VAP4 - Griffon

Griffon bicycle with VAP 4 engine . More information about the engine:: VAP 4-Manufrance Hirondelle. See also: Zedel-Griffon.

Griffon is one of eldest French bicycle and motorcycle makes. Griffon Bicycle Company, based at Courbevoie, Seine, built the first motorcycle around 1901.Their first design was really a Griffon bicycle with Clément engine added. Later they used Swiss engines made by Zedel, too. Griffon developed rapidly; by 1903 they had introduced 10 different models, presented at the Paris Show. In 1904 one of their machines reached an amazing speed in a motorcycle race: 65mph. Griffon remained a leader of European motorcycle racing, until the company was absorbed by Peugeot in the late 1920s. The last Griffon-badged motorcycles were made in 1955.