Pleasurable minimalism

Martin Sigrist
07/05/2025

How do they feel when they need some peace and quiet, want to let their thoughts fly and simply don't feel like dealing with complex things? I wanted something simple, so the other day I once again took care of the smallest members of my fleet. Yes, I have a weakness for French bicycles with an auxiliary motor, the cyclomoteurs - specifically for "la bicyclette qui roule toute seule", the Vélo-Solex.

I rode one of these mopeds to Paris 30 years ago. The route from Lucerne to Basel, Belfort, Vésoul, Langres and on to Troyes and Paris took me 4 days. See the proof photo above during the ceremonial circumnavigation of the Arc de Triomphe in moderate Parisian vacation traffic. One day's journey was virtually lost because it was raining and the engine's friction roller could not properly transfer its 0.6 hp to the Michelin "Y" tires. The result: twice the fuel consumption at half the speed.

For a short excursion off the main route to a masterpiece by the Swiss architect Charles-Edouard Janneret, better known as Le Corbusier, the church in Ronchamp between Belfort and Lure, I had to push the Solex up the hill with the engine running. The rest of the journey, however, was quite trouble-free. Okay, except for the tire blowout in Collombey-les-deux-Eglises, where General De Gaulle spent his last days. This was repaired with adhesive tape and a second tube-in-tube until I was able to find a replacement in Troyes. The Solex is still running on it today. Nobody in Paris wanted to believe that I had managed to get here by moped, at least not the groundsman - there was only just enough money for a free pitch at the campsite in the Bois de Boulogne.

Memories of Colombey-les-deux-Eglises thanks to a flat tire - there on the right at the side of the road

After a few days in Paris, an adventurous ride in the maze of tunnels under the Défense and with slightly recovered buttocks, which had been properly kneaded after 700 kilometers on the saddle, which was unspeakable even for short distances, I made my way home. Three days later I was back again. The whole trip had cost me about four hundred francs for gasoline/oil - mixed by myself - a tire, food and camping. That was around 100 Swiss francs at the time. Apart from cash, I only had my vehicle documents and ID and a Michelin map of the whole of France with me. However, I drove mainly in the firm conviction that there was no way I could miss Paris in the Hexagon.

Incidentally, after a ride on the (in Germany it's called DIE) Solex, my right trouser leg always smells of two-stroke exhaust - because the exhaust is down there, next to the front wheel - wonderful memories.