My Yamaha FS1E Restoration... www.sixteener-special.com

It all started when my mate Mick Bonnici went to the Brighton annual Mini Show, (May 2005 this is) for two reasons he was there, firstly was to ride around on his Raleigh Chopper looking a plum and the 2nd was to look at the Mini as he has a 1963 Mini Cooper S which will be undergoing a nut and bolt restoration (when I finish the Fizzy) which brings me to the next bit, Mick not being one to knock anyone's workmanship just let a mild slip of the tongue that he was perched along side a few FS1E owners, he reckoned the best bike was a purple FS1E which wasn't really in my Chopper bike resto league,

Anyway this got the ticker tocking and all those memories came flooding back of my Sixteener Special days. I had to have one, the one the Purple with Pedals, I never really cared to much for the FS1E but I am becoming older by the day and projects become investments and investments become inheritance then the kids trash them and I cant do much about it being in my pine box.

I started out back then with a Malaguti Calvalcone Cross (JKL 611N)

I soon sold that when my best mate KC decided he wanted to sell his Fantic chopper, (NKE 65M) that was it I had to have it so a swift parting of cash and the Fantic Chopper was mine, This bike wailed the streets of Canterbury for months then one glorious sunny Sunday afternoon with the girlfriend on the back we stacked it head on with a mini countryman, so that being the end of that and me with a broken leg I had still 4 months to go before I was 17 KC had bought a Fizzy (TKN 42N) from a guy round the corner (Adrian Belsy) and me being the youngest in our gang needed a moped so with KC now in a Ford Escort and the Fizzy redundant I parted with a £100 and got me a purple FS1E for the remainder of my moped days.

Having been heavily into the Raleigh Choppers for the last few years and already owning a few Fantic Choppers

I decided it was time to show the Fizzy boys who is the daddy of restorations so here is where the story begins.

So to EBay buy a bike not on eBay but did manage to have a deal with a real nice guy called Dave who sold me this prime example.

Beaten

Battered

& Bruised

I stripped the bike to a mass of rust

eventually I found the rusty frame under all that shit and crap

the swinging arm was scrap unfortunately of to paint the frame, I did have it powder coated

but that looked crap so 2 pack primed it and painted it with 2k much nicer.

Now the tank that was another matter, dented and well knackered I pursued on to repair it nothing a bit of filler wouldn't sort out.

I have yet to stick the stripes on and re lacquer the tank but you get the idea.

The wheels, well I had a pair of NOS wheels from my last Fizzy project some years ago so I stripped them and got my mate Ken to chrome the rims and polish the hubs for me, Paul Woods another old classmate (who also had a purple fizzy) and well known champion speedway rider took on the task of building the wheels for me with nice stainless steel spokes.

As for the engine.. well it was seized solid, I have removed the barrel and freed it off and I have yet to decide whether to fit a 65cc big bore kit or get a rebore and new piston. I will probably go with the later.

I stripped the engine down with the intention of having it all bead blasted but yet have to get it done how ever I paint strippered the casings and self etch primed them

I have yet to get around to getting the colour matched from a NOS part I bought.

Not being one for owners clubs I have managed to secure a good few NOS parts from eBay nothing repro here I am so far pleased to say but with the rear mudguard costing £285 smackers and a New seat costing £200 my budget is quickly running out.

I am well on the way to completion but with the chroming wheel rebuilds and the NOS parts without the cost of the bike in the first instant I have maxed over £2k.

A while has lapsed since updating the resto, bits have been away at the chromers I have been busy working so having finished now until the new year I thought I would play Fizzy and Fantics.

My prized purchase off of eBay have been these little baby's A NOS Speedo at £200.00 and a pair of tank badges NOS from a man up north still £100.00

The NOS mudguards I purchased turned out to be different so £350.00 up the kiwash I welded up the holes re-drilled them where they should live and had them rechromed. Wow ! now a pair of mudguards standing in at ££550.00 (thanks Philip you are the main man). What I did learn from Paul Simcox was a lot of NOS stuff has come in from Holland and is all wrong.

I was aware of the website www.50cc.nl selling parts but always gave it a miss as I have always found eBay user friendly.

The engine remains have now been completely stripped

and the casing have been sent to Mr Cox for a vapour blast.

(the cheapest thing yet £20.00) New gaskets have been sourced along with all new bearings and my mate Fizzy Ray (pictured here on a Garelli reminiscing the days when he had a Fizzy and being king of the road)

has kindly taken on the task of rebuilding it.

I have stripped the front forks and they have had a complete reworking so they are cool and and when back together will be like new.

I have found there is always one thing sent to try you and the Swinging Arm was just that..

The pedal shaft in the second hand swinging arm I purchased was seized solid so after a lot of heat we got that out, I found that the thread off of the torque arm was broken off as was the chainguard bracket, fortunately I managed to salvage these off of the old rotten one.

It would have been so much easier to get a new one but again with the aid of the welder and a bit more filler we got it there.

24th Jan 2006, I painted the swinging arm and fitted new bushes again compliments of eBay

now to refit all those nice new pedal parts.

Today also saw the arrival in the post of the two new fork seals which I have had on order for 3 months.

The bike is still along way from completion, one or two set backs here and there have stopped the production line.. I have had to respray one of the fork legs and the chainguard again as I wasn't happy with them, the tank and side panels looked a bit to pink, RS Bike paint colours are both nothing like the real thing so it was down to a great American Candy formulation that has now seen the tins all resprayed yet again. The final box of bits will be back from the chromers next week and the engine is nearly built (still pondering on a 60cc kit) I had a NOS Michelin rear tyre in stock from my sons Fizzy days but still need to find a NOS front one. I remember that mine had Bridgestones on it back in the summer of 76 I seem to recall whiting in the name in.

Its now 30 years since I was sixteen and seeing all the fizzys at Brighton last week has got the blood flowing through the veins again.

Ray now has all the new components to complete the engine rebuild and that's the task for this week.

13th June 2006, All systems are go with the engine Ray decided today was the day and here is the master at work,

all cleaned and the two halves have finally become one,

I found the splines on the kick start do dah where knackered so I have to hunt eBay for one of these tonight and as a result of a high level board meeting over tea and bacon rolls the final decision was to fit a 60cc big bore kit (sod the purists).

14th June 2006, The engine is built except for the barrell and head, Onward and upward from here on in.

Some serious time has passed but I have been busy and the Fizzy is now complete, I managed to get a NOS exhaust from ebay that needed chroming to match the quality of the rest of the bike. That went up to London Chroming for the treatment.

I had found some more quality NOS parts with the assistance of Nick at "The Bike Shop" in Faversham.

I put a pattern exhaust on it to fire her up and ran it with that while she bedded herself in. God its sweet Ray has certainly done his stuff here, Opting to keep the standard barrel in the end.

The bike itself is all done and has been since the 31st August 07 I took it to the Sports Moped Mania show at billing and it was noticed by Rod Gibson of the Classic mechanics magazine who said it was the shiniest fizzy he had ever seen and asked If i would like to have the bike on their stand at their show at Stafford I was absolutely gob smacked and said I would be honoured he swiftly replied "No I would be honoured to have it there" so this coming weekend its off to the show.

This is the golden accolade to me someone who I only ever looked upon as Dr God rings me and speaks with me like a mate.

Although I have ran the bike up and tested it all works Ok I shall never ride it which I know defeats the object but I love it so much I dont want to ride it, I can just take time out and look at it.

I have however got hold of a DX which is a local bike and I am trying not to go to the same degree of restoration as the poppy but nevertheless I will do it it to a high standard, again no pattern parts but I shall ride this one as its what I am building it for.

Things have really moved on since these day I know have three lovely Fizzys and have built some concours show winners for www.fizzyparts.co.uk a parts supplier which I just wish had been around back then as he has helped me source some way rare parts for Popsi 1 and Popsi rider (pictured with the crash bars) was a very easy build in comparison.

Other things once again have distracted me from my toy like taking on paint jobbys for another fizzy nut and Richard moving workshops has all led to my Fizz being covered up and forgotten as I have had to find a new home for the Mini Cooper S and finish no end of things I started like the other little J40.

With the workshop move now complete and some of the fizzy paint jobs being returned to their rightful owners my fizz is back on full steam ahead.

This FS1E to say the least is becoming very challenging due to the unavailability of genuine old stock parts but still not as hard as the Suzuki GT 750 I have had in boxes for 10 years which I decided to start after seeing that resto in the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics over the past few months. I painted the tank and side panels and got some NOS badges off eBay and some genuine old stock tank decals from the local Suzuki dealer for free.

why I have started this I don't know when I have a RD 250 DX that I have owned from new still in boxes in the old mans garage.

One thing for anyone ever wishing to restore a FS1E its not like these cheap Italian Garelli's where they only have 10 moving parts, FS1E's are for the Mad, Sad and Rich. (Me I am in the Sad bracket)

On a Fantic note I have started re resemble the Fantic Chopper 125 which I bought from Brent fielder back in 1995 then stripped.

Here is some pictures of my Fantic Chopper 125cc tank that has now been resprayed and fitted with new decals and then lacquered again with three nice coats of clear.

As this site is all about Fantics I shall try and detail the resto in the same way as I have the Fs1e but I have started to build a Sports Moped website that will cover all aspects of Sixteener Specials from inception to the day they died. www.sixteener-special.co.uk

There is a lot to be said about being born again it has a great buzz when you get something you had as a kid.. There really isn't anything that could describe the ego trip and the buzz one gets from having so many toys..