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Chrysalis

by David Moussu
translated by David Stevenson

Chrysalis

Last month's cartoon from Les Amis was a good introduction to the following article which I have translated from the April/May edition of Mob & Scooter magazine.  As I have said before, I like custom bikes and I hope you'll like the picture of Chrysalis.  For the accuracy of my translation I cannot vouch ...

Guillaume loves metamorphoses.  Hence the name of his bike which has changed from a Peugeot 103 caterpillar into a custom butterfly.  Moreover, this die-hard customiser of mopeds is not unknown to you since he has already announced his presence in Mobchop (No 114) with a superior looking Peugeot 103 SP.  However, he found it still too ordinary for his taste and decided to repeat the process in a more original and unapologetically unique style.
As with the other customs he has built, Guillaume started with a modest 103 bought in not too terrible a state.  He began by dismantling it totally and then attacking the frame which he completely re-styled.
To do this he smoothed in the tank to the base of the frame with the help of resin, polyester and synthetic metal.  At the same time he got rid of the toolbox and moved the seat further back on his machine.  The seat has been directly incorporated into the frame which has been filled so as to become a curve ending in a triangle with rounded corners.  Into this he has set the moulded-in rear light.  To the credit of Guillaume's design it's a great success, especially since the wires that used to hang under the tank and behind the back of the frame are now invisible.
Once this work was done Guillaume had nothing more to do than have the frame and front mudguard painted by the spray-gun of Philippe, a coach-building pal, who he would like particularly to thank both for the care taken and the quality of the finish.  The Chrysalis 103 wears a superb blue coat identical to BMW's M3, quite a recommendation!  Finally he had the name of his machine written in white on each side of the tank and behind the seat.
But that's not all.  For a custom-bike, in the sense that Guillaume understands the term, requires the highest standard of equipment.  Chrysalis 103 lacks none of it, the only original item remaining is the contact breaker arm.  The wheels are in fact Grimeca Helicas that Guillaume has patiently polished (5 whole days work!)  They used to be red.  They are shod with 2¾ tyres, front and back.
The great originality of the design of this custom lies, however, in the mono-shock swinging arm found by chance in Brittany, where it had lain unused in a garage for the last three years.  Guillaume seized upon this stroke of luck and fitted it to the Chrysalis 103 giving it a unique suspension system and most unusual appearance owing to the absence of standard shock-absorbers.  Next he fitted a pair of Foral chromed hydraulic forks and, not forgetting his safety, added a reinforced, ventilated hydraulic disc brake by Grimeca at the front (attached to a Brembo lever) and a Nifo mechanically-activated competition disc at the back (thanks to Mickael, another old friend, who made him a present of it).
The front mudguard comes from the firm Stokey while the front light is a chrome fog lamp with its fixings cut-down.  The rear light is off an MBK 51.  Guillaume has also mounted an ignition lock on top of the fork yokes and painted both the top and bottom yokes blue.
The engine of such a machine clearly deserves some attention, so the motor inherited a Bidalot Ufolep cylinder and high compression piston prepared by Michel Mongelli of the shop "Aux 4M", who Guillaume would like to thank for their help and useful advice.  He added a Dell'Orto carb prepared by Bidalot on a flexible mounting and a Bidalot crankshaft with reinforced bearings inside Polini crankcases.  Finally the variator is a Giraudo Evolution 2 with lightened internals and the coil a Motoplat.
In total it took Guillaume six month's work to produce this 103 so far removed from run-of-the-mill custom bikes.  Its unusual features, he believes, will awaken the interest of quite a number of mopedists and professionals who may read this article.

It still sounds a bit Franglaisish in places, I'm afraid, and there are one or two technical words about which I'm not certain.  The tone is very like some of the British mountain bike magazines, where fashion and trick parts define the modishness of quite unnecessarily complicated (and expensive!) machines.  Anyone want to start the NACC Chopper Club Section?


English translation first published - August 1995


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