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Clément Cycles, La Société des Vélocipédes Clément, Clément & Cie was a French bicycle manufacturer that was founded by the industrial entrepreneur Adolphe Clément (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, 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 prefecture ...
, 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 Fran ...
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 ...
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 Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Oft ...
. 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 at the 'Six-Days' cycling event at the Agricultural Hall 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, in the Limousin 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 and they merged it into a major bicycle manufacturing conglomerate of Clement, Gladiator & Humber & Co Limited. The range of cycles was expanded with tricycles, quadricycles, 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, Joseph Jiel-Laval 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 In ...
using Dunlop tyres. 1894. (By Jean de Paleologu) 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