history
Motobecane, a company based in France stepped into the motorcycle world in 1923, when Charles Benoit and Abel Bardin designed the first motorcycle with a single cylinder, two stroke, 175cc engine.
The two partners continued the research and development so the second bike was launched ten years later, being equipped with an engine of 250cc. During the same period, the company made its debut in racing competitions, participating into the Bol D'or endurance race.
The company's history continued after World War II, when Motobecane launched the D45, shortly followed by the Z46 and the well known Mobylette, a moped manufactured in more than 14 million units during 48 years of production. Because the '60s was actually a tough period for many manufacturers, Motobecane's sales slowly decreased.
Just like in many other cases, the cheap Japanese motorcycles which could provide high performance at low prices represented one of the main reasons for the problems encountered by the motorcycle manufacturing company.
In 1970, Motobecane continued producing two cylinder 125cc motorcycles, which recorded an impressive success on the local market. Moreover, the company wanted to expand its motorcycle series and introduced some two-stroke, three-cylinder 350cc and 500cc bikes which could represent a more powerful alternative to the bikes the company produced before.
Unfortunately, Motobecane's financial problems continued in 1981 so the company was purchased by Yamaha and revamped in 1984 under a new name, namely MBK. At this time, MBK is the manufacturer of numerous scooters sold in Europe.
Besides manufacturing series motorcycles, the company was also involved in racing competitions such as the Grand Prix tournament. Motobecane recorded multiple victories in the 125cc class during the late 1970s but in also participated in the 125cc competitions in which it only managed to finished the second in the 1980 season.
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