French Motorcycles

Today in Motorcycle History

French Motorcycle Resources

Information on French Vintage, Pioneer & Antique, Touring and Racing Motorcycles for Research Purposes

JLBweb - Les Archives de la Motos
Many models listed for French and other marques and has been a very fruitful source of information.
archives-moto.jlbweb.fr (offline November 2023)


Club Ydral
An excellent site with detailed information on all marques with Ydral engines fitted.
Club Ydral


Motos Anglais
British motorcycles, in French

Motos Anglais


Cycle Memory | Mémoire du Cycle
Considerable information on engines, marques & models. Scans of period magazines and catalogues. Major resource.
Cycle Memory


Chez Alice
Excellent resource with a wealth of period catalogues in PDF format.
encoreplus


Les Vieilles Chaînes Villefranchoises
Numerous marques with history and photos. They also have a substantial collection of books on French motorcycles available to members.
vieilleschainesvillefranchoises


François-Marie Dumas
His site presents nearly two thousand photographs he has made over several decades, accompanied by a comprehensive history of the machines presented.
Moto Collection


Le Site de La Moto Française
Has unique information along with much about Bourdache.
motocyclettes.free.fr


Cyclomoteurs et motos fabriqués dans la Loire
Numerous references for French motos. More information: Motos dans la Loire
httpcyclomotosloire.e-monsite.com


Petochon.fr
Covers a host of French 175cc machines often in considerable detail, and has original catalogues:
petochon.fr



Histoire de la Moto, 1900-2000

Contains a wealth of information about motorcycles and internal combustion engines.
Moto-Histo.com


hazebrouck-autrefois.com
Lucer, Ydral and others.
hazebrouck-autrefois.com


lestricars.es.tl
Extensive articles on tricars from the 1900s by Dr. Hendrik Svenson-Evers and Dr. Dominique Svenson of Granada, Spain.


Albert Jean
Chanon & Villemain
Furan
Bonin
Griffon
Ivry
Lurquin-Coudert
Also: Cie. Française des Cycles et Automobiles 1898 tricar, Georgia Knap, Corona of Brandenburg, Fafnir, Germania

gitane-testi.blogspot.com
Quite a number of less common French marques.

gitane-testi.blogspot.com


The Moped Army
Great source for information on French mopeds.
The Moped Army


Gérard Martin
Gerard is an active researcher and spends much time in the forums, particularly on the FB group Motorcycles 1867-1930.


Didier Mahistre
M. Mahistre has written tomes on all manner of motorcycle history. Didier Mahistre



Thierry Heurlin supplied images and information on many French machines.

lesmotocyclettes-free.fr

This site has been offline for some time. It contained numerous snippets of information and correspondence about some quite obscure French marques.
More information: La Moto Francaise

cyclovap.fr
Wonderful resource for mopeds equipped with VAP engines.

cyclovap.fr


Forums


lva-moto.fr
A wealth of information on vintage and classic French motos.
lva-moto.fr


Motoancienne
Forum de moto ancienne achats vente de moto ou voiture ancienne
motoancienne.forumactif.org


Marque Specific

Alcyon
Enthusiast's site - Publicités, affiches, prospectus...
cama.alcyon.free.fr

Autobiroue
autobiroue.over-blog.com

Automoto
Automoto A9

Austral
motocyclettesaustral.es.tl

Dollar
amicaledollar.free.fr

Gnome et Rhone

ajl-creations.com
Older site with information on Gnome et Rhone
ajl-creations.com/gnome-rhone
gnomerhone.pagesperso-orange.fr
amicalegnomerhone.net
motoscatalogue.com

Monet-Goyon

Les Monet-Goyon & Koehler-Escoffier sur le Net - large quantity of documentation on two important French marques.
monet-goyon.net

Motobecane

Le Motobécane Club de France
Squidloads of stuff about Motobecane and Motoconfort.
Motobécane Club de France

Motobec.fr
Has a great deal of information about Motobecane and Motoconfort.
motobec-fr

Patrick Barrabès
Patrick has authored books on Motobecane
An archive of his site on the marque may be found at generationtobec.fr

Soyer
soyer-motor.nl

Terrot Club Pyreneen
Great resource. Catalogues, parts fische, adverts for 50cc 100cc 125cc 175cc 250cc 269cc 350cc 500cc 680cc 750-800cc...
terrot.club.pyreneen.free.fr

Terrot Club France
Around 500 catalogues and technical documents available to members. Also forum, bibliography, model ID by serial number...
terrot.france.free.fr

Terrot Parts
Very nicely presented page from a Terrot specialist.
terrotspareparts.wordpress.com

Arbracam
Dijon marques - Terrot, Peugeot, Magnat Debon and more.
arbracam.org

Ultima
Detailed history on the marque along with its relationship with Deronziere, Manufrance, E. Billion, Rupta and others. Many photographs and documents.
ultimalyon.jpcor.fr

Velosolex
Velosolex America (velosolexamerica.com 404)


Publications


La Moto en France, 1894-1914, 1914-1921 and 1922-1924
by Jean Bourdache
See also: Bibliography

L'Industrie des Cycles et Automobiles, Saint Etiennes. Several decades in high resolution.
musee-art-industrie.saint-etienne.fr

Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF)
gallica.bnf.fr

Archive of French magazine index 1974-2012
Club du Motocyclettiste.
motocyclettiste.fr

Gloubik Science - Automobile
sciences.gloubik.info


Research

Translations Linguee
Dictionnaire français-anglais French-English | English-French
linguee.fr/francais-anglais/

French translations (word only, not phrase)
by Oxford University
en.bab.la/dictionary


actuacity.com
Search on manufacturer, town etc. Provides background data on all manner of French people and places. Great resource.
actuacity.com