Arbinet Fréres Motorcycles

A Brief History of the Marques Arbinet Fréres & Arbinet Aîné

Arbinet Fréres
Gevrey-Chambertin, Côte-d'Or
After WWI they moved to 72 rue Berbisey, Dijon, also in the Côte-d'Or department.

In 1910 or so Arbinet Frères began assembling motorcycles in Gevrey-Chambertin using parts from a variety of manufacturers including Clément, Dufaux and others, and some of the machines were apparently little different to the originals other than the paintwork and the name on the tank. The only machine known to be their own was powered by Zurcher.

Arbinet was established after WWI by the sons of one or both of the brothers Arbinet. There is evidence of an Arbinet Aîné (Arbinet Senior) marque in 1924 and 1927.^{1, 2}

Post WWI production focused on vélomoteurs, but they also built larger machines including one with a Magnat Debon overhead-valve 350cc engine in an AYA frame, and another with a Train engine.

The marque was acquired by Grellaud & Guillon (G.G.) in 1934 and the name applied to their bicycles until 1941. They had occupied premises in Fontenay-le-Comte formerly owned by Guiller Frères, producers of Origan.

Models:

Arbinet Aîné 1924 175cc Train
Arbinet Aîné 1924 250cc Train
F1 1928 350cc 4T
F2 1928 350cc 4T
CSSG 1929 175cc Zurcher 4-stroke
ASSC 1929-1932 250cc Zurcher 4-stroke
BSSC 1929-1931 350cc 4T
CSSC 1929-1932 175cc 3 speed four-stroke
ESSC 350cc Zurcher 4-stroke 1931-1932
FSSC 500cc Zurcher 4-stroke

Sources: JLB Creations, Didier Mahistre, moto-histo.com, Tragatsch

Notes:
1. zhumoriste.over-blog.com
2. 1927 advert in Moto Revue reads "Arbinet Aîné".
There is a report of Massardier engines in use at some stage.
Tragatsch states that they built their own two-stroke engines of 98cc, 173cc, 198cc, 347cc and 497cc, but this is likely incorrect.

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August 28th 2017
In reply to a question on clarification of Arbinet production dates, Javier Rodrequez writes:

I think that there were two different periods of production for this marque:
-Around 1910 Arbinet Frères is a mark using parts sourced externally. I've seen different frames with Clément, Dufaux and other engines. It's a kind of "Badge Engineering". Only the one with a Zurcher motor would be a complete motorcycle made by this mark from Gevrey-Chambertin.
-In twenties the mark is continued by the sons with the name of Arbinet.
Edited for clarity Sept. 2021.

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Fri Nov 25 2005
thefrenchowl at btinternet dot com
Arbinet Freres
Patrick again!

The engine in those Arbinet was a Zurcher one, made by Alcyon, also French. Earliest date i can vouch for that 250cc side valve engine is 1912. I did visit the site where they were 1st built, a little village between Beaune and Dijon and was told at the time (mid 70's) that they started motorcycle manufacturing in 1913. They moved to Dijon itself after WW1

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