Introduction

Iceni CAM Magazine

This is the home of the Iceni CAM Magazine—a free e-magazine about Cyclemotors, Autocycles, Mopeds … and more.  It was launched on 15 April 2007 and the most recent ten issues can be downloaded here.  All the articles from all the previous magazines are on this website.  For non-computerised folks, printed copies are available at £1.50 per edition; we can accommodate mail order too at £3.02 for single edition or £12.20 for a year’s subscription.

So what’s it about?

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, wherever they are from, and are also happy to help to publicise any events for cyclemotors, autocycles and mopeds.

When’s it published?

We publish four times a year at the beginning of January, April, July, and October.  Iceni CAM is purely an enthusiast production, and all produced on a tiny budget.  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.

What’s in it?

The October 2025 edition is available now on our Downloads Page.

Main feature: Return to The Lost World

The original Lost World article on the Mercury Mercette back in April 2003 (for another publication before IceniCAM) is something that we never thought we’d be covering again, but yes, the Mercury engine blew up big time in 2010.

But 15 years on there’s been some essential evolution taken place for the survival of the species …  Actually the Super Mercette project started before the engine exploded, but this re-engineered motor was initially planned for another second Mercette because the original Mercury was still working at the time.  The new Super 61cc Dunkley Whippet motor was stripped, the kick-start ratchet removed, the boss cut out of the right-hand crankcase, an alloy plate welded in and retextured with an engraving tool so you’d never know!

With the engine rebuilt, it was mounted on a show display stand while the project was mothballed, awaiting time to work on the second Mercette frame.

The maths was completed on the 10% gearing-up change, the 11-tooth sprocket was cut and bronze welded to the clutch basket boss after the first motor expired, but then the whole project was superseded by other needs.

It only got picked up again in early 2025 after stripping down the first Mercette motor and finding it was not recoverable with the condition of the few parts available, at which point it became an obviously easier solution toward completion … to resume the ‘Super’ project.

The clutch basket with its 11-tooth sprocket needed a phosphor bronze bush machining to complete that assembly; a mag-set needed building and timing, a carburettor sorting out, installation and first running.  The slipping Whippet clutch was obviously not up to the task, so necessitated making a new clutch to handle the load, then with a few cycle improvements: the Super Mercette is in business.  The bike was insured and back on the road in early July, then there was a period of brief road tests, debugging and the official road test.  Sat-nav paced at 42mph and what has to be the fastest ever Mercette is back on the EACC rally circuit.

What will become of the second Mercette now the Whippet 60 engine is in the first Mercette?  Well there’s an option to try overhauling the second Mercette’s original 46.6cc engine, or what might we do with the spare Dunkley 65 engine that’s in the stores?  64cc, 2.6bhp, and even higher compression ratio?  Dunkley claimed 45mph out of their Whippet Sports, but with the 11-tooth higher gearing conversion … evolution may only just be starting another new phase for the Ultimate Super Mercette.

The article was sponsored by Les Gobbett, Lough, Lincolnshire.  We’ve now run out of sponsorship donations, so there are openings to sponsor articles for our next edition in January 2026.  Any modest donations are gratefully received to keep IceniCAM on-line.

First Support feature: The First Gadabout

The The first Gadabout moped was shown at Earls Court Motor Cycle Show on 12 November 1955, but the history of Phillips stretched a long way back before then, and we do like a bit of interesting history!  The P39 was listed from the Earls Court Show, for sale in the 1956 season, but just a year later the largely German model had evolved to become a machine of different domestically-produced parts.

The workshops acquired this really early P39 among a job lot of mopeds from Bristol in 2001.  The bike was initially rebuilt and registered in 2003 for road use, but the mag flywheel pin sheared in the crank, causing the timing to slip (a common fault with Rex motors), so it ended up consigned to a dark and forgotten corner in disgrace.  22 years later the Phillips surfaced again, scheduled for an article.  It was fitted with a replacement crank, new piston rings, a 13-tooth gear-up sprocket, a couple of replacement cables, & a new capacitor in the mag-set; the ignition was re-timed, the cosmetics tidied up, and within just four days we’re ready to go again!

Another Phillips feature, so how many Phillips motorised models have we covered now?  P36X Motorised Cycle, all three Pandas and even the second version of the Mk 3 Panda, P39, P45, P50, Mk 4 PM2 Gadabouts, two of the three New Zealand ‘Springer’ Gadabout models, and even the New Zealand Traveller (a Phillips branded version of the RM8).  We make that 12 Phillips models so far!  Who knew there were so many?  Technically maybe we could try to cover a sprung-fork P36X Motorised Cycle because we only did the earlier rigid-fork version, and we haven’t done any of the Phillips Cyclemaster models yet, and maybe at a push, the New Zealand Super-50 (a Phillips branded cross of the white & fire red RM12 and the RM11 Super Tourist but fitted with Wrights S.65/3 tension-sprung single saddle and maybe no rear carrier).  No worries, we don’t think any other publications are going to be catching us up any time soon…

‘The First Gadabout’ was sponsored by Garth Jeffrey, EACC Regalia Officer but we currently have no sponsorship for the No.2 article in the next edition.  If you may care to sponsor an article on a ‘rare and unusually early sports moped’, then please send in a small donation.

Second Support feature: Dot ‘makes’ a moped.

This feature started long before IceniCAM, and back in 2006 when we picked up the ViVi at Utrecht Bromfietsbeurs.  In Ben Teuben’s van, we took the ViVi to Derrick Roest at Alphen de Ryn, where we got the bike running so it could be ridden on and off the boat back to England.  Having gone over on a foot passenger ticket wasn’t going to be an issue coming back from the Netherlands, since the Dutch classed a moped as a bicycle, and bicycles travelled free; but if you were travelling the other way from the UK to the Netherlands, a moped would be classed as a motor cycle and charged for the crossing.  Once in the UK the registration was sorted out, then the bike just went into deep storage, and 19 years later, in an impulsive moment, it was decided the time had come, and ViVi was dragged out for its moment of fame.

Considering the bike was ridden back from the Netherlands, it seemed as if it took a disproportionate amount of work to sort the bike out functionally and cosmetically in time for the article.  It was a close call for the road test, because a persisting misfire was eventually traced to a defective ignition capacitor that had already been replaced!  Only in the last week before the editorial deadline did the ViVi engine run cleanly, and then it went very well.

It’s nice to experience such a good gearshift on a moped with the Victoria engine.  The ball-bearing selection system dispenses with the usual splined shaft and splined bore on the gears with engagement dogs on the gears and selectors being the source of all the grinding and crunching when you try to shift gear.  The ball selection system uses bearings pushed out and in by a sliding shaft to engage and disengage the gears, allowing you shift silently and smoothly at all times.  It was a system used by Zündapp, Casal, and Victoria; it wasn’t used by Puch, NSU, Villiers, Sachs, etc.

One of the features that didn’t get a tick of approval was carburettor access through the small inspection cover on the left-hand side.  On the ViVi it’s difficult, though it can be done, and it’s not quite as bad as carb access on the Victoria Vicky IV—but it’s puzzling why they made it so awkward to maintain a standard service item.

Some folks may not be familiar with the Dot brand of Manchester because it was mainly focused on competition trials motor cycles, and didn’t produce much in the way of road models, while the Viberti Company of Turin was probably a total unknown to most people.  The Victoria company since 1886 may be a more familiar name in Germany, but the mopeds were only imported from January 1956 until 1964 and were relatively expensive in the UK, so probably not sold in big numbers in comparison with the numbers of other cheaper makes available.  The arrival of ViVi mopeds in Britain made something of a multi-national story, but sadly we’re unable to identify how many ViVis were sold in the UK.  Probably not very many, since they rarely seem to turn up in any form, and we may presume they might have mostly been sold locally.  Dot’s own registered dealer network was maybe more focused on the competition trials bikes that the company primarily produced, rather than selling its imported mopeds. Dot ‘makes’ a moped ended with the news that ‘Dot Motorcycles returned with a brand revival making new motorcycles from 2021’ … but most importantly, we’d like to know when Dot is going to ‘make’ another moped?

The article was sponsored by Derek Langdon from Nottingham.  Our third feature for the next edition currently has no sponsorship, and a small donation to IceniCAM could put your name or message on it…

What’s Next?

The next magazine is scheduled for publication at the beginning of January 2026.

Next Main Feature: A spectacular racing 50 from the 1960s, but this machine looks as if it was designed to be piloted by a 7-stone contortionist, so can we even ride it?

Next First Support: A rare and unusually early sports moped that very probably no one has ever heard of.  We could say it involves a certain Leopoldo Rinaldi, but he sounds like some Italian footballer, so you’re likely going to be none the wiser for that snippet either … just have to wait and see; it’s ‘A Family Business’.

Next Second Support: Seriously, not seriously, can you really improve a Motobécane X1?  And we have to ask the question: is it worth it?

What else?

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 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

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.

What we do

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.  However, we are trying to make this free too!  We are setting up an on-line library where you can download manuals at no charge.

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:

Ambassador Moped,

Dunkley Whippet & Popular,

Elswick Hopper Lynx,

Leopard Bobby,

Mercury Mercette & Hermes,

Ostler Mini-Auto,

Raleigh Ireland Super,

Stella Minibike,

…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:

Ariel Pixie;

Beretta–Mosquito;

Capriolo 75 Turismo Veloce;

Cyc-Auto (Wallington Butt) & Cyc-Auto (Villiers);

Dunkley S65 & Whippet Super Sports;

Elswick–Hopper VAP MIRA test prototype;

Gilera RS50;

Guazzoni;

Hercules Her-cu-motor;

Honda Gyro Canopy, Model A, CD50, & SS50;

James Comet 1F;

Leri Supersport;

MV Agusta Liberty;

Norman Nippy Mark 3;

Powell Joybike;

Rabeneick Binetta;

Simson SR2E;

Solifer Speed;

Sun Autocycle & Motorette;

Vincent Firefly;

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: 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 …