Suspension velocipéde Morére of Pamiers, Pyrenees, France – 1869

This velocipede was constructed by Morére of Pamiers , Pyrenees. “Keizo Kobaiashi has discovered from the journal Le Courierde l´ Aude of 22 July 1869 that Léotard had participated with a machine of this type in the Exposition Génerale de Velocipédes at Carcassone on 18-19 July 1869, where he won a bronze medal for the Morére of Pamiers bicycle exhibited by M. Léotard of Toulouse for its spring fork system to the front wheel”. There are only two known examples of this type of velocipede, where the spring mounting is provided by two steel springs. One of them is in the museum in Domazan in the collection of Claude Reynaud and, in contrast to this velocipede, has normal front and back wheels, as we know them on a great many other machines. This model has different wheels. The rims of the wheels are made of special hickory wood. The wheel rim is formed from a single piece of wood, bent to form a circle. The wheels also have the original tyres. As the factory of Mr. Morére was not far from the factory of Clémet Ader, who experimented with the first full rubber tyres around 1870, we think it likely that the rubber was obtained from the factory of Clément Ader and that this is the very first rubber mixture used for velocipedes. You might be acquainted with this velocipede from the book of Claud Reynaud, where it is depicted with silver paint. This silver paint covered the original dark red paint. These are the first photographs taken following renovation.