Gaston Rivierre and the Contal (upd. distinction between a 'tandem d'entrainement' and Derny)

• 
• 
• 

By Fons Alkemade: This year the world can commemorate the birth in 1862 of Gaston Rivierre. I don't think this 150th anniversary will actually be given any notice in automotive circles. Perhaps there will be some attention given to M. Rivierre in circles of those interested in the history of cycling, as he once was a famous coureur who won several classic cycle courses in the 1890s. He also built the first tandem d'entraînement (derny) and invented a hub which he sold under his own name in Paris around 1904. In the same period he must have become involved with the company founded by Camille Contal. Contal had been working in the battery and the electric vehicle industry but turned to so-called tricars with combustion engines in 1905.
Tricars became quite popular in the 1900s. Like the tricycles they were derived from motorcycles but had their own characteristics: two front wheels, one rear wheel, the passenger in front of the driver, a rather powerful engine and a maximum weight of 200 kilograms. Among the other French tricar builders of the period were Austral, Bruneau and Griffon (Continue at 'Read More')

Plaats een reactie, stel een vraag, geef uw mening, deel aanvullende informatie of start een discussie door de onderstaande velden in te vullen