Photo: Bring a Trailer
The over a century-long history of the motorized vehicle left ample room for strange contraptions to be born, and die quickly. And at the top of the strangeness list must be something called a tandem motorized bicycle.
What’s that, you ask? Well, you all know what a tandem bicycle is, right? That would be a bicycle designed to actively be ridden by two people, each working a set of pedals. A tandem motorized bicycle is just like that, only with an engine.
Because the entire concept of two people being in control of the same machine at the same time is not exactly brilliant, tandem bicycles, invented sometime in the late 1800s, have limited use, while tandem motorcycles, well, to be honest, one doesn’t get to hear all that much about them.
As it happens, one of these strange contraptions surfaced this month on Bring a Trailer. It’s called Moto Narcisse Tandem and was listed as a project on said auction site (read in terrible condition).
Moto Narcisse is supposedly a French manufacturer of such things, on the market in the 1950s, and quickly forgotten by everyone. It made things such as the one seen here, which comes as the perfect distraction from the everyday problems.
The tandem is not in running order, despite the Aubier & Dunne 125cc two-stroke engine and the three-speed gearbox still being present inside the frame. The engine is not running, and even if it did, it wouldn’t be any good, given the condition of the wire wheels and period tires.
The bike, although missing some important bits, is mostly still there. We get separate saddles and handlebars for the front and rear rider, front and rear lights, and drum brakes for stopping power.
The Narcisse was sold last week for $3,800, which means someone must have wanted it really bad. We only hope to see it again soon, in restored form, as we never get tired of strange contraptions.
Because the entire concept of two people being in control of the same machine at the same time is not exactly brilliant, tandem bicycles, invented sometime in the late 1800s, have limited use, while tandem motorcycles, well, to be honest, one doesn’t get to hear all that much about them.
As it happens, one of these strange contraptions surfaced this month on Bring a Trailer. It’s called Moto Narcisse Tandem and was listed as a project on said auction site (read in terrible condition).
Moto Narcisse is supposedly a French manufacturer of such things, on the market in the 1950s, and quickly forgotten by everyone. It made things such as the one seen here, which comes as the perfect distraction from the everyday problems.
The tandem is not in running order, despite the Aubier & Dunne 125cc two-stroke engine and the three-speed gearbox still being present inside the frame. The engine is not running, and even if it did, it wouldn’t be any good, given the condition of the wire wheels and period tires.
The bike, although missing some important bits, is mostly still there. We get separate saddles and handlebars for the front and rear rider, front and rear lights, and drum brakes for stopping power.
The Narcisse was sold last week for $3,800, which means someone must have wanted it really bad. We only hope to see it again soon, in restored form, as we never get tired of strange contraptions.
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