Мотобекан: Француздық велосипед және мотоцикл өндірушісінің тарихы

French manufacturer of bicycles

Motobécane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and other small vehicles, established in 1923. "Motobécane" is a compound of "moto", short for motorcycle; "bécane" is slang for "bike." Motobécane is a different corporation from Motobecane USA, which imports a wide range of bicycles from Taiwan manufactured by Kinesis Industry Co. Ltd. under the Motobécane trademark. Luis Ocaña won Tour de France on Motobecane branded bike in 1973. In 1981, the original Motobécane filed for bankruptcy and was purchased by Yamaha and reformed in 1984 as MBK. The French company continues to make motorscooters. They also made fingerbar mowers at least up to 1981.

For many years Motobecane was France's largest manufacturer of motorcycles. Charles Benoit and Abel Bardin joined in 1922 and designed their first motorcycle in 1923, a single cylinder two stroke engined bike. By the 1930s Motobecane was producing a best selling range of motorcycles. In 1933, they produced their first four stroke machine with capacity. During the 1930s, they manufactured a longitudinal shaft drive inline four engine motorcycle in During this period, the firm entered road racing competitions and won the Bol d'or endurance race. After the Second World War they produced the single cylinder D45 motorbike that filled a need for cheap transportation. The successor was the Z46, equipped with modern suspension. Like many European motorcycle manufacturers, the 1960s proved difficult for Motobécane as cars became affordable. As a result, sales decreased. The arrival of cheap, efficient Japanese motorcycles also hurt sales. They continued to produce two cylinder 125cc motorcycles throughout the 1970s. They also manufactured a small number of two stroke, three cylinder 350cc and 500cc bikes. For a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the company competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing claiming several victories in the 125cc class and finishing second in the 1980 125cc road racing world championship.

Motobécane was a major manufacturer in the French bicycle industry. Motobecane is known for designing very light weight mountain bicycles. Motobecane was the first French maker to start using Japanese parts, in the late 1970s, with Japanese derailleurs and crank sets performing far above the older French designs common on mid priced 10 speeds. The change was largely due to the influence of their U. S. importer, Ben Lawee. The frames on Motobécane's mid to upper bikes were typically double butted lugged steel made from Vitus or Reynolds 531 molybdenum/manganese steel tubing with Nervex lugs. Unlike most French makers of the era, Motobecane used Swiss thread bottom brackets for most models. Motobécane finished their frames in beautiful and high quality paint, a practice not often followed in the French industry. Considered the second most prestigious French bicycle (after Peugeot, whose more durable design they emulated, but ahead of Gitane), Motobécane's mid range bikes were good value; the company kept prices reasonable by matching high quality frames with lower priced, but higher quality components from Japan, at a time when competitors were putting higher priced, lower quality French components on mid range bikes. Motobécane bicycles included the Nomade, Mirage, Super Mirage, Super Touring, Grand Touring, Sprint, Super Sprint, Jubilee Sport, Grand Record, Le Champion, and Team Champion. In addition to the standard diamond frame bicycles, Motobécane produced mixte frame versions; the mixte frame Grand Touring had twin lateral stays in place of a top tube, extending from the head tube to the seat tube, while the Super Touring and Grand Jubilé had a single top tube sloping down towards the seat tube, but diverging into twin lateral stays just before the seat tube. Later mixte Grand Touring models also used this design. Motobécane also produced a tandem bicycle. In the early '80s Motobécane launched a new range of bikes under the "Profil" name. These bikes were made from 2040 tubing and this had been "Ovaled" or formed into a tear drop shape to aid aerodynamics (supposedly one of the first bikes designed in a wind tunnel). They included some hidden cabling through the top tube and full use of Shimano's Adamax 600 ax components which had been designed specifically for aerodynamics. French bicycles before 1980 often used French threaded bottom brackets (now difficult to find replacement parts for). French bottom brackets, like Italian ones, used right hand threading on the fixed cups, making them subject to loosening by precession. Motobécane broke ranks with most other French manufacturers in the mid 70s, using Swiss threaded bottom brackets (also difficult to find replacement parts for now). Swiss bottom brackets were identical to French, save that the fixed cups were reverse threaded (like English ones), making them immune to loosening by precession. For more information, see bottom bracket specifications. In addition, French headsets are sized and threaded slightly differently from the more common English headset. The name Motobécane is also used for current bikes of Taiwanese manufacture. These vehicles bear no relation to the older French made bicycles, other than the name.

Motobécane introduced a moped, the Mobylette, in 1949; over the next 48 years, Motobécane manufactured 14 million Mobylettes. In India the same model was manufactured under licence by Mopeds India Ltd under the name Suvega. In the UK Raleigh manufactured Mobylettes under licence from Motobecane as the "RM" series from 1960 until 1971. In the late 1960s these "Raleigh" mopeds accounted for 38% of UK moped sales. American retailer Montgomery Ward imported Motobecane mopeds and sold them via their catalog under the Riverside captive import brand. The motorcycles up to the V40 version without shock absorbers. The 'bike with auxiliary engine', had a maximum speed of and were limited to After this series and from 1961, with the use of Japanese parts and adding rear suspension, the Models V50 and higher were able to reach a speed of hour and with a power of
In 1978, Canadian Walter Muma rode a 50V 11,500 miles on a 3 month trip that began in Toronto, brought him to Alaska, and back to Toronto. After being acquired by Yamaha, MBK Industrie The result was a three wheel pedal car. One of the pictures showed the Motobécane prototype on a boulevard near the company’s plant and the Porte de Valette being overtaken by a Renault 4CV: the little Renault looked uncharacteristically large and the Motobecane, positioned between the Renault and a Paris bus, looked barely larger than a child’s pedal car. Although the manufacturer was unfamiliar with automobile technology, they were happy to incorporate into the design a form of the innovative infinitely variable transmission which a few years later became a defining feature of DAF cars.