Nos Échos — L’Officiel du cycle, 30 June 1951, Bicycle Exports, an Indonesian Order for Parts and the End of the Boule de Neige Article

From L’Officiel du cycle, 30 June 1951, page 4: the end of the boule de neige article, the column Nos Échos (French bicycle exports, an Indonesian order for parts and the Touring-Club spring festival), the Carnet de L’Officiel, the calendar of closures and a Bibliographie notice. The title, headings, captions and lists are transcribed as printed; the text is summarized in Ebykr’s words, and the page images carry it in full. It belongs to the trade columns that the weekly addressed to the French cycle dealers, the vélocistes.

— Page 1 —
[Ebykr summary, continuing the article of page 3 “La “Boule de Neige” condamnée sans appel”. The sentence from the foot of page 3 closes: the judges refused to find in the scheme the constituent elements of swindle as set out in article 405 of the Penal Code. Only a law could therefore change the situation, and the paper says it gave unreserved support to the bills tabled in the Chamber from 1920 until this year by MM. Lebouc and Biondi (both now dead) and by MM. Charlot, David, Guesdon and Marcellin. Marcellin’s bill was well advanced at the end of the legislature, and its passage by the new Assembly seemed likely when the Cour de Cassation ruling became public. The paper asks whether the ruling makes the law unnecessary and answers that the law remains more necessary than ever, for reasons given in a detailed study under the heading “Vie Commerciale” in the same issue. It ends by congratulating itself and all friends of honest trade that the Cour de Cassation has given its sovereign approval to the paper’s thesis by irrevocably condemning the principle of the “boule de neige”.]

Nos Echos

Problème pour les amateurs

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. Two correspondents have recently asked “Combien y a-t-il de pièces dans une bicyclette ?”. The paper replied that the answer depends on the type of machine and on what is meant by a “piece” (whether a ball or a nut counts). At the request of those concerned it puts the problem to its readers, taking as the type an “ordinary working bicycle”, and promises to publish the answers.]

Tandem à 10 places

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. Students of the Edison Institute at Dearborn, Michigan, took a ten-seat tandem out of the Institute’s museum to put it in working order for the 250th anniversary of Detroit that summer. The tandem, built in 1896, weighs nearly 150 kilograms, measures 8 meters in length and can carry a load of 1,200 kilograms. The paper adds that old hands of cycling knew “décuplettes” in France.]

Un Salon à Casablanca

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. After many efforts the former French sprint champion Henri Bellivier obtained authorization to organize an automobile, motorcycle and cycle show at Casablanca. More than 80 stands were planned for motorcycles and cycles. The event, the first of its size in Morocco, was held from 14 to 24 June.]

Carnet de “ L’Officiel ”

A TOUS NOS AMIS

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The paper invites all readers and advertisers to send word of their happy or sad family events and, following a custom of sixty years, undertakes to report the news in this column.]

DÉCÈS

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The death of M. Frotey is reported, a prominent figure of prewar motorcycling in Paris who was the main distributor in the Paris region of the Lyon marque New-Map and also directed the piston firm Renovita. The paper offers its condolences to his family.]

CALENDRIER DES FERMETURES

Appel à toutes les Firmes du Cycle et du Motocycle

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. As every year the paper urgently asks all suppliers, wholesalers, makers and constructors to send their closing dates for paid holidays, which it will print. It congratulates Cycles Ch. Garin of Boligny (S.), the first to register, closed from 4 August to 20 August inclusive.]

Bibliographie

UN NOUVEAU GUIDE MICHELIN : « FONTAINEBLEAU »

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. Michelin’s Tourist Services have published a small guide to Fontainebleau in French and English, expected to match the success of the “Chartres” and “Versailles” volumes of the same series. A history of the palace precedes a detailed description of the palace and gardens, illustrated with plans. The second part covers the forest, recalling its history and proposing five drives for motorists through the finest high timber and to picturesque sites, with notes on lesser-known spots, nearby towns and curiosities, and a list of hotels and restaurants. The paper calls it one of the most successful guides Bibendum has offered the public.]

La Fête de Printemps du Touring-Club

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. As part of the Paris Bimillenary festivities the Touring-Club de France organized, on 2 and 3 June at Dammarie-les-Lys, the largest tourist gathering held since the war. The ruins of the Abbaye des Lys, built by Blanche of Castile, served as the setting for a reconstructed thirteenth-century country festival with a historical procession of horsemen and extras, entertainments and a knights’ tournament.]

Diplôme B.S.A.

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The paper had reported on the courses taken in England by the French agents of the British marque B.S.A.-Sunbeam. It has now been sent the diploma awarded at the end of the courses, after tests, certifying in a few words attendance and success in the examinations.]

Une belle affiche

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. For the first Grand-Prix Noveltex, a professional road race qualifying for the French championship, run on Paris-Saint-Amand-Montrond (260 kilometers) on 29 April, a poster of the highest class was designed by M. Jacques Bouvet. It showed a photograph of a rider at full effort.]

Débouchés en Indonésie

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. A Franco-Indonesian agreement signed on 31 January 1951 provides for the export of 50 million spare parts for French bicycles.]

Exportations cycles 1950

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. France exported 152,892 bicycles in 1950, of which 125,137 went to countries of the French Union and 27,755 abroad. The paper remarks that this is very little for foreign countries.]

Le cycle et les manifestations

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. A recent decision of the Chambre Syndicale Nationale du Cycle, meant to protect the Salon du Cycle, forbids its members to take part in the many fairs and exhibitions planned in the meantime. As a result the cycle industry took a very reduced part in the Salon des Sports and the Foire de Paris. The Salon du Cycle is reminded to be held from 4 to 14 October.]

— 4 —

[A full text page printed in black on a buff stock, with no illustration other than a small decorative title. The page is set in two columns. At the head of the left column the end of the previous article runs in roman text, followed by a short centered rule and the title “Nos Echos” in a large decorative script lettering, with a radio mast standing in the middle of the capital letter and curved lines of broadcast waves spreading above it over three ruled lines. Below it the left column holds seven short notes, each under a centered bold sans-serif subheading and separated by a three-star ornament, all in italic. The right column opens with three similar notes, then a rule, then the title “Carnet de “ L’Officiel ”” in heavy roman letters over triple rules, a notice headed “A TOUS NOS AMIS” and a death notice under “DÉCÈS” set right, a second rule, “CALENDRIER DES FERMETURES” in heavy capitals with a bold subheading, a rule, and “Bibliographie” in heavy letters over triple rules followed by a capitals subheading and a block of roman text. The page number stands at the foot between dashes. Faint ghosts of the reverse page show through in the left column, and the edge of the neighboring leaf shows as a strip at the right edge. No signature or monogram is present.]