Solex is a brand name owned by a subsidiary of Italian automotive parts manufacturer, Magneti Marelli. The original Solex company was French-owned and produced carburetors and gasoline powered bicycles.
Solex carburetors were used by many European automotive companies including Rolls-Royce Motors, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Porsche, and were also licensed to Japanese maker Mikuni. However, they are no longer made by any derivation of the original French firm.
The company discontinued operations in France in 1988. Starting in 1992, it underwent a series of acquisitions and name changes. When ownership fell under the Magneti Marelli umbrella, production shifted to China and Hungary. Production in Hungary was discontinued in 2002, and then resumed in France in 2005 with a line of gasoline and electric-powered bikes and mopeds being sold, as of 2021, under the VéloSoleX name as part of the EasyBike Group. [1]
The Solex company was founded by Marcel Mennesson and Maurice Goudard to manufacture vehicle radiators. These were fitted to several makes of early cars including Delaunay-Belleville and buses of the Paris General Omnibus company.
After World War I, the radiator business went into decline and the company bought the rights to the carburetor patents of Jouffret and Renée and named them Solex after their business.
The Solex brand is now owned by Magneti Marelli. The original Solex company changed its name in 1994 to Magneti Marelli France and on May 31, 2001, Magneti Marelli France partially bought its assets (including the trademark SOLEX) from Magneti Marelli Motopropulsion France S.A.S.
Solex carburetors were widely used by many European makers [2] and under license to Mikuni in Asia until the mid-1980s when fuel injection was widely adopted. Among the European companies which used Solex carburetors were: Rolls-Royce Motors, Alfa Romeo, Bristol, Fiat, Audi, Ford, BMW, Citroën, Opel, Simca, Saab, Singer Motors, Renault, Peugeot, Lancia, Land Rover Series, Lada, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Volkswagen, Zündapp and Porsche.
Solex carburetors have been made under licence by a number of companies including Mikuni of Japan, which entered into a licensed manufacturing agreement with Solex in 1960 and further developed many of Solex's original designs. Japanese automakers and motorcycle manufacturers using Mikuni carburetors included: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Nissan, and Yamaha.
The VéloSoleX has a 49 cc (3.0 cu in) motor mounted above the front wheel. Power is delivered via a small ceramic roller that rotates directly on the front wheel by friction to the tire.
The first prototype of a VéloSoleX was created in 1941 and used regular bicycle frames such as those under the Alcyon brand and were powered by a 45 cc (2.7 cu in) engine developed by Solex. VéloSoleX were produced commercially and sold starting in 1946 with a 45-cc engine without clutch, then later with a 49-cc engine. The solex, although not varying much from one version to the next, was sold in these models:
Export versions were also created (sold outside France)
Current version (made in France)
More than eight million were eventually sold, mostly in Europe. It was also constructed under licence in many countries. Today, the VéloSoleX is again manufactured in France. The trademark "VELOSOLEX" is the property of Velosolex America, LLC which markets the VéloSoleX motorized bicycle worldwide.
Marelli Europe S.p.A. is a European subsidiary of Marelli Holdings which develop and manufactures the components for the automotive industry. The firm is headquartered in Corbetta, Italy, and includes 86 manufacturing plants, 12 R&D centres, and 26 application centers in 19 countries, with 43,000 employees and a turnover of 7.9 billion euro in 2016.
The Fiat Dino was a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car produced by Fiat from 1966 to 1973. The Dino name refers to the Ferrari Dino V6 engine, produced by Fiat and installed in the cars to achieve the production numbers sufficient for Ferrari to homologate the engine for Formula 2 racing.
The Mitsubishi Saturn or 4G3 engine is series of overhead camshaft (OHC) straight-four internal combustion engines introduced by Mitsubishi Motors and saw first service in the 1969 Colt Galant. Displacement ranges from 1.2 to 1.8 L, although there was also a rare 2-litre (1,994 cc) inline-six version built from 1970 until 1976. The early versions have chain driven valvetrain while the later versions are belt driven and equipped with balance shafts.
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."
The Nissan H series of automobile engines is an evolution of the Nissan "R" engine which was based on the 1.5-liter, three-main bearing "G" engine used in the 1960s. Both inline-four and inline-six versions were produced. It is a pushrod OHV design with iron block, early models with an iron head, later models with aluminum head. Versions of this motor have been used in many Nissan autos and forklifts, well into the eighties and a version called H20II was in production until 2003. The SD diesels are based on this series of motors
Sunbeam Cycles made by John Marston Limited of Wolverhampton was a British brand of bicycles and, from 1912 to 1956 motorcycles.
The Lancia Rally was a mid-engine sports car and rally car built by Lancia in the early 1980s to compete in the FIA Group B World Rally Championship. Driven by Markku Alén, Attilio Bettega, and Walter Röhrl, the car won Lancia the manufacturers' world championship in the 1983 season. It was the last rear-wheel drive car to win the WRC.
VéloSoleX is a moped, or motorised bicycle, usually just referred to as 'Solex', which was originally produced by the French manufacturer Solex, based in Courbevoie near Paris, France. The company manufactured centrifugal radiators, carburetors, and micrometers, before branching into assist motors and bicycles. The moped originally created during World War II and mass-produced between 1946 and 1988 came in various iterations, whilst keeping the same concept of a motor with roller resting on the front wheel of a bicycle.
The Killinger and Freund Motorcycle was an attempt in 1935 by a group of five German engineers from Munich to design a more streamlined and modified version of the German Megola front-wheel drive motorcycle. The work took three years to complete but the result was impressive. The engine displacement stayed the same as the Megola at 600 cc but was much lighter and more simplified than a standard 100 cc motorcycle of the time.
Weber Carburetors is an automotive manufacturing company founded in 1923, known for their carburetors.
The Phillips Panda was one of a number of mopeds produced by the Phillips Cycles company of England in the 1950s and early 1960s. The factory also produced the slightly more expensive Phillips Gadabout models.
Zastava Skala, also known as Yugo Skala, is a generic name for a family of cars built by Yugoslavian manufacturer Zastava Automobili. Based on the Fiat 128 sedan, it was introduced in 1971 and sold as a 3 or 5-door liftback, a style that had not been issued or manufactured in Italy and was specifically trageted for the Balkan market, under the names Zastava 101, Zastava 1100, Zastava 1300,Zastava GTL, Yugo Skala 55c and Yugo Skala 65c.
The Yamaha T135 is an underbone manufactured by Yamaha Motor Company since 2005. It is known as the Spark 135/135i in Thailand, Sniper/MX 135 in the Philippines, Jupiter MX 135 LC in Indonesia, 135LC in Malaysia, Exciter 135 in Vietnam, and Crypton X 135 in Greece. It is powered by a 134.4 cc (8.20 cu in) single-cylinder engine.
The Velocette Venom was a 499 cc single-cylinder four-stroke British motorcycle made by Velocette at Hall Green in Birmingham. A total of 5,721 machines were produced between 1955 and 1970.
The Dino 206 GT, 246 GT and 246 GTS are V6 mid-engined sports cars produced by Ferrari and sold under the Dino marque between 1967 and 1974.
Yamaha IT175 belongs to the 'International Trial' family of motorcycles, produced during the 1970s and 1980s. The machine is derived from the Yamaha YZ range of competition motocross bikes with modifications for use in competition enduro, hare and hounds and trail riding.
Ercole Marelli was an Italian engineer and entrepreneur.
Solex may refer to:
The MV Agusta 125 Motore Lungo, more commonly known as the "carter lungo", was a 125 cc, lightweight two-stroke motorcycle manufactured between 1950 and 1953 by Italian motorcycle manufacturer MV Agusta. The machine was often used in racing.