>Narcisse tandems won several pre-war Grand Prix Duralumin trials.
>
>Does anybody know anything about the maker or his history?
>
>Amir Avitzur
>R"G, Israel
There was a bit about him in Vintage Bicycle Quarterly Vol. 2, No. 3, in the article on the Narcisse tandem.
The owner was named Manevitch. He started some time in the mid- to late-1930s. During the war, he had to flee to the "free zone" of France (Vichy government), because he was Jewish. He put his most important belongings in the handlebar bag of his tandem, his little child on the rear rack, and with his wife, left Paris. (See Mme. Porthault's recollections in VBQ Vol. 3, No. 1.)
After the war, he returned, built some amazing machines before turning to series-production and specializing in motorized bikes and tandems. You see Rebour drawings of those until the mid-1950s. Then mass-produced mopeds took over, and it appears that he stopped making bikes.
Jan Heine
Editor
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