At the age of 12 Bruno Rossati began working eleven hour days.
"Now, approaching 91, I find myself reminiscing about my youth, still riding my motorcycle every day.
Letter re Ladetto
Rue de Namur, Chàtelet, Hainaut, Belgium - 1925 to 1939
Sons of mining engineer Jules Escol, the brothers Félix and Maurice built their first motorcycle in 1925 after years of planning, and the result was quite outstanding. Powered by a 1000cc Anzani v-twin driving through a gearbox of their own manufacture, housed in a monocoque sheet-steel chassis the Super-Moto had suspension front and rear, disc wheels, weighed 330 kg and was 2.7 metres long.
It appears the bike handled exceptionally well and was remarkably reliable - reportedly a prototype covered some 200,000 km without problems. Sales, sadly, were not forthcoming, posssibly due to the price tag of 30,000 francs - four times that of a 500cc FN.
In 1932 they built new models using JAP 500cc and 600cc singles, along with 342cc Villiers 4-speed machines. Rudge Python engines were likely used in competition models. In 1937 there were also 196cc and 249cc Villiers 3-speed machines with monocoque frames and deeply valanced mudguards.
Tragatsch mentions that they developed their own two-stroke engine, but it seems more likely that the prominent Escol logo on the engine casing fitted to Villiers engines led to some confusion.
A 680cc V-twin appeared in 1939 but development was curtailed when war came later in the year, and all activity ceased. In total some 270 machines were built.
A rather different version of the company history is given by vvcc.be, which focuses on the Escol cars built between 1926 and 1929.
Sources: François-Marie Dumas; Tragatsch p128; ottw.es; et al.
