MOPED ARMY

So I pulled off the tanks and treated them before coating them with POR-15 - that stuff is still my all time favorite

Next step was to swap out the old carbs for something a little easier to work with; one of the carbs had a glass float bowl! I settled on the Mikuni VM18 with an AV/7 style intake. The Mikuni's are a pretty forgiving carburetor.

The D52 ignition runs counter clockwise (just like the SP93 and AV92) so there aren't a lot of extra parts out there. On one of the bikes I was able to get a pretty good spark with the original ignition.

On the other, I went with a Treats CDI.

Trying to set the timing on a Treats CDI in the counter clockwise direction is kind of annoying. Fortunately I have a timing light so I was able to locate and mark the trigger point going the other way. I settled on 1.5mm BTDC which is pretty standard for Motobecanes from the 1960s

Also, forgot to mention that the D52s are set up UK style so the shifter is on the right and rear brake is on the left. I need to really work to remember when I'm riding from my DRZ400 often so I don't break when I mean to shift or visa versa.

Here are some more detail shots

the dry clutch

Plenty of room for the Mikuni

The tail lamp lenses on both bikes were shattered when we got them, but fortunately there are some pretty good, and in expensive, complete assembly reproductions

Those are so cool! Great work! I love em. If ya ever wanna get rid of one... That'd be worth a trip over the mountains.

Very nice. I love any older original ( as possible) bike. No matter what the brand. I appreciate your work.

So I actually have two of these but only one came with a motor. I rebuilt the engine completely with lots of pictures, and it's a completely different engine than all the other period motors. The crank bearings and seals are off the shelf so it was pretty easy to do. Not sure about the trans because I haven't taken it apart. I could get mine to run but the ignition is not strong enough to keep it running well. I replaced all the non-D52 specific parts on it, then rewound the ignition coil to factory spec and it's still so low voltage I can't maintain running. I'll try to rewind it with smaller wire and more wraps to get the voltage up and see if it works. It's such a weird bike, I love it but also hate it. It's a mountain I must climb.

Yo I've had a VW Caddy and a BRAT but I lust for a Rampage.

Next time I buy a 4-wheeled vehicle...

Very cool bikes!!! Great thread.

Between July 1964 and July 1969 they only made 6800 Motobecane D52 and Motoconfort C52, only the D52 and D52 Trail (actually called D52tt or C52tt everywhere else in the world) were offered and I believe they were only exported to USA in 1965-66, and not many of them because of low demand thanks to the very affordable Asian bikes flooding the market. The C/D52tt only had 1375 examples produced from May 1965 to April 1969 so it is likely that no "D52Trail" ever madeit into USA.

There was also 147 C/D52e made with factory electronic ignition from 1965 to 1969 as well as 15 C/D52tte, but I doubt any of those were commercially imported, but if they were they would be on the list of the rarest commercially imported bikes..