Answers

BZZT. british.

d'oh. of course.

and 2 more d'ohs.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Too Busy: Your mind is like a motorway. Sometimes it can be jammed by
too much traffic. Avoid the jams by never using your mind on a
Bank Holiday weekend.
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.

 

<Re-reads thread>

Ah - missed that bit. Although the only production Vincents being built
now are the Terry Prince Vincents in Oz, so I was half right ;-)

--
Krusty.

http://www.muddystuff.co.uk
http://www.muddystuff.us
Off-road classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger (FOYRNB) '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

Krusty said...

I stopped to help a couple on a Vincent V-twin a couple of weeks ago,
but they'd only run out of fuel and the fella person was walking back
with a can in his hand as I left.

 

Aikoku
Bridgestone
Chiyoda
Daihatsu
Emuro
Fuji
Gasuden
Honda
IMC
JAC
Kawasaki
Lilac
Mitsubishi
Noritsu
Ohyashima
Pearl
Queen Rocket
Ritsurin
Suzuki
Tohatsu
U
V
Wasp
X
Yamaha
Z (That's a marque called "Z", not a marker)

Hmmm, three short. I confess, I had to look some of those up!

I reckon a good many countries could provide the complete set. I reckon
France would do it easily - though most of the would be badge-engineered
versions of the same bikes.

 

Well that's still an impressive list for Japan, I could only think of five.

Go on then, I'd be interested to see how many and which ones?

Oily

 

Well, a quick look at Hugo's encyclopaedia reveals that he lists marques
for France starting with every letter except X.

The trouble with France is that any reasonably-sized town had its cycle
and motor cycle shop turning out machines (especially cyclomoteurs,
vélomoteurs and BMAs) under its own name. In many cases they were just
bought-in machines with the shop's own badge and transfers applied.
Those établissments who actually assembles machines often had several
marques. In Chartres for example, the local assembler, constructor and
wholesaler was Ets André Gagnon (André Gagnon was mayor of the town for
many years), which traded its products under the names: Réalty, Radiane,
FAG (Fabrication André Gagnon) and Carnutes. At Lons-le-Saunier there
was the Lédonien cycle agency with: Debello, Clipper, Clarus and
Triomphus. Ets Baud in Le Doubs with: Betty, Elfil, Luxia, Jurasport.
Ets Jeunet at Dole with: Captivant, Jurax, Sewa, Radia, Eurocycles. F
Simon with: Sif, Esper, Prester, Semper, Mondia, Elite, Sport...

And all but two of those examples I've just listed are marques that
aren't listed in Hugo Wilson's book.

Just to add to the general confusion you get Manufrance (which used to
be a huge mail-order operation in France) selling a range of machines
from a variety of manufacturers but all badged under its own labels:
Manufrance, Hirondelle, Vélorobot...

There's no such thing as a definitive list of marques for France.

 

In that case then, I give up, I *knew* the only good thing to come out of
France was the road north.

Oily

 

I think you'll find someone is this group who'd like to mention Claret
at this point.

 

There's at least two of us and the other is, I believe, *in* France at
this moment, and so will presumably at some point come out Whether this
constitutes a good thing is left as an exercise for the reader.

Regards, Ian

 

Point taken, my apologies then.

Oily

 

An interesting site.

However, under 'Velocette' it says "The first bike to bear the name
Velocette was the 1939 GTP, a 250cc two-stroke", which is patently
incorrect. The oldest Velocette photograph I can easily lay my hand on
is from 1928, showing Harold Willis in the Junior TT, on a machine
clearly displaying the familiar name on the petrol tank. And the GTP
went over to separate throttle-linked lubrication in 1932.....