A Brief History of the Marque
Manufactured: 1949-1957 1
104 avenue de la République
Chatillon sous Bagneux (Seine)
The history of the firm dates back to 1921 when the brothers René, Robert and Roger Bernardet built their first sidecars and presented them at the Paris, Berlin and Geneva shows. They supplied sidecar bodies René Gillet.
The Bernardet brothers continued in the 1930s with racing and achieved commercial success until 1940 when the production of civilian models was interrupted. After hostilities ceased a small number of sidecars were produced until 1948. Several cars were produced but none achieved government authorisation (due, it is said, to the brother's resistance to the communist-dominated government of the early post-war years) and the factory switched to scooter production, building 15 models over the years 1947 to 1959.
The excellent site devoted to the marque, bernardet.com, includes an introduction to the book Histoire Des Freres Bernardet, a translation of which reads:
BERNARDET SIDECARS AND SCOOTERS
Ce sera une grande surprise de rencontrer sur ce stand, parmi les derniers modèles de sidecars, un élégant Scooter 125 cmc. d'une réalisation très étudiée. Les photographles que nous avions prises du prototype après un court essai sont malheureusement périmées, déjà, car il s'agissait d'un modèle dont l'aspect extérieur et celui de la róue avant plus spécialement ont été sensiblement modifiés.
Ce Scooter est équipé d'un 125 Lardy 4 vitesses par sélecteur; la commande au pied a été réalisée très agréablement. La suspension avant est établie sur le même principe que celui du sidecar; le protège-jambes sert de support à la roue de secours. Ce
Scooter est à double selle en Dunlopillo; sous la selle et à l'intérieur du carénage se trouve le réservoir d'es.
It will be a great surprise to find on this stand, among the latest sidecar models, an elegant 125cc scooter, a very well-designed piece of equipment. The photographs we took of the prototype after a short test ride are unfortunately already outdated, as it was a model whose exterior, and especially that of the front wheel, had been significantly modified.
This scooter is equipped with a 125cc Lardy engine with a 4-speed selector; the foot control is very well implemented.
The front suspension is based on the same principle as that of the sidecar; the leg guard serves as a support for the spare wheel. This scooter has a double seat with Dunlopillo tyres; under the seat and inside the fairing is the fuel tank.
Continued...
1948 Paris Salon, Motocycles. Courtesy Memoire du Cycle.
Bernardet Models
The scooters employed engines by Ydral and Marcel Violet (creator of the Sevitame), and some 125cc
& 250cc powerplants were made by Bernardet themselves.
Le Poulain acquired Bernardet in 1954 and continued producing scooters, some of which were supplied to one of the major Belgian firms which marketed them as Gillet, the original name of Gillet-Herstal. Fierce competition from the Italians brought the venture to an end, and Bernardet-Le Poulain was wound up on the 9th of March, 1959.
Notes
1. The company closed in 1959
Sources Cyclememory.org
Sun Sep 28 2008
mpt at nusurf.at
need Help
Bernardet C50
I looking for Tank / Whatch / Exhaust /Spare wheelcover and Spare wheel
to complet my c50 .
Need also detail drawing from Gurtner carb .
Hope you can help me .
Paolo Monti from Austria
Schlusselberg, Austria
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