This is the home of the Iceni CAM Magazine - a free e-magazine about Cyclemotors, Autocycles, Mopeds ... and more. It was launched on 15th April 2007 and the most recent four issues can be downloaded here. (Copies of earlier back numbers are also available.) For non-computerised folks, printed copies are available at £1.50 per edition; we can accommodate mail order too at £2.20 per single edition or £8.80 for a year's subscription.
It's an e-magazine all about cyclemotors, autocycles and mopeds that carries road test & feature articles, rally reports, free adverts and other assorted information. Although we are an independent production, we have strong ties to the EACC and also to the New Zealand Cyclaid Register.
We are based in East Anglia, but are by no means limited to that area. Much that appears in the magazine is of universal appeal. We welcome contributions, whereever they are from, and are also happy to help to publicise any events for cyclemotors, autocycles and mopeds.
We publish four times a year and the publication dates are synchronised with key events in the EACC calendar: the Radar Run, the Peninsularis Run, the Coprolite Run and the Mince Pie Run. It's purely an enthusiast production, and all produced on a tiny budget. Nevertheless, we think you'll be pretty impressed The free downloadable version will be posted on this website on the same day as the printed version goes on sale.
All the issues of CAM Magazine that we've produced have been very well received. Thank you all for your comments; they are much appreciated. Several of you have also made donations, which has helped enormously in keeping Iceni CAM going.
The April 2013 edition is available now on our Downloads Page.
For our 25th edition we have a full-house of pedal assisted machinery, but we must warn you, there are some quite eccentric English oddities here!
The Mckenzie on display at
the Coprolte Run back in 2008
The McKenzie Popular Lightweight had been around and available to us for a few years before we actually got round to processing it for road test and photoshoot - not for any particular reason, other than we hadn't really been concerned about it for a feature before! It'd been presented among the display bikes at Copdock Show on our joint IceniCAM/EACC stand on at least one previous occasion but, somehow, it never actually occurred to us to consider it for an article since ... well, we just didn't!
Our McKenzie came up for display at the Coprolite Run in 2012, and got left behind in the workshops for further exhibition at the 2012 Copdock Show in another couple of weeks time, and it wasn't until owner Luke Booth dropped the bike off, that we wondered ... does it actually go?
A few mail exchanges confirmed that it did run 'a little', but needed some aspects fixing to be suitable for a proper test, so the workshops could deal with those matters easily enough and we still had loads of time to draft preparatory notes, do a photoshoot and road test.
Though the McKenzie technically fell slightly outside our usual general brief due to its 170cc capacity, it represented such an important 'missing link' Neanderthal pre-autocycle, that we originally thought it might justify a feature in the third 'oddball' feature slot, where we often tend to push the envelope a little with some strange and marginal machines. As things worked out, however, the article content expanded so much that it became promoted to lead slot.
The Mckenzie's direct belt drive is a particularly primitive arrangement that many of today's readers may probably have never experienced, and it's a long way from the functional practicality of modern clutch and geared machines ... with brakes ... with lights ... with suspension that works! It does however need to be considered that the McKenzie was 90 years old at the time of our test and pre-dated the first generation English autocycles by 15 years!
There's no question that the McKenzie classed among the smallest capacity and low-powered budget transport of its time, and its story followed a particularly interesting tale around a number of distant and now obscure manufacturers. These ancient names are probably unknown by many people now, but were pretty significant players in their day. Hobart and Rex-Acme were big companies in the early years of motor cycling, and their tales of fish and bigger fish, hard times and recession, are still familiar themes in our daily news, so some things never seem to change!
We're very pleased we got to do the McKenzie in the end since its legendary folklore story is particularly unusual, interesting and different - a great addition to our on-building features list.
As the McKenzie went back to Hastings after the Copdock Show, Luke brought another bike straight in its place, coincidentally one of the very Peugeot vélomoteurs that preceded this publication. The previous 'cross-channel' edition featured a particularly French theme, so we thought it only fair that some old English machines should have their chance to reply.
The idea for Andrew's 'digital dabble' picture naturally evolved from the text. The bizarre concept of the archaeological presentation of a fossilised motor cycle by the 'Indie' skeleton just seemed too wacko to miss, and appealed enough to result in creation of the digital montage. If such things can raise a smile, then all the effort seems worth while.
Costs to produce the McKenzie feature were practically zero since the bike was dropped and collected back by its owner, so concerned none of the usual travelling costs, though it did absorb a few hours of workshop time to fettle the machine back to functional order.
Pete Smith of Hertfordshire Section EACC scored sponsorship credit for the McKenzie, though not for any particular reason other than his name just came 'out of the hat'.
The HEC on display at
Nationaal Veternaan Treffen in 2012
Our opportunity for the HEC autocycle came as the bike was delivered to the workshops for reconstructive magneto set work, carburetion, and general engine attention to return the machine to operational function. An infrequent opportunity to find a particularly rare and unusual autocycle on our very doorstep, so a deal was done with owner Colin from www.Buyvintage.co.uk that we got to test the bike when it was fixed.
The bike was processed during September 2012, very timely also to exhibit at Nationaal Veternaan Treffen in Holland, and appear on the EACC/IceniCAM stand at the Copdock show, before returning back to Brighton.
Because of its particularly interesting nature and rarity of the machine, we naturally wanted to get the article out as soon as possible, so the feature went on the fast track to publication in just about 6 months, which is fairly quick compared to many of the timescales we seem to work to these days ... it's really not unusual for a number of our articles to be in the tubes for several years!
Further research into HEC is very difficult, since there are no real leads to little that isn't known already. Hepburn Engineering Company is one of these cases where it's quite unlikely to turn up anything new - the trail has grown very cold over the last 70 years. The Levis element expanded a little more background, but the real interest proved to be our road test in comparison to The Motor Cycle road test of 25th May 1939. In reading their tester's report, we began to wonder if they were even commenting on the same machine!
Readers and other publishers seem to have been basing and repeating HEC performance off this report for seventy years - and it just seemed so hopelessly inaccurate! Our downhill run could only muster 28mph, and there was absolutely no way that anyone was going to wring any more out of one of these engines - it's a primitive deflector-top design of only 80cc and, realistically, never appeared likely to outrun any period Villiers Junior or de Luxe with 25% more capacity.
Any claim that "under favourable conditions the speedometer registered 35mph" only goes to suggest their speedometer was wildly inaccurate. It just seemed crazy to even think they might get 25% more performance out of their machine when we could only mercilessly thrash ours up to 28mph on a downhill run. Response to the throttle was immediate - yes, it does make more noise when you open the throttle ... and "an extremely 'peppy' engine, provides acceleration well above the average" - no, it doesn't at all, it's altogether slower than a Villiers Junior because it's got a smaller engine!
Performance of this HEC was quite similar to another of these Levis motors we ran several years back in the Levules trade carrier autocycle In the Trade and, where the motor particularly scored was smooth flexibility at low revs, a relentless plodder - but most certainly not performance. We think the period Motor Cycle road test really got it wrong, and everyone has been quoting and repeating it for years - welcome to myth busting!
Nobody seems to have actually got around to retesting an HEC Power Cycle in 70 years, and so few were made, or survived, or got used, that no-one ever came to question the accuracy of the pre-war yardstick road test.
If someone might like to stand up for the 1939 Motor Cycle report and can offer us another machine to confound our latest test, then we'll be quite happy to try it but, until then, we consider that period report is blown out of the water!
Sponsorship tag went to Jim Stuttard of Lincolnshire Section EACC, and our production costs on this article were - zero, because the bike arrived by customer carrier and returned by incidental transport. Not bad for a freebee feature!
We'd had an eye on our Cyclemate test machine for a couple of years, with a view to "get round to do it sometime". No hurry, because owner David Whatling at Horham was quite relaxed about "whenever we wanted it", so the bike became an 'incidental collection' after the Horham Run in 2012. The road test and photoshoot were completed in June 2012, all fairly straightforward, except waiting for an opportunity for the rain to take a break - typical English summer!
Cyclemate is one of those peculiar 'in between' machines, not really cyclemotor, but not quite a proper moped either!
Though the frame is obviously evolved from cycle origins, it's not really a bicycle since the design is dedicated, and the chassis specifically built to suit the motor, which itself is also a special derivative of the original cyclemotor.
A number of other odd cyclemotor-cum-moped derivatives may come to mind, the Brummi 40 with a Rex cyclemotor engine in what became the Phillips Panda frame, and the Rex/Phillips motorised cycle, the H V Powell Joybike and Talbot mopeds which both fitted Trojan engines. There are certainly a few examples of other cyclemotor engines being fitted and sold in dedicated frames, but the Norman Cyclemate is a particularly distinctive example of the craft.
Riding Cyclemate proved about as much excitement as taking the bus! This impression results in the natural expectation of comparing it to any other moped, but that correspondingly falls short because its capacity is nearly 40% less, so it's just always going to seem 'a poor mans moped'. Cyclemate has little in the way of what one might call 'performance', and is hardly something that would have originally been ridden much for fun. It's very much a commuter utility workhorse toward the very basic end of the moped spectrum. Pleasant enough today if you're bumbling to a local country hostelry on a pleasant sunny weekend for a lunchtime glass of ale, but probably not so great if you were going to work in a factory in the 1950s for a 7:15am start on a dark, cold and rainy morning, with passing buses belching clouds of diesel toward the gutter, and the rain slashing down - which is probably the purpose for which many Cyclemates were originally bought.
A Cyclemate may be a little more enjoyable today in oldtimer rally and social use, but isn't going to have any chance of keeping up with the general pack of mopeds, autocycles and light motor cycles on club runs, so is likely to be back in the 'slow group' with any cyclemotor cousins, VéloSoleX and Moby Cady's.
Where Cyclemate really scores today is in unique interest, it's fascinating and unusual, quaint and old English - and people will always come to look at it. They may not wholly know what it is, but it has some aged quality that will draw people to see.
Our photoshoot was set as we felt the Cyclemate may be found in its own natural habitat - aptly leaning against the wall of an old shed!
Production costs involved just one return journey to Horham and back, so only about £10, and another interesting little tale of motoring history for a bargain price.
Sponsorship credit went to Nick Place down in Hampshire, who we think was restoring a Honda P50 or something like that. Before his donation came out of the hat to attach to this article, we wonder if Nick previously had much inkling about the Norman Cyclemate ... probably not!
Vaguely extending our vein of national themes, French, then English ... the next issue continues west, following the direction of the setting sun across the Atlantic, until our expedition happens upon the shores of an uncharted land - the Americas...
Next Main Feature: visits one of the greatest and most famous moped names in the world! A machine under this brand has just got to be just fantastic, hasn't it? Though we may have our reservations... Our Shamen say "When you have seen the top of the mountain, it's just a long way back down again", and for sure, "The Fall" is certainly one of the most epic tales of motorcycling misfortune.
Next Support Feature: features a couple of continental built cruisers that were destined for the New World colonies, but never quite made it that far. There's a free spirit of adventure in "Last of the Line", and this is an article that has already been booked out for further publication in an Austrian magazine, so we figured it best to get this one out quick or we'd be finding IceniCAM getting left behind (again) on presenting its own features!
Next Second Support: completes the general North American theme to articles for our next edition, though really there are only passing stateside references in "The Empire Strikes Back"; anyway, it's been decided to run this presentation to complete the Americas package. Actually, this is a most substantial article that a number of people have been asking after for a while, and has already generated a few dedicated sponsorship donations to bring the presentation on.
The title may be a little ironic and tongue-in-cheek, but the feature rings a number of international connections that go quite some way with extensive research, and probably present the best theories yet towards answering some of the mysteries and most perennial questions about the origins and historical background to this infamous 'British' moped from the 1970s.
Well, there's this Website... we've put a lot of useful information here, and we're alwas adding to it. We have a directory of useful people to know. Information on local events: route sheets, maps, etc, are here as downloadable documents and, after each run, we put photos of the event on this website. There's also a market place where you can buy and sell mopeds, autocycles, cyclemotors and other related items
We have a discussion forum on Yahoo - you can get to that from our Contacts page or the box at the top of this page.
As each edition of the magazine is published, we add to our collection of articles. From Edition 3 of the magazine, we introduced another evolution. Previously, features in the articles section had reflected what appeared in the magazine, but you may now discover a bit of extra content has crept into some items as they've transferred to the website - you might call it "The Directors Cut". The problem with printed magazines is editing everything to fit page sizes and space, and there can sometimes be bits you'd like to include, but they have to be left out to fit the available space. The web articles don't need to be constrained by the same limitations so, although the text will remain the same, the 'Directors Cut' graphic in the header indicates the item carries extra pictures and bits that didn't make it to the magazine.
We also have an Information Service - if you want to know more about your moped, we can help.
Iceni CAM Magazine is committed to celebrating all that's good about the Cyclemotor, Moped and Autocycle scene; researching toward the advancement of the pool of knowledge about cyclemotors, autocycles, old mopeds, and other oddities; and the publication of original material. We are a declared non-profit making production, though we still need to fund everything somehow to keep the show on the road.
The magazine is free on line, and the nominal price of supplying hard copies to non-computerised folks is pitched only to cover printing and postage. All advertising is free since we believe that the few people left out there providing parts & service for these obsolete machines do so as a hobby and an interest. This involves far more effort than reward, and they should be appreciated for the assistance they provide. Our Information Service is there to help anyone needing manuals to help with restoration of a machine. We make a small charge for this but, again, we have set our prices so the just cover postage and material costs.
Overheads involve operation of the website, and particularly the generation of features. Articles like Last Flight of the Eagle can cost as little as £20 to complete, while others have cost up to £150 to generate, eg: Top Cat on the Leopard Bobby. With these overheads, you may be wondering how we get the money to keep it all going. So do we! But, somehow, it works, helped by a number of generous people who have sponsored articles or made donations to keep the show on the road.
How long does it take to research, produce, and get these feature articles to press? Well, up to two years of preparatory research in some cases, where little is known about the machine or its makers, and where nothing has been published before. Then, collating all the information and interviews, drafting and re-drafting the text, travel and photoshoots typically account for up to 40 to 50 hours to deliver the package to editing.
There are many examples where these articles have become the definitive reference material for previously unpublished machines like Mercury Mercette & Hermes, Leopard Bobby, Ostler Mini-Auto, Dunkley Whippet & Popular, Stella Minibike, Ambassador Moped, Elswick Hopper Lynx, and many others.
We're committed to continuing to produce these articles, because we believe it needs to be done, and we've got a proven track record for achieving it. Nobody else has done it in 50 odd years, so if we don't do it - who will?
To whet your appetite for what's ahead, here's an updated list of machines with developing articles for future features: AJW Collie, Ariel 3, Ariel Pixie, Batavus Go-Go, Busy Bee cyclemotor, Capriolo 75 Turismo Veloce, Coventry Eagle Trade Auto-Ette, Cyc-Auto (Wallington Butt), Cyc-Auto (Villiers), Derbi Antorcha, Dot ViVi, Dunkley S65, Dunkley Whippet Super Sports, Elswick-Hopper VAP MIRA test prototype, Excelsior Consort, Excelsior G2 autocycle, Gilera RS50, Heath mini-bike, Hercules Corvette, Hercules Her-cu-motor, Honda CD50, Honda Chaly, Honda CT70 Dax Monkey Bike, Honda SS50, Honda Stream, Huzhou Daixi Zhenhua, James Comet 1F, Kerry Capitano, Leopard B6, Motobécane Mobylette AV42, Motobécane Mobylette AV44, Motobécane Mobylette AV46, Motobécane SP50, MV Agusta Liberty, Norman Nippy Mark 2, Norman Nippy Mark 3, NVT Ranger, Phillips P36X motorised cycle, Phillips Traveller, Powell Joybike, Puch Magnum X, Rabeneick Binetta, Simson SR2E, Solifer Speed, Sun Autocycle, Sun Motorette, Suzuki A100, Tailwind cyclemotor, Vincent Firefly, Yamaha FS1E, Yamaha QT.
The working list changes all the time as articles are completed and published, and further new machines become added - so as you see, there's certainly no shortage of material.
Readers have probably noticed a number of the articles collecting sponsorship credits, and we're very grateful for the donations people have made toward IceniCAM, which certainly assures we're going forward into another year. We don't need a lot of money since IceniCAM is a declared non-profit making organisation, and operates on a shoestring (and we'd like to keep it that way) - run by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts.
It's easy to sponsor an article by either picking a machine from the forward list, and we'll attach your credit to it, or simply making a donation. There is no fixed amount, it's entirely up to you, and however large or small, we're grateful for any contribution to keep the show on the road.
If a vehicle you're interested in seeing an article about isn't in the list, then let us know and we'll see about trying to add it in the programme, but we do need access to examples - perhaps you have a machine you'd like to offer for a feature?
See the Contact Page for how to: Subscribe to the magazine - Chat to fellow readers - Make a donation - Sponsor an article - Enter a free advert - Submit an article yourself - Write a letter to us - Propose a machine for feature - Offer your machine for test feature - ...
Castrol is voluntarily recalling some one litre bottles of oil used in two stroke engines due to water contamination. The contamination in some bottles may potentially be sufficient to cause engine seizure. The affected products and the batch numbers are here: www.castrolmoto.com/en/recall.php, and were on sale from 3 September 2012. The products are mainly used in motor cycles or small scooters, but can also be used in other equipment with two stroke engines.
In preparation for a future feature article on the Kestrel sports moped, built in Southampton circa 1979/80, IceniCAM would very much appreciate leads to or contact from anyone knowing any background on these machines, particularly from people associated with the former business. We've already road-tested & photo-shot one of these machines, and the text draft is fairly well advanced, but additional details are required to bring the article to publication. Please contact Danny, tel: 01473-659607 or e-mail .
It was announced in the Budget that the date when vehicles are exempt from VED will be moved to 1974. Don't hold your breath though, it doesn't happen until next year.
Previously only vehicles built before January 1 1973 were included in the zero-rate 'Historc Vehicle' category, after the Government abandoned the previous 25-year rolling scale in 1997. However, from April 2014 vehicles manufactured before January 1 1974 will be entitled to a free tax disc. There is some speculation that this change might herald a return to a rolling exemption for 40 year old vehicles but that is not confirmed yet.
Older news stories are available in our News Archive
This page was updated on 21 May 2013