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| M. Barthelemy and his Model 9 Norton |
-SG- Here in the UK there have recently been a few articles about Despatch Riders in WW1 in various motor cycling publications and we tend to overlook that the French army also had DRs. The first of the photos attached from the Bibliothèque nationale de France shows M. Barthelemy aboard his single gear Norton (is that a Philipson pulley on the mainshaft?) at Auxerre in May 1920, at a meeting of the Association des Anciens Motocyclistes Militaires (former military motorcyclists' association).
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| 1921 Model 16H and Big Four Norton motorcycles |
And the second one shows the French Norton team for the Paris - Nice event in February 1921 at the 'weigh-in' at Neuillly-sur-Seine. M. Barthelemy is in this photo too, although by now, he has a smart new 16H! To his right, on another 16H, is M. Bastide, who features in the third and final photo in his riding gear - probably at the same event.
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| M. Bastide and his 1921 Model 16H Norton |