Perspectives 56 du Cycle français, by Philippe Girardet — L’Officiel du cycle, 29 October 1955

From L’Officiel du cycle, du motocycle et du camping, 29 October 1955, the paper’s first number reporting the 1955 Paris Salon du Cycle et du Motocycle, page 7: Philippe Girardet, president of the Chambre Syndicale Nationale du Cycle, on the state and prospects of the French cycle industry for 1956, with its production and export figures. 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.

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PERSPECTIVES 56
DU
CYCLE FRANÇAIS

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The French cycle industry continues to hold its activity, despite the growth of motorized transport, at the production figures recorded last year, namely 750.000. The bicycle keeps, and will always keep, its own virtues: the author recalls that it is the only means of transport that consumes nothing and whose upkeep is insignificant, that it is an excellent way to take exercise, and that it holds an irresistible attraction for children and the young, so that a clientele larger every year comes to it. The French Constructeurs de cycles have also developed their export efforts. Exports in the 1er semestre 1955 were 135.578 machines, of which 62.721 went to foreign markets and 72.857 to the territoires d’outre-mer. In the 1er semestre 1954 the number of bicycles exported had been 102.900, of which 36.438 to foreign markets and 66.462 to the colonies, so that cycle exports show an increase of about 30 % this year. Exports of parts and accessories grew likewise, from 2.007 millions in the 1er semestre 1954 to 2.147 millions in the 1er semestre 1955. The industry is now fully able to meet the varied needs of foreign and colonial buyers. In the U.S.A. and Canada the export of French bicycles has grown very considerably, and more than 200.000 bicycles of French origin are now running in the U.S.A.; in the T.O.M., despite the absence of aid and even of a preferential customs regime at the entry of several African territories, sales are rising steadily. The author regrets that the industry does not find with the pouvoirs publics a support that would allow a considerable development of its exports. A question that remains extremely important is the creation of a network of pistes cyclables answering the growing needs of traffic. The latest count by the Contributions indirectes gave a figure of nearly 11.000.000 bicycles, certainly lower than the real number of cycles in circulation. The great mass of cyclists must have a lane of its own, at least three meters wide and one-way, so that cycles and cyclomoteurs can ride side by side without danger; the lanes must also be kept in good condition and nothing must hinder their use. Building pistes cyclables is, in the general interest of traffic, a problem of first urgency. The Salon du Cycle et du Motocycle, held from 6 to 16 October at the Parc des Expositions de la Porte de Versailles as usual, brought together 119 Constructeurs, 77 of them French, among whom some fifty showed the point of technical perfection reached by the French cycle industry.]

Philippe GIRARDET
Président de la Chambre Syndicale Nationale du Cycle

[A full page. The title stands at the upper left in three lines of very heavy slab-serif capitals, “PERSPECTIVES 56” across the top, “DU” centered below and “CYCLE FRANÇAIS” beneath. At the upper right a rectangular halftone photograph shows the head and shoulders of a balding man in heavy dark-rimmed spectacles, a dark jacket, a white shirt and a dotted tie, turned three-quarters to the right against a plain light ground; at its lower right corner a white mark like a scratched capital H with a long horizontal stroke trailing to the right shows faintly in the halftone, too worn to read. The article follows in a single wide justified column of light sans-serif roman set in the right two-thirds of the page, opening with a large sans-serif initial L; the signature closes the page in bold sans-serif, the name larger and the title below it. Large letters from the reverse of the leaf show faintly through the blank areas around the title.]