Le Poulain - Selection 'Select52'

New-old-Stock cyclemotor found in 2006 in a Paris warehouse…Only five of these Select 52′s exist. The model has a great story attached to it.

In 2006, a warehouse was discovered in Paris with 14 bicycles and 5 cyclemotors. They were all new-old-stock, still in their delivery wrappings, and all made by a bicycle manufacturer named ‘Selection.’ A cycle shop had closed down in Paris soon after taking delivery of them in 1952, and they had been put in storage, where they remained for all that time.

This Select 52 is a delightful little machine. The word ‘moped’ had not yet been coined when this was built, and it predates the design – as did quite a few different French cyclemotors – of what we now know as a moped. Selection Cycles of Paris was an upmarket bicycle manufacturer. Whereas we may now look down on mopeds as cheap vehicles for people who can’t afford a motorcycle, in France in the early fifties some were upmarket machines more expensive than motorcycles or scooters.

Select 52 has bicycle gears. The trigger is on the petrol tank ((above, to the right).

There is a strange damping mechanism set up on the handlebars so that when you press down on them it, the handlebars bounce a little; it provides some sort of suspension.

The saddle is still in excellent condition.

Colin's story

„A friend of mine in Paris bought one of the cyclemotors – this black one – and I subsequently purchased it from him. After I heard the story I did some research, and I eventually found the chap who’d bought the rest of them. He lived in Rouen, and I visited him and bought two more, which I subsequently sold. The paintwork is generally good and, despite most of the chrome being pitted, its overall appearance is very attractive. It runs well – the engine is still new. Patrick started it and rode it up and down his street when he unpacked it. I rode it too when I first bought it in 2006. We’ve started it three of four times over the past 5 years. My mechanic serviced it again two weeks ago. This engine is still new and will need to be run in. As there are only five Select 52′s still around (three black ones and two red), this machine is just about as rare as you can get. It belongs in a museum, but I feel they’re better being ridden. How often do you find a 59-year-old new-old-stock cyclemotor for sale?”

Above: new-old-stock ‘SELECT 52′ cyclemotor as found packed inside a Paris warehouse

Le Poulain

'Select 52' is powered by a le Poulain engine. The company was a well-respected upmarket manufacturer. They started producing their range of ‘moteurs auxiliaires’ in 1949. Le Poulain company supplied proprietary engines for many different cyclemotor companies, either front-mounted over the handlebars (their first models) or centrally mounted such as this one. These engines enjoy a good reputation and spares are not hard to find. The name is stylishly displayed on the crankcase.