Clément Cycles, La Société des Vélocipédes Clément, Clément & Cie was a French bicycle manufacturer that was founded by the industrial entrepreneur

Adolphe Clément ''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated young man, Adolphe, who falls in love with an older woman, Ellénore, the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***. Their illicit ...

(known from 1909 as Clément-Bayard). From its beginnings as a bicycle repair shop in Bordeaux, through its establishment as a bicycle shop and workshop in Paris to its mass manufacture of a wide range of bicycles from the purpose built, state of the art factory at

Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies some from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital. It is the most densely populated ...

, Paris, the brand always combined advertising and marketing flair with quality products.

History

In 1876, after 2 years of cycle racing, working and saving, Clément-Bayard had enough money to start in business, so he opened a bicycle repair works in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, aged 21. The next stage of his business plan was to move to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

where he learned how to manufacture steel tubes for bicycles. The following year he moved to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

and began manufacturing whole bicycles under the name 'Clément SA cycles'.

Clément cycles

The following year, circa 1878, he moved to Paris and opened a cycle business, ''A. Clément & Cie'', at 20 Rue Brunel near the Place de l'Etoile. Here he also ran a cycling school and was competing in cycle races. In Paris his business backers were monsieur de Graffenried and monsieur de Montgeron. At the end of 1878 Adolphe partnered the cycling champion

Charles Terront Charles Terront (9 April 1857 – 31 October 1932) was the first major French cycling star. He won sprint, middle distance and endurance events in Europe and the United States. In September 1891 he won the first Paris–Brest–Paris cycle ra ...

at the 'Six-Days' cycling event at the

Agricultural Hall The Business Design Centre is a Grade II listed building located between Upper Street and Liverpool Road in the district of Islington in London, England. It was opened in 1862, originally named the Agricultural Hall and from 1884 the Royal Agri ...

in London. He also opened a sales showroom at 31 rue 'du 4-September', in Paris and started a poster advertising campaign, a new concept. In September 1879, Clément built an iron smelter in

Tulle Tulle (; ) is a commune in central France. It is the third-largest town in the former region of Limousin and is the capital of the department of Corrèze, in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Tulle is also the episcopal see of the Roman Cat ...

, in the

Limousin Limousin (; oc, Lemosin ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. On 1 January 2016, it became part of the new administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienn ...

where there was a good supply of water power, but he did not have sufficient finance to make it viable and Tulle was too remote from Paris, so he had to sell the plant. By 1880 the "Clément" cycle manufacturing business at Rue Brunel, had circa 150 employees building bicycles. The machines were regarded as high quality and by 1890 ''Clément'' was the leading cycle brand in France.

Clément-Gladiator cycles

In 1896 Adolphe Clément who held the extremely profitable manufacturing rights for Dunlop tyres in France joined with a syndicate led by Dunlop's founder Harvey Du Cros to buy out the

Gladiator Cycle Company The Gladiator Cycle Company, Clément-Gladiator (from 1896), was a French manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles and cars based in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, Seine. Throughout its productive life from 1891 until its demise in 1920 the company was v ...

and they merged it into a major bicycle manufacturing conglomerate of Clement, Gladiator & Humber & Co Limited. The range of cycles was expanded with

tricycles A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for passenger transport) and freight trikes ...

quadricycles A quadracycle is a four-wheeled human-powered land vehicle. It is also referred to as a quadricycle, quadcycle, pedal car or four-wheeled bicycle amongst other terms. Quadracycles have been in use since 1853 and have grown into several fami ...

, and in 1902 a motorised bicycle, then cars and motorcycles.

Publicity posters

File:Affiche brunel.jpg, Clément & Cie tricycles & bicycles 1890. File:Joseph Jiel-Laval en 1891, publicité Cycles Clément de décembre 1892.jpg,

Paris–Brest–Paris Paris–Brest–Paris (PBP) is a long-distance cycling event. It was originally a 1,200 km () bicycle race from Paris to Brest and back to Paris in 1891. The last time it was run as a race was 1951. The most recent edition of PBP was held on 18� ...

Joseph Jiel-Laval Joseph Jiel-Laval, real name: ''Joseph Marie François Laval'' or ''Pierre-Joseph Laval'', (26 November 1855 – 26 February 1917) was a French cyclist. Life Jiel-Laval grew up in Angers. His rode his first race in 1876 on a Penny-farthing fo ...

1891 File:Affiche Cycles Clément Zimmerman.jpg,

Arthur Augustus Zimmerman Arthur Augustus Zimmerman (June 11, 1869 – October 22, 1936) was one of the world's greatest cycling sprint riders and winner of the first world championship in 1893. His prizes as an amateur were a consideration in the establishment of the Int ...

using Dunlop tyres. 1894. (By

Jean de Paleologu Jean de Paleologu (or Paleologue) (1855 – 24 November 1942) was a Romanian poster artist, painter, and illustrator, who often used Pal or PAL as his signature or logo and was active in France and the United States. Born in Bucharest, he trained ...

) File:Affiche Cycles & Automobiles Clément.JPG, Clément Cycles & Automobiles poster, 1902 File:1903 poster Advertising Clement Cycles and Automobiles. (Musee Automobile de Reims).jpg, Clément poster, ca. 1903

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement Cycles Defunct manufacturing companies of France Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1878 Cycle manufacturers of France Brass Era vehicles Companies based in Île-de-France