French Motorcycles

Today in Motorcycle History

Macquet Motorcycles and Triporteurs

A Brief History of the Marque

Manufactured: 1951-1954
Louis Macquet,
58-64 rue de Dunkerque à Armentières (Nord)
France

Louis was a mechanical engineer who built industrial trolleys and specialised in tyre retreading, while his wife ran a motorcycle shop selling a number of different marques including AGF and Motobecane, as well as sidecars.

In 1949 they began building scooters, three-wheelers and mopeds powered exclusively by Ydral engines of 123 and 174cc, with many other components being constructed in-house. The carrier boxes for the triporteurs were built by a local carpenter. The 175 motorcycles did quite well in local competition.

By 1950 sales were going well, with engines being ordered in batches of 5 and 10 at a time.

1953 saw the presentation of a new type of three wheeler which owed some of its concepts to Motobecane and Lambretta. It appears that there was a marriage breakup in 1954 which resulted in a halt to production, and the same year the motorcycle store closed.

Sources: Club Ydral, Tragatsch, moto-scooter-annee50-60.over-blog

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