French moped Motobecane Mobilette - not only in the USSR there were “holes”

Mopeds appeared in Europe in the late 1920s. At first, these were not expected - only motorcycles and bicycles were produced. But the first ones were expensive and technically complex, accessible to the elite. Like engineers, pilots and just rich people who are no strangers to technical progress. Those who could not afford a motorcycle rode a bicycle. It was much faster than walking. Inventors and manufacturers of small-capacity outboard engines began to fill the void in the late 1920s. After 10 years, many Europeans were no longer satisfied with mopeds - the standard of living had increased. But the Second World War quickly set its priorities. After its completion, the need for budget motorized equipment flared up again. And not only in Europe, but also in Japan.


The Motobecane Mobilette moped debuted in France in 1949. As befits this country, the technology turned out to be stylish and at the same time democratic. Almost anyone with a permanent job could purchase it. Yes, they even bought these for schoolchildren. The Motobecane Mobilette turned out to be so popular that in total more than 14 million copies of these mopeds were collected. By the way, the plant in France was bought by Yamaha in 1987. And they stopped producing simple mopeds in 2019, when the “fifty kopecks” in Europe turned out to be completely unclaimed. They will talk about Motobecane Mobilette on the channel “#WONDERFUL TECHNOLOGIES with Georgy Belov.”