within the primary winding can reach peaks of 600 Volts. In the secondary winding of the high tension coil a high tension is induced, which generates a spark at the spark plug.
This explains the need for a well insulated capacitor.

What kind of spark plug? 

High speed and for use in the hills / mountains: NGK B6hS, B5hS  Champion L82C  Marchal 35 / 36 D (especially for engines equipped with a variator).
Low speed and average performance Champion L86C or BOSCH W7AC.

Dismounting of rear bearings out of the rear hub can be easily done by a simple tool.
If you are handy you can make it yourself. The tool is composed of a shaft and a small conical pin.

For machining a 12mm rod: click on the right picture.

When you put the shaft totally into the inner ring of the roller bearing and tick with a hammer on the pin:
the shaft will expand and will be fixed at the inner ring.
By giving a bang on the shaft 's other side; the bearing and shaft will be pushed out of the hub.

By heating the aluminium housing a bit, it may be easier to remove the bearing and it prevents against damaging the housing. We produced some of the 10 mm as well as the 12 mm type. You will find the 12mm mostly in 100 mm and higher hubs (the specials). 10mm is common for the small hubs 70-90mm like the AV42.

From time to time an experienced mechanic is calling, because he is not able to dismount the centrifugal coupling.
Let us see how we can fix it.

Firstly you remove the hexagon nut and the grease nipple. Next you need an extractor, which has to be screwed into the cover of the coupling. An inner bolt pulls the cover off the camshaft. If you cannot find an extractor contact me.

When you look at the drawing , you will see in front of and behind the red ring a so called "Seeger ring or circlip ring ". Mostly people manage to remove the first ring and think that the job has done. They are looking against the (in this drawing =  red coloured)  washer, which covers the second Seeger ring, and they are very surprised that they cannot remove the coupling housing.

The red washer has to be removed with a magnetic extractor or with two small pins. Because of the grease this simple ring has been stuck on the second Seeger ring. Sometimes it helps when you shake the engine a bit.
After the washer has been taken away, the second Seeger ring can be dismounted quite easily.
 

Detail of Dimoby centrifugal coupling. The red washer has to be removed off the camshaft, which is not visible in this picture.

BG-fuel tap

Technical drawing of the BG tap

 Carburettors can be very polluted. Most people know that and will clean the carburettor carefully.
However, often they forget to check the little hole of the needle jet. This hole provides the mixture with some extra petrol when the throttle is nearly closed.
When your engine has stationary problems this may be the cause. For the 12 mm carburettors and higher you must dismantle the needle jet at the underside of the carburettor. For older models (without needle jet holder) the needle jet must be removed and inserted by way of the throttle valve bore.

Some examples of needle jets with holes  for stationary speed.
 

Many emails concern leaking of carburettors.

Normally if there is enough fluid in the float housing:  the needle of the float  will move upwards and next it will close the opening in the cover of the float housing. When the level lowers the float will move downwards and admit petrol again.    As floats and covers can be pretty old, it is quite likely that those are worn and cannot close the petrol admittance any longer.

Replacement of float, cover and joint will solve the problem.

Often youngsters ask us how to speed up their moped. They think that this as easy as for a  modern scooter, that in fact primarily was designed as a motor cycle. At these vehicles they have attached simple ( removable) restrictions inside of  the inlet / outlet system.
A mobylette engine is mostly designed as a moped engine and speeding it up is more complicated. You will will need special parts, that were hardly available.....
But times are a changing and a lot of companies offer better cylinders nowadays. Using a 50cc Nicasil cylinder will enhance the performance considerably. Even bigger cilinders  for AV7 as well as for AV10 are for sale in France and Spain.  Those big ones are meant for racing purposes.

However our mission is not to ruin these ancient engines, but getting them on the road again according their original specifications. Though they are old now, they should run like in their young days. Sometimes even better, when improved sealing, ignition or lubrication additives have been applied.
 

Top 12 of problems that influence factory speed

• Pre ignition is wrong
• Poor ignition coil
• Poor capacitor
• Spark plug failure
• Breaker points: greasy, rusty, locked on tiny shaft or even a shortcut in open position.
• Diffuser in carburettor is too large or too small.
• Piston rings too tight ( play should be 0.2 mm)
• Worn piston and piston rings
• Gas valve cannot be fully opened
• Leakage of crankshaft seals
• Exhaust is silt (AV92 and SP93)
• Transmission problem (coupling, brakes to tight, chain)

• After checking and testing ignition, fuel system and compression, the engine stayed dead, till I discovered that the exhaust was 100% locked with coal.
   
• Cable from feeding coil to external coil was damaged and was touching the frame,  so a short-cut obstructed the ignition.
   
• The ignition failed, the cause was found within a few minutes: a poorly welded connecting wire of the feeding coil. Normally this coil gives no trouble at all.
   
• bad petrol or mixture.
  This year somebody put some oil into his tank and afterwards some petrol. The 2-stroke oil ran straight into the carburettor. After cleaning and remixing fuel this engine performed well again. Some smoke confirmed the previous error of poor mixing.

• 600 x 50 B
• 25 x 2
• 24 x 1.5 x 2 

Besides there smaller (Solex tyres) which will fit.

• 600 x 45B available: Motorrijwielhandel van Gestel at Eindhoven (NL)
• 24 x 1.5 x 1.75 

Two types of tyres are often offered:

• black ones
• tyres with white walls.

Ordering those is not so easy and costs of investment and transport are considerable high.
Nevertheless we have bought some for  friends and people who have written to us. They can ride on their oldies again.