The Yamaha Fizzy – how a 1970s moped became a £10,000 collector’s item

Surviving examples of the Yamaha FS1-E - a cheap moped originally meant for teenagers – are fetching serious money among motorcycle enthusiasts.

Yamaha FS1-E moped
Cheffins expects £3,000-4,000 for this 1970s Fizzy next month
(Image credit: © Cheffins)

Earlier this month, Yamaha announced plans to sell a new range of e-bikes in Europe later this year, including two new electric mopeds. The Japanese motorbike brand is no newcomer to assisted pedal power. In the 1970s, it released the FS1-E moped, a “sixteener special” – so-named because of a 1971 British law that limited 16-year-old riders to bikes with 50cc engines. In response, manufacturers made mopeds – with both a small engine and pedals – aimed at teenagers.

If you were a teenager, “this was the bike to have”, says John Hogan in SuperBike magazine. “Fifty cc of two stroke freedom, sometimes at 30mph if you were going downhill and had a tailwind.” The “E” signalled that it was for sale in the English market. Around 200,000 British-bound “Fizzys”, as the mopeds were affectionately known, were made. Today, “bikers of a certain age seem more than happy… to part with vast sums of cash” to get their hands on one, says Hogan – perhaps with a view to reliving those wild, carefree years.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

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