The bicycle was a popularformof
transport at the endofthe19thcentury
and naturally riders were interested in
a bit of extra propulsion. The Dufaux
brothers, Henri and Armand, were
teenagers when they designed a power
unit that would fit any standard bicycle.
Their patented invention was a small
engine, fuel and oil containers and a
battery encased in a narrow triangular
box that bolted into a bicycle’s diamond
frame. It was held in place with seven
wingnuts and was quick and easy to fit.
In 1899 the brothers set up a factory
in Carouge Switzerland to manufacture
their Motosacoche (engine in a satchel).
The Dufaux demonstrated the
reliability of their invention by entering
their bikes in competitions. In 1901 they
won a Swiss hillclimb covering 10.65km,
rising 678 metres, in just over 21
minutes.AfewyearslaterJ.S.Holroyd
gainedagoldmedalattheScottishSix-
Days Reliability Trial. Sales increased
and the company built other factories
to keep up with demand.
After the success of their bicycle
engine, the brothers set up MAG
(Motorcycles Acecas Geneve) tomanufacturelargerengines of their
designandsuppliedthese to many
British and Continental motorcycle
makers. Motosacoche had by then
graduated to producing complete
motorcycles, mostly with inlet-over-
exhaust engines.
However, the Dufaux brothers were
busy with inventions in the emerging
aircraft industry and in 1909 sold their
Motosacoche business. The company
survived and in the 1920s Dougal
Marchant and Bert Le Vack designed a
fast OHC single-cylinder for the works
racing team.
This lot had the inlet-over-exhaust
engine configuration and had recently
been restored. The vendor reported it
was in excellent condition.
Sold at the Bonmont Sale in
Cheserex, Switzerland.114 MOTORCYCLETRADER
1930 MOTOSACOCHE 496CC
Under the
hammer1989 BIMOTA
YB6 EXUP
In the early 1970s the frames on
Japanese motorcycles attracted
much criticism – bendy, wobbly and
frightening were some of the terms
used to describe their handling.
In Italy Valerio Bianchi, Giuseppe
Morri and Massimo Tamburini
decided to make frames worthy
of the engines the Japanese
manufacturers were producing.
They set up Bimota to design light
frames that eliminated the flex and
handling problems. The company
firstly supplied these in kit form
with a box-section swingarm,
Marzocchi rear suspension, Ceriani
forks, aluminium wheels, triple disc
brakes and an oil cooler.
In 1977 Bimota released its first
complete model, the SB2 with a
Suzuki engine, and followed a year
later with the KB1 built around a
Kawasaki engine.
Bimota manufacturing was labour-
intensive and the production run was
typically a few hundred. The SB2’s
frame was hand-built from chrome-
molybdenum tube with a heavily
braced steering head and the engine
as a stressed member. The bike’s
price tag when new was almost three
times the cost of the standard GS750
on which it was based.
Tamburini left Bimota in 1983
for Cagiva and Federico Martini, a
young engineer who had worked
at Ducati, took his place. Under
Martini’s direction, new models
were developed including the YB6
Exup, which was based on Yamaha’s
FZR1000. A clearly impressed
road tester wrote of this model:“Eyeball-popping braking from its
huge Brembos had hauled its speed
down yet again, and its handling
and the grip of its massive Michelins
had taken me round the tight, often
badly surfaced bends with an easy
speed that had amazed me time
after time.”
This lot had been purchased new
from a Yamaha dealer in 1989 and
had covered only 1800km.
Sold at the Bonmont Sale in
Cheserex, Switzerland.Sold
$A23,885
BONHAMS