A Brief History of the Marque
The brothers Hans and Heinz Emmerich founded their company and produced their first engines in 1948. At the time the engines were quite revolutionary, producing considerably more power than their rivals and yet weighing only 14 pounds, half the weight of many others.
Gebr. Emmerich built a 60cc scooter in 1949 which was shown to Prof. Heinkel and this became the basis for his production models.
In 1953 they had two factory buildings constructed in the village of Maichingen, Sindelfingen, 25km west of Stuttgart.
By the 1960s they had branches in Italy, France and Belgium.
Their first moped appeared in 1971, the water-cooled Solo with 10mm Bing carburettor. The engine cylinder had a jacket containing coolant, but no radiator or water pump. A "mini-bike" Type 726 arrived in 1975, using the same water-jacket 50cc engine. A rather amusing account of this model may be found at icenicam.org.uk - "Solo's wavering VDO speedo did manage to indicate a surprisingly reasonable approximation of actual speed."
Solo engines were also fitted to some Montgomery-Wards and Columbia mopeds, and they built complete machines for Quelle.
Solo engines include Type 236 and 236, and Type 254 and 255 with water cooling.
This was their most successful model. Powered by a Bosch 750W electric motor fed by two 12V batteries, it appeared in mail order catalogs and was even offered as a prize in TV contests.
At 67kg it was quite heavy, and had a maximum speed of 24km/h - the speed limit at the time in Germany was 25 km/h. It was competitive in its home market but not in France where the limit was 40km/h.
Production of Solo mopeds ceased in 1998. The company is still based in Maichingen and is named Solo Kleinmotoren Gmbh.
Models
Sources: ebikeportal.com, landtechnik-historisch.de, de.solo.global, de.wikipedia.org, mopedarmy.com, Farben-Schiessl, et al.
Tue, 26 Sep 2017
maurice.jensen at gmail.com
Solo 217 50cc 1988-model 217
I would be grateful about the belt size and availability.
Maurice Jensen
Near Praha Czech Republic
Tue Aug 16 2016
ptkirkham at yahoo.com
identification of moped
MZ 50cc moped Solo
I have just bought a 50cc moped with 'Solo' on petrol tank and am trying to identify the make. It has been suggested it might be a rebranded MZ. Hope you can help. It is 1970
Scotland
Wed Sep 03 2014
bmcnaney at twcny.rr.com
1978 solo odessy
solo odessy
looking for air filter for this machine and also need inlet needle, part 0510657
Sat Jun 16 2012
lott3237<at>comcast.net
solo moped
1980 solo
i am in need of a 1980 solo moped clutch pads and clutch spring - can you get these for me??
beaverton oregon
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