Page 37 - LHR Sept 25.
P. 37

ermany,  it  turned  ordinary  bicycles  into  cheap           Miller. Like the Mosquito, it was designed to bolt
     motorcycles  overnight.  For  Italian  workers                 onto  a  standard  bicycle,  mounted  above  the  rear
     commuting into Milan, Turin, or Rome, it was a                 wheel and driving it via a roller.
     godsend.
                                                                    Specs included:
     It also represented freedom. In a society where few
                                                                        ·  45cc displacement, 0.8 bhp output.
     could  afford  a  Vespa  or  Lambretta  scooter,  the
     Mosquito provided mobility at a fraction of the                ·      Roller-drive to the rear tyre.
     price. Within a few years, over a million units had
                                                                        ·  Top speed of about 25 mph.
     been produced.
                                                                    ·      Claimed fuel economy of 200 mpg.
     The Vincent Firefly: Britain's Answer
                                                                        ·  Weight: around 25 lbs, meaning it didn't add
     The Vincent Name
                                                                           much bulk to a bicycle.
     If  Garelli  represented  Italian  pragmatism,  the            Practicality and Use
     Vincent  Firefly  was  Britain's  utilitarian
     masterpiece. At first glance, it seemed surprising.             The  Firefly  was  marketed  as  “a  motor  for
     Vincent, after all, was known for the Rapide and               everyman.”  Commuters  could  afford  it,  students
     the  mighty  Black  Shadow  —  the  fastest                    used it to get to college, and pensioners found it a
     motorcycles in the world in the late 1940s. Why                reliable  way  to  travel  short  distances  without
     would such a prestigious company bother with a                 breaking their budget.
     cyclemotor?                                                    While it never achieved the global success of the

     The  answer  was  necessity.  Britain  was  broke.             Mosquito, it represented a moment when even the
     Export  markets  were  hungry  for  high-end                   most prestigious names in motorcycling bent to the
     Vincents,  but  at  home,  ordinary  riders  needed            realities of post-war economics.
     cheap transport. A lightweight cyclemotor could                he Cyclemotor Boom
     capture that market.
                                                                    Culture of Thrift
     Design
                                                                    Between 1946 and the early 1950s, cyclemotors of
     Launched in 1953, the Firefly was a 45cc two-                   all makes and sizes dominated Europe. Villiers in
     stroke  engine  developed  in  partnership  with               Britain, VéloSoleX in France, Sachs in Germany,


                                                            37
      LHR Motorcycle Magazine                                                                                                                                                    September 2025
   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42