A moped is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typically travel only slightly faster than bicycles on public roads.
The Norton Motorcycle Company is a brand of motorcycles headquartered in Solihull, West Midlands,, England. For some years around 1990, the rights to use the name on motorcycles was owned by North American financiers.
Puch is a manufacturing company located in Graz, Austria. The company was founded in 1899 by the industrialist Johann Puch and produced automobiles, bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles. It was a subsidiary of the large Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate.
NSU Motorenwerke AG, or NSU, was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and pedal cycles, founded in 1873. Acquired by Volkswagen Group in 1969, VW merged NSU with Auto Union, creating Audi NSU Auto Union AG, ultimately Audi. The name NSU originated as an abbreviation of "Neckarsulm", the city where NSU was located.
A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd was a British automobile and motorcycle manufacturer in operation from 1909 to 1931. The company was founded by Joe Stevens in Wolverhampton, England. After the firm was sold, the name continued to be used by Matchless, Associated Motorcycles and Norton-Villiers on four-stroke motorcycles until 1969, and since the name's resale in 1974, on lightweight, two-stroke scramblers and today on small-capacity roadsters and cruisers. The company held 117 motorcycle world records.
Motobécane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and other small vehicles, established in 1923. "Motobécane" is a compound of "moto", short for motorcycle; "bécane" is slang for "bike."
Vincent Motorcycles was a British manufacturer of motorcycles from 1928 to 1955. The business was established by Philip Vincent who bought an existing manufacturing name HRD, initially renaming it as Vincent HRD, producing his own motorcycles as HRD did previously with engines purchased as complete assemblies from other companies. From 1934, two new engines were developed as single cylinder in 500 cc and v-twin 1,000 cc capacities. Production grew from 1936, with the most-famous models being developed from the original designs after the War period in the late 1940s.
A motorcycle engine is an engine that powers a motorcycle. Motorcycle engines are typically two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engines, but other engine types, such as Wankels and electric motors, have been used.
The six main types of motorcycles are generally recognized as standard, cruiser, touring, sports, off-road, and dual-purpose. Sport touring is sometimes recognized as a seventh category or integrated with the touring category.
A motorized bicycle is a bicycle with an attached motor or engine and transmission used either to power the vehicle unassisted, or to assist with pedalling. Since it sometimes retains both pedals and a discrete connected drive for rider-powered propulsion, the motorized bicycle is in technical terms a true bicycle, albeit a power-assisted one. Typically they are incapable of speeds above 52 km/h (32 mph), however in recent years larger motors have been built, allowing bikes to reach speeds of upwards of 72 km/h.
The Honda Express or Honda NC50 is a scooter made by Honda between 1977 and 1983. Variants include the Express (NC50), Express II (NA50), Express SR (NX50) and Urban Express (NU50). All versions of the Express line are powered by an air-cooled 49 cc (3.0 cu in) two-stroke engine.
FN is a Belgian company established in 1889 to make arms and ammunition, and from 1901 to 1967 was also a motorcycle manufacturer. FN manufactured one of the world's first four-cylinder motorcycles, was famous for the use of shaft drive in all models from 1903 to 1923, achieved success in sprint and long-distance motorcycle racing, and after 1945, also in motocross.
The FS1 is a Yamaha moped of the 1970s. Various letter suffixes were added to indicate model variation to suit local regulations, such as the FS1-E for England, FS1P/DX NL and others.
Rieju is a Spanish manufacturer of mopeds and motorcycles from Spain. It is based in Figueres. They specialise in small-displacement motorcycles using Minarelli engines. Their products are available in almost all European countries.
The NSU Quickly was a moped manufactured by NSU Motorenwerke AG of Germany from 1953 to 1968. More than one million Quicklys were sold.
A scooter is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, a transmission that shifts without the operator having to operate a clutch lever, a platform for the rider's feet, and with a method of operation that emphasizes comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motor scooters have been made since at least 1914. More recently, scooters have evolved to include scooters exceeding 250cc classified as Maxi-scooters.
The Yamaha V series are two-stroke step-through motorcycles made by the Yamaha Motor Company. There were a number of different engine capacities to suit different sections of the market. The bike was primarily released to compete with the ever-popular Honda Super Cub. It is also very similar to the Suzuki FR50.
The Honda SS50 is a 50 cc (3.1 cu in) motorcycle manufactured by the Honda Motor Company.
A sport moped is a moped that resembles a sport bike and often performs better than standard mopeds. They were created to circumvent UK legislation, called the "Sixteeners Laws", aimed at taking young motorcycle riders off the road. The new laws, introduced in 1971 by Conservative Party Minister for Transport John Peyton, forbade 16-year-olds from riding motorcycles of 250 cc (15 cu in) capacity, thus limiting them to 50 cc machines until they turned 17.
Janus Motorcycles is an American manufacturer of small-displacement motorcycles in Goshen, Indiana. The company was founded in 2011 by Richard Worsham and Devin Biek, and has been delivering motorcycles since 2013. Worsham and Biek got started repairing, restoring, and tuning vintage, pedal-type mopeds through Biek's company, Motion Left Mopeds, a manufacturer of aftermarket performance parts for vintage two-strokes. The moped business led to their interest in small, lightweight bikes, and helped develop business relationships with local component vendors.
