The Solex company was founded at Courbevoie near Paris in 1905 by Maurice Goudard and Marcel Mennesson, and made its name with carburettors supplied to car and motorcycle manufacturers across Europe. After the Second World War the same business created the Velosolex, a bicycle fitted with a small engine mounted over the front wheel, driving the tyre directly through a roller.

Launched in 1946, the Velosolex was cheap to buy and famously frugal to run, and it was produced in France for more than four decades, with millions of examples built. In later years production moved to Hungary, and the design changed remarkably little over time, which today makes spares and literature comparatively easy to find. A devoted following keeps survivors on the road.

A Solex manual reflects the elegant simplicity of the design. It covers the 49cc engine with its decompression and starting procedure, the roller drive, carburettor and ignition settings, and the bicycle components that form the rest of the machine, together with wiring diagrams, torque values and a full service schedule. Routine jobs such as roller replacement are described step by step.

Owners keeping survivors in daily use, restorers rebuilding long-stored examples and workshops that see these mopeds only occasionally all benefit from correct documentation. With so few specialist parts involved, a good manual is often all that stands between a shed-find Velosolex and the open road.