1976 Yamaha FS1E DX *Sold £6,750*

Description

• Matching numbers
• Two previous owners
• Competition Yellow
• A terrific restoration
• Stunning bike
• One of the last unrestricted models

It’s the bike that was once parked outside a thousand chip shops across the land and provided transport and freedom for all of us. What great times!

In 1971 the government decided that 16 year olds could only ride mopeds with less than 50cc and that had pedals. The idea was forced on them by screeching tabloid headlines that teenagers were being killed in their thousands. A moped with pedals would put an end to the carnage. Of course, it would! And as we all know it never really was a problem. But knee jerk-legislation meant a revolution was coming and we embraced it with open arms.

Yamaha spotted a market in the government’s cack-handed management of a non-problem and released their 60mph FS1E fitted with a set of pedals, to conform to the UK laws. We couldn’t get enough of them.

It looked the business. At the heart of the Yamaha FS1E is the 49cc, single cylinder, two-stroke, air-cooled engine with rotary disc valves and a four-speed transmission. The gearbox was a little unusual with a 4-down gearbox and neutral at the top, unlike the conventional 1-down, 4-up system. For some of us who had ridden other ‘bikes,’ it took some getting used to. But for many of us who knew no better, it soon became second nature.

The Yamaha FS1E is, by any measure, diminutive. Just 69 inches long, 22 inches wide, and it weighs in at just 70kg.

Yamaha did a great job on the frame. The chassis and suspension components are of a much higher quality than its peers. They were good enough to use on the larger capacity Yamaha YB100 that were released later on.

The original 1972 Yamaha FS1E was fitted with drum brakes front and rear. But rivals started to catch-up with Yamaha by fitting cable operated discs. Yamaha trumped them by fitting the FS1E with a hydraulically operated front disc. Sorted.

On the road the Fizzy is a hoot. The engine is powerful enough to keep up with traffic, just. Everyone will be waving and smiling anyway, so who cares. The chassis is surprisingly taut and sweet for such a humble machine. We’d hazard a guess and say Yamaha were hoping that if they produced a decent entry level bike for daft “yoofs”, when the time came, they’d be hooked on the ‘brand’ and trade up. Being the callow youths we all were, we all did. And all rushed out and bought RD’s on finance. Another story.

As we said, the all down, four-speed box is a little strange for some of us now, but hey-ho, we adapt. Get the revs up in first gear to save the little two-stroke getting bogged down and you’re away.

Once on the move, the disc valve keeps things smooth and quite torquey too. And it’s ding-ding-ding all day long and the smell of two-stroke and blue smoke in the mirrors.

Everything about the little Yamaha FS1E is a delight.

The pedals, bless them, are nothing more than ornamental. They look good though.

Yamaha produced well over 200,000 of the original Fizzy. Where have they all gone? We’re lucky enough to have a choice of 2 with us at auction!

In 1977 in an act of spite, the wicked government stopped us all having fun and castrated all mopeds by restricting them to 30mph.

This FS1E is a 1976 DX, the last of the unrestricted models.

As we all fondly remember, lots of tuning kits sprung up and still exist today. And as we also know with so many having started their biking careers on them, the FS1E is a popular restoration choice today.

This is one of them and what a resto it is. Just take a look. No nut, bolt or screw has been left unturned. It is a matching numbers FS1E that someone else has done all the hard yards on. This stunning machine has spent some of its life as a museum show piece, and we can see why! In fact, it’s only done 1 mile since the resto!

We shudder to think what has been spent. It is easy to get carried away. It is reserved without that in mind and very sensibly, in our view, given where the market is right now for good ones.

If you wanted to be transported back to your 16 year old self with a ‘brand new’ Fizzy…. and this one has travelled just one mile since the rebuild, you’ve just found it.