Reliant Robins ? Gen me up please.

[Frogchod]

Possibly maybe might be thinking of getting one for SHMBO as she only has a bike licence. Hopefully it should be warmer and dryer than her XJ600N. Best of all I wont have to take her shopping...

For added fun* We'll be importing it into France.

We'd be looking at cars earlier than 1984 to stand any chance of registering in France.

So what should we be looking for ? Do the chassis rust ? Engines explode ? Any parts made of unobtainium ?

Will 700 quid get us a good-un ?

 

Or, who want's to swop one for my Visa ?

 

Frogchod.

[Junkman]

You should first check, whether the French motorcycle legislation applies to them. I know it doesn't in Germany and Austria.

Also check, whether it has type approval in France.

It does in Austria, but not in Germany, which means, each has to go through a single approval there, which costs about 1,400 Euros.

You could shoot yourself well in the foot.

[tooSavvy]

Fc

 

^^^ all of the above 

 

TS

[plasticvandan]

ask away,ive owned 30

 

Pre 84 cars are getting scarce. only post 82 cars (Rialto onwards) have galv chassis.

Mk1 Robins 73-81 are scarce and can suffer with rusty chassis.

Headgaskets can go (all ally engine,heads sieze onto studs,nightmare to remove)

Lots of unobtainium now,for example a hazard switch wll set you back around £60 for a new one,if you can find one.

the diecasting company had an arguement with Reliant in 1999,and smashed up the moulds for the engine,so new engines are not available,and parts to rebuild one will cost getting on for £1000.

 

£700 is borderline for getting a good one,you will struggle to get a decent mk1 Robin for that now.

 

What type of licence has your mrs got? not all bike licences entitle you to drive one.

 

Reliants were sold in Holland,Austria and Germany,Holland havign a lower weight limit than here.Type approval still exists for the Robin.

[oldcars]

Hi, early MK1 robins don't have a galvanised chassis so can rust, and some very early rialtos don't as well. I have a 1983 Rialto Saloon and i love it, but it has had many problems.

 

I paid £450 for mine with a 12 month mot but the paint was very poor.

 

The can overheat if the cooing system is to tip top. I have had mine flushed out and a new radiator and waterpump added. Parts are quite cheap to get. Other issues i have had a leaks. There is a plastic sheet that needs checking in the door cards to make sure its fitted correctly. Plasticvandan on here should be along, he has help me and knows much much more about them that me

 

Beaten to it, i see he has replied

[plasticvandan]

There are 101 wierd problems that they suffer from,and ive had them all (and created a few of my own!) so if you do find a prospect,send me the link

[Frogchod]

She has a full bike license so is ok to drive one. French rules appear broadly similar.

Registration will be via the FFVE.

We're in touch with a Frenchman who has just started the registration process for a Reliant via the FFVE so the plan at the moment is to see what doom he falls upon first.

[dollywobbler]

I thought the 'drive one on a bike licence' thing was a grandfather rights issue - ie you had to have a really old licence for that to work. I may have dreamt that.

[plasticvandan]

if you havent got  B1 on the licence you cant drive a Reliant.I have a full bike licence (taken 2005) and i cant drive a Reliant on it,had to take a car test.

Basically the rules were changed in 2001,after that the B1 tricycle entitlement was removed.

[Frogchod]

This one is near me

 

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/744198148.htm?ca=4_s

 

FRO

[Frogchod]

She has a full "A" license

According to this http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F2830.xhtml#N1011F  it says it's ok for any tricycle.

Think I'll go check with Les Flick to be sure though...

[dave21478]

LOL at the total ruin for 5k euros!

 

Never ever seen one here - Keep us updated if you get one, Im interested in the FFVE registration for a couple of things I have my eye on but have never done it myself.

[Asimo]

Wouldn't one of those voitures sans permis jobbies like a Ligier be a better bet en Fance?

[plasticvandan]

The A won't cover her in the UK then.

[martc]

Do not by a Robin Reliant - they don't exist.

[Bren]

Jasper Carrott loves them.

[overrun]

Pandaselecta on Retro Rides has an old one that he* is restoring**.

[bub2006]

Nothing I can add that hasn't been said. Apart from rialto 2 yellow blocks seem more prob at hgf. Can be tuned for silly power to weight. Mine was tuned but was also more economical for it too. Rapidly going up in price and parts getting scarce though.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Were any Reliants of any sort sold in France? A few Ants were exported to S America- Argentina I think.

Did the Frogs have their own home brewed three wheel nut jobs in austerity post war France?

[wuvvum]

As Sorn Me says, wouldn't you / she be better off with one of these?

 

 

Or for added shite points, one of these?

 

[wuvvum]

LOL at the total ruin for 5k euros!

 

 

If you read the ad, he isn't actually asking €5K for that.  He wants to swap for something (doesn't say what), but Leboncoin insists that you put a price on your ad or it'll get deleted.

[dave21478]

No. Sans permis are shit.

 

I dismantled two very like the blue one above and they are laughably bad. They are a fibreglass monocoque over a steel "chassis" that is made from square profile steel that is smaller cross section and thinner wall than the stuff I made my garden gate from. The chassis was designed by someone who had heard the word "Triangulation" once but didnt really know what it means. It can be bent by hand and the suspension arms are made from even smaller tubes. Build quality was interesting..,, for example the main frame has two longitudinal rails with cross pieces forming a ladder of sorts. The rear cross piece on one of them was butt welded between the two side rails and the front cross piece was butt welded at one side and the other side it passed under the side rail and was welded onto the bottom of it, which gave the whole thing a twist, which seemed to have been compensated for with a load of washers and rubber. The rear suspension was coil-over struts which were just wedged in place, not actually bolted at the top. Seatbelt mounts were pop rivited into the fibreglass and the heating ducts were made from 40mm pvc plumbing fittings. All factory standard.

 

From the two of them, I made a buggy for my nephew, which is basically just a chassis with seats. Even without the weight of the shell, it struggles to beat jogging speed when two up on a slight hill.

 

The modern ones look very sporty in a "kids trainers" kind of way, with bright colours, racing stripes, wee alloys and centre or twin exit exhausts. Same old shit underneath though. Id rather have a robin than any of these, and I hate Robins.

[dave21478]

well obviously not for 5k euros, but it looks fit for the scrapper. I bet the chassis is in excellent* condition.

[wuvvum]

The Aixam A540 was actually the first sans permis to pass the frontal 45km/h crash test.  They ain't quick though - even as light as they are, 4kw is never going to be enough to get a car moving at a respectable pace.

 

I had two Ligier Ambras a couple of years back.  Now there is a car I would not have liked to have a crash in.  Even shorter bonnet than the Aixam, and the "chassis" was a kind of spaceframe made from thin ally tubes.  Very lightweight I'm sure, but probably not much in the way of crash protection.

[wuvvum]

The thing that did always make me laugh with sans permis is the fact that they cost nearly as much as a proper car, despite being infinitely more shit.

[dave21478]

They have a pretty strong market though. Anywhere else they would be nothing more than a curiosity but here there is a pretty big demand from pensioners and drunks. There are two just in my little hamlet - an old Aixam owned by a granny in her 80s which fails to proceed on a regular basis and is often retuned home on the end of a towrope and the mardy alcoholic woman in her 50s down the street has a modern thing with fancy alloys and a chrome exhaust tip.

[DSdriver]

You forgot about the drunk pensioners. I have an uncle in France who never worries about drink driving because if he loses his licence he can always get an Axiam. That and he used to run the cafe that all the Calais flics used so is on good terms.

[Alan_Green]

• Erm...wouldn't it be easier for her to just sit her car test?  Then she could chose from the wide range of 4-wheelers available in the UK & France.

I also thought the remove-reverse-gear-and-drive-a-Robin-on-a-bike-licence thing was an urban myth anyway.  A hangover from the very early days of motoring.

[plasticvandan]

It is,that law was abolished in 1963,yet still persists to come up in conversation today!

[HH-R]

I used to see a bloke driving to work every morning (in England) driving an Aixam-like contraption, he used to go on dual carriageways with it too. Can only imagine that it was terrifyingly slow.