Motobécane

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Motobécane VeloSolex type 3800 (1982)
Motobécane
Motobecane racing bike, CroMo frame with flat tube
Motobécane 350

Motobécane was a French two-wheeler and engine manufacturer that existed from 1923 to 1984. Motobécane means “motorized wire donkey”.

Companies

Motobécane produced motorcycles, mopeds ( Mobylette / Moby from 1949), the Vélosolex under license and, last but not least, bicycles and, alongside Peugeot, was one of the best-known French two-wheeler manufacturers and one of the largest two-wheeler manufacturers in Europe. After the bankruptcy in 1984, the company was bought by Yamaha and continues to operate under the name MBK Industrie .

As one of the first vehicle manufacturers, Motobecane began developing gearboxes with continuously variable power transmission in the late 1940s, from which the Mobymatic type emerged in the 1950s .

Individual parts from Motobécane are stamped with a wide M, the middle lines of which extend to the base line. Sometimes this M wears a three-pointed crown. Many individual parts can at least be assigned to the manufacturer. Other parts come from suppliers, e.g. B. most carburetors in Gurtner motorized vehicles. As with many oldtimers, parts made of rubber and elastomers are particularly rare, as these harden and become cracked.

Like many other French vehicle manufacturers, Motobécane also lists numerous special tools in its workshop books. Many of them are comfortable, but not absolutely necessary if you have a little skill with standard tools.

Some Motobécane mopeds were designed for higher performance, but in Germany only received an operating permit up to 25 km / h in order to qualify as mopeds and to be driven from the age of 15 (example: Type N 150). These vehicles were delivered throttled for the German market, which benefited the service life of the engines if they were not fudged.

Motobécane engines were also used in light vehicles such as the Arola .

A community of collectors has not yet come together for Motobécane vehicles. Currently offered copies are mostly in a non-operational condition.

Cycles

Motobécane frame from the mid-1980s

Motobecane manufactured bicycles from the 1960s and racing bikes from the 1970s. In 1984 Motobecane bicycle production employed 2000 people and the name was changed to "MBK". The brand name is now used under license by a Chinese manufacturer.

Automobile prototypes

In 1958 the prototype of a small car was created . The four-wheeled vehicle was designed as a beach wagon. It had neither a roof nor doors. Depending on the source, it offered space for two or four people. A fan-cooled single - cylinder engine with a displacement of 125 cm³ and an output of 9 hp , which was mounted in the rear and powered the rear wheels, provided the drive.

In 1960 attempts were made with a closed small car . The vehicle had sliding doors . A four-cylinder engine with a capacity of 300 cm³ or a single-cylinder two-stroke engine powered the vehicle.

literature

for automobile production
  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 2: G – O. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 . (English)

Web links

Commons : Motobecane motorcycles  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stepless power transmission on two-wheeled vehicles . In: Motor vehicle technology 10/1957, pp. 376-380.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Georgano: The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.