Solex

Solex is a French manufacturer of carburettors and the powered bicycle VéloSoleX.

Solex carburetors were used by many top European automobile marques, such as Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Mercedes Benz. They were also licensed, with Japanese maker Mikuni supplying them to Toyota, Suzuki, Yamaha, and others.

History

The Solex company was founded by Marcel Mennesson and Maurice Goudard to manufacture vehicle radiators. These were fitted to several makes of early cars including Delaunay-Belleville and buses of the Paris General Omnibus company.

After World War I the radiator business went into decline and the company bought the rights to the carburettor patents of Jouffret and Renée and named them Solex after their business.

The Solex brand is now owned by Magneti Marelli. The original Solex company changed its name in 1994 to Magneti Marelli France and on May 31, 2001, Magneti Marelli France partially bought its assets (including the trademark SOLEX) from Magneti Marelli Motopropulsion France S.A.S.

Solex (musician)

Elisabeth Esselink (born 14 August 1965 in Delft), known by her stage name Solex, is the solo performing artist based in Amsterdam. Her music is a light-hearted amalgamation of pop music, electronica and sampling.

Overview

After performing as a member of the Dutch indie group Sonetic Vet, Esselink began the Solex project in order to give herself a more complete and fulfilling musical outlet. The name is taken from the French moped manufacturer Solex.

Utilizing the records in her own record store, she assembled her music on an antique 8-track recorder, singing original lyrics over her musical creations. The first album, Solex Vs. the Hitmeister, was cobbled together using samples from albums that Esselink had been unable to sell in her store. Later albums would see her assembling tracks with samples she had secretly recorded at live performances in addition to sampling records from her collection. She has appeared on Gerling's 2001 album Head3cleaner/When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun and The Go! Team's 2007 album Proof of Youth.