Manufrance 
was the trademark of 
	Manufacture Française d‘Armes et Cycles de Saint Etienne
 St. Etienne France

    "Manufrance was a very large distributor of cycles, rifles and hunting 
goods, sewing machines and a whole range of household and sporting 
goods, based in St Etienne, the city known as the cycle manufacturing 
centre of France and home also for the other monster company, Automoto.

Manufrance was one of the first companies to enter the mail-order trade and
to this end published huge and very comprehensive catalogues - large tomes
- each year. They are becoming very collectable in their own right..

However Manufrance was not just a distributor or retailer it was also a manu-
facturer on a very large scale and made its own cycles, rifles and sewing 
machines along with other mechanical goods.

Many Manufrance bikes were equipped with own-brand parts such as brakes, de
railleur gears, hubs etc made on the premises, the company being very innov
ative. One such innovation was the Retro-Direct derailleur gear whereby the
pedals were pedalled backwards. I believe this was introduced in the 1920s

Another innovation that became quite standard on the company's bikes was 
the practice of mounting the front brake at the back of the fork crown, clearly
 in an attempt to reduce play and chattering and to avoid breakages of the
 brake spindle. Additionally, although not the pioneers of the lugless frame,
 the company used this form of construction for a very wide range of bicycles,
 including some elegant racing frames

The catalogues for the 50s and 60s displayed a wide range of bikes comparab
le with that of any other manufacturer, and included top-of-the-range road 
racing and touring machines with Reynolds 531DB frames and equipped with 
full French specifications.

The company fell on harder times in the 70s and cut back on its manufacturing
 base. I think that it was around this time that the "HIRONDELLE" name
 - a wholly-owned marque was introduced. The frames were made elsewhere 
but the bikes were assembled in-house. One of the delights of Paris right 
through to the 70s was the immense triangular Manufrance retail shop, 
situated just adjacent to Les Halles, the huge wholesale fresh food market that 
served Paris. This imposing and elegant structure was later destroyed 
along with many fine old buildings in order to redevelop the area. The result
 is the Beaubourg centre in which the ultra-modern Georges Pompidou Centr
e is situated. I think that the Manufrance shop was demolished at the same 
time.

The company's problems continued right into and through the 80s until a 
young French entrepreneur and aspiring politician set his sights on the 
company. This unprincipled fellow, by the name of Bernard Tapie...yes THE 
BERNARD TAPIE owner of the LOOK-La Vie Claire team that sponsored Greg 
Lemond and HInault in the 80s, was seen as a "turn-around expert" by the 
French government who enabled him, with grants in exchange for promises, 
to revive the fortunes of flagging and dying companies, thereby saving 
workers from the dole queue. Unfortunately Tapie was very selective in 
what he saved...and kept for himself; the remaining companies having their 
assets stripped out and sold off.

Such was the fate of Manufrance. Tapie bought out the failing company for 
very little money and is famous for addressing the assembled workforce and 
promising them and the company a bright new future under his stewardship. 
The promises and the hopes were short-lived as Tapie stripped the company 
bare and sold off its assets in very quick time. Tapie went on to honours as
a Minister in the French government under Francois Mitterand..and also
a Minister for Europe, until his corrupt practices with his Olympique Marselle 
football club led him into both bankruptcy and a spell in jail. On coming
 out he has refashioned himself as a poet, a singer, a film actor - not 
unsurprisingly  quite a good one - and now in his late 50s, as a media
 celebrity, because everyone still loves a scoundrel. There is even a court
 case running whereby he may not only be freed of repaying his creditors, 
but may even receiving some recompense from the State.

As for Manufrance, there is still a shop in the centre of St. Etienne, that 
I visited in 2002. It had on display a range of bikes, quite good ones, but
their Columbus and Vitus tubed steel frames, equipped with long out-of-dat
e Suntour and Shimano groupsets and Mafac brakes too readily betrayed their
age - relics of the last clearance sale of the defunct factory. In the glass show 
cases were a lonely handful of the last of the Simplex gears.. the 
ones produced just before Simplex merged to become Stratec... and then 
went into bankruptcy, and disappeared forever.

 Jan 2009 Norris Lockley on the Classic rendezvous e-mail list