The Classic MotorCycle – September 2019

1:Jean Louis

Naveau’s 1905

FN with, in the

background, a

six-cy linderHonda.

2:Ronald Moore’s

1961NortonES2

café racer isflanked,

on th epre-grid, by

his1955Tritonand

a1973Triumph

T100R Daytona.

3:Aclose -upoft he

FN’s four-cylinder

inlineengine.

4:Jean Michel

Cohi dontakingit

easy on his1929

BSASloper.

5:Not ZZ Top, but

Karl Vandenbussche,

awaitingthe

startonhis 1938

Triumph3HW.

howpassionateits previousowner wasabout FNs, its
conditioncame as nosurpris e. Butits restoration would
have presentednogreat challenge to me,I’m amechanic
by trade andoperate amotorcycledealership.I’ve
undertakenmuch restoration work on my other early FNs.
Theseare a1912 four-cylinder,a750cc modelT700 dating
from 1914and,both poweredbysemi- pushrod engines,
a1920model AT 750and 1923 model M50750.For those,
many of the partsrequired Ihad tofabric atemyself .You
don’tbuythoseofftheshelffor machines over acentury
oldmade by acompanythat ceased trad ing over half a
century ago.”
Jean Louis took affront to th esuggestion that theFN
mightbeamuseum piece.“Absolutely not”was his
affirmativereply.“I have ever yintention of undertaking
the PioneerRunonitinthe near future. Butit’snot
an easy machine toride.Startingrequirespedalling
hard and,at the sametime,adjusting up t ofourvalves,
includingthe oil pump.Then it isasingle speed,direct
shaft drive, withoutaclutch.Thus everytimeIstop ,so
does the engine. It ’s complicated to accelerate and,
whenrunning,itr equires constantattention toensure
optimum engineperformance.Each manoeuvreinvolves
idiosyncratic complexity.But Iwouldn’thave it otherwise.”
If Jean Louis Naveau’sFNisone endofthe spectrum
then, arguably, thosecampaigned by Philipp eMoison
and Pierre Boissonare the other.Philippe’sMinarelli is
acompetitionreplica, theworkofAtelier PMC,whose
frame is constructedentirely from steeltubing with
cantileversuspension,80ccAM6 motor and six-speed
gearbox. Smallerstill arePierreBoisson’sKreidle rs.
Thefirstrepresents theworks ’machineJandeVrie

campaigned between1971 and 1973.With achrome-

molybdenum tubular steel chassis andaliquid-cooled

VanVeenKreidle rmotor,prepared by Aalt Toersen, it

develops21.3bhpat16,000r pm from just 50cc anditheld

its ownonthe ci rcuit with manylarger, more powerful

machin es.Alongside itwasthe unique 1973 Kreidler

DRMbuilt by DominiqueVerdun,powered by an Atelier

PMCrace-prepared Kreidlermotor.And aKreidler

Hummelreplica, with itsVanVeenKreidlerengine,

representingthe machin eriddenbythe Austria n50cc GP

rider,HansHummel,between 1979 and 1983 completed

the quartet.

Philippe and Pierre, who arepassionateabout these

smallmachin es,bemoanedthe factthat there’sso

littl eclassic 50ccracing in Franceand welcomedthe

opportunitythat Chinongaveto demonstratethese

fascinatingmachinesso badly knowntomost except the

motorcycleracingcognoscenti.

Britishmarques arealwayswell representedatChino n.

French motardshave long hadanaffection formachines

from the other side of laManche and theyare avidly

collected. Agood examplewasClaud eMertens’ concours

condition1936 Norton 16H,just one ofnineNortons

competing. Another of thesewas Ronald Moore’s1961

ES2café racerwith a600ccmotor,whichkept constant

companywith his 1955750cc Triton.

TurningtopureTriumphs,there were fewer,but

of theseKarl Vandenbussche’s 19383HW350cc was

surprisingly fast for itsage. Equally impressivewas the

immaculatelyturnedout 1929BSA Sloper ofJean Michel

Cohidon, whichwasmuch admiredinthe paddock and

on thetrack.BSAswerenumerousatChinon. Other

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