Ratier 600
French flat twin
Marcel worked as a delivery rider in Paris for the French sports daily L’Equipe, starting at 4.30am each morning as the first edition rolled off the presses in that pre-internet era. “It may resemble a BMW, but it was created with French style, and Gallic passion. Anyway, Monsieur le Président [de Gaulle, back then] personally chose the Ratier for his Garde Républicaine to escort him with. Vive la France!” It was an improbable legacy of WW2 that the rugged 746cc boxer-engined sidevalve BMW R12 introduced in 1935, of which 36,000 examples were built by 1942 to equip the Wehrmacht [German army], and its later R71 sidevalve and R75 ohv derivatives, should spawn such copious descendants around the globe – including the French Ratier. This evolved from the 1940-44 German occupation of Paris, when the Wehrmacht established a massive stock of spare parts there to keep its numerous BMW motorcycles and sidecars running. Known simply as HPK 503, this warehouse was located in an old bus garage on the Avenue Mozart near the Bois de Boulogne, the park in which they later staged road races postwar. After the city was retaken by the Allies in August 1944, a factory was established nearby at Neuilly-sur-Seine under the CMR/Centre de Montage et Réparation label. Operated by the former HPK 503 workers, this was tasked by General de Gaulle’s new government of liberation to assemble complete motorcycles from the huge BMW spares stock, with Jacques Dormoy appointed Directeur Technique on January 1st 1945, to oversee this. Under his aegis CMR built around 300 examples of the 18 bhp R12 with vertically-split crankcase and the later 22 bhp 746cc R71 with one-piece crankcase, each a sidevalve carrying a tricouleur BMW-CMR badge with a red quadrant in the trademark blueand-white BMW roundel to denote that these bikes were produced under new Free French management. A further 80 units then followed, obtained by fitting considerably more powerful 38 bhp ohv R75 motors in R71 frames, splitting the difference in terms of designation to call the result the R73! The Prefecture of Police was sufficiently impressed with its 150 km/h top speed to order 100 examples for the Gendarmerie, but only those 80 could be delivered before state-owned CMR ran short of components to build them and, having fulfilled the reason for its creation, shut down in 1947. However, the CMR managers had anticipated this, and in 1946 five of them including Dormoy had collectively founded a new private company called CEMEC/Centre d’Etude des Moteurs à Explosion et Combustion to continue the construction of cloned BMWs using what remained of the old German spares stock, mixed with new components commissioned from French suppliers as these became increasingly necessary. So BMW’s rigid pressed-steel frames and square-tube chassis were replaced with a round-tube frame produced by Ets. Michel in Paris, now with plunger rear suspension, and new crankcases were cast in a stronger monobloc format, to create the CEMEC L7 (L for Latérale, or sidevalve), since while this 78 x 78 mm 748cc design producing 22 bhp – now transmitted via a foot-change fourspeed gearbox rather than the R12’s hand-change item – was still closely based on the BMW R12/R71, it was increasingly made from French components. Thus a single Solex carb replaced the twin Graezins on the German-built bikes, and a French-made Wageor magneto with manual advance the CMR’s German-made auto-advance Noris mag. Production of the L7 began in 1948 at Bièvres, 20km south of Paris, and lasted until 1954, when CEMEC was wound up, having produced just 1,289 motorcycles in six years – insufficient to fund the development of a more modern engine to replace the ancient sidevalve design, which even the various branches of government which represented CEMEC’s main clientele, deemed inadequate for their needs. Many preferred to buy BSAs or BMWs instead – the latter including a certain number of brand-new Munich-built R51s compulsorily supplied free of charge by BMW under the guise of ‘war reparations’! Even so, the CEMEC L7 equipped the CRS/Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité acrobatic display team, while it was also successful in the annual Bol d’Or 24-Hour marathon. Moreover, 19 speciallydesigned CEMEC C8 machines were supplied to the Garde Républicaine to escort newly elected President René Coty on his inauguration in December 1953.
These were created by mounting copies of the ohv cylinders and heads of a Zündapp KS750 on the crankcase of a CEMEC L7, to produce an engine delivering 40 bhp at 5,000 rpm, and capable of a top speed of 160 km/h. Around 200 further such engines were delivered to the Panhard and Rosengart car companies to produce their respective answers to the all-conquering Citroën 2CV! But this was insufficient to ensure the commercial viability of CEMEC, which duly died a death in September 1954. However, soon after the ashes of CEMEC were taken over by Ratier, which had been founded in 1904 by wood-worker Paulin Ratier to fabricate wooden propellers for the pioneer French aircraft industry. To meet demand, Ratier opened a factory in a saw-mill at Figeac, 200km NE of Toulouse, chosen for its abundant supply of raw material in the heavily wooded region. But post-WW1, metal propellers came onto the scene and Ratier patented a variable pitch version, of which his company became the world's leading producer. By 1939 Ratier employed 500 people making propellers equipping 90% of French Air Force aircraft. However, with the occupation of France in 1940, demand plummeted and the company resorted to producing bicycles, with the workforce falling below 100 people. But after rejoining the aircraft industry postwar Ratier made a comeback, employing 1,000 workers by 1960 – the year in which it was purchased by booming French electronics giant CSF. Today it’s a key supplier to Toulouse-based Airbus, making the wing elevators for the A380. Back in 1954 Ratier had opened a subdivision named RAM/Ratier Aviation Marine in Montrouge, on the southern outskirts of Paris, where it manufactured a two-stroke tractor, while looking for work from the French government. Ratier was thus charged with assuming responsibility for maintaining the fleet of CEMEC/CMR flat-twin motorcycles run by various government departments, including manufacturing new parts to keep them going, and restarting production of the venerable sidevalve L7. The first Ratier L7 was produced on April 12, 1955, and was the first such motorcycle to be 100% French-built – this time around, no BMW-made parts were used in its construction. Eight different variations on the same basic model, each subtly different one than another (e.g. twin Gurtner carbs vs. a single Solex) were produced between 1955 and December 15, 1959, totalling 1,035 examples in all, marketed under the slogan “Aviation technology applied to the Motorcycle,” even if the somewhat venerable design dated back to 1938, and the BMW R71. But during this time Ratier management decided they needed to produce a motorcycle which would allow the Gendarmerie to keep up with increasingly speedy modern vehicles. The Ratier C6S employed an all-new 594cc ohv flat-twin engine measuring 72 x 73 mm and producing 32 bhp at 6,500 rpm, fitted as before with shaft final drive and a four-speed gearbox. This was housed in a double cradle tubular steel frame, but instead of the Earles fork by then ubiquitous on current BMWs, the Ratier C6S featured a very well-made telescopic front end, with twin Lelaurin rear shocks. The cast aluminium brakes were Ratier’s own, and very effective at that, with the 200mm 2LS/twin leading-shoe drum matched to a same-size SLS rear in stopping a bike weighing 195kg dry. Ratier management had based the business plan for this new model on the 1,200 bikes ordered by the Ministry of the Interior with which to equip the CRS police, envisaging another 7,000 bikes for the Gendarmerie who, they reasoned, would be so impressed by the performance of the C6S and its proven 160kmh top speed, that they’d cancel their orders with BMW and switch to the Ratier. Indeed, on re-assuming office in 1959, the newly re-elected President de Gaulle did indeed decree that his entire Garde Républicaine squad of motorcycle escorts should henceforth be mounted on Ratiers, with their cream side panels on the black fuel tank representing a successful attempt at some added chic. This larger 27-litre fuel tank permitted the 280km journey along the N19 between the presidential Elysée Palace in Paris and de Gaulle’s private home at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises to be accomplished without stopping to refuel! But the Gendarmerie remained unconvinced, and maintained its allegiance to the new-generation BMW R69S, which reduced Ratier’s annual production to just 500 bikes a year – insufficient to be profitable. Indeed, between the start of C6S production on July 13, 1960, when chassis no.40001 rolled out of the Montrouge factory, and the end of production in December 1962 with chassis no.41065, just 1,057 complete examples of the C6S were produced, plus some spare frames. 230 of these were indeed acquired by the Gendarmerie, with most of the other 800-odd bikes destined for the CRS and a handful of private owners. In 1964, the Presidential escort
squad abandoned its Ratiers in favour of a BMW R69S fleet. Game over. The obstinacy of the Gendarmerie had forced Ratier management to make a special effort to sell the bike to private customers, which neither CEMEC nor CMR had ever really done, given the appetite back then from government departments for every bike they could build. This retail push included an attempt to grab a slice of the flourishing American market. Ratier therefore developed the C6S America, three of which were built with a higher compression ratio and more sporting riding position, with two shipped to the USA for promotional purposes and unveiled at the Laconia Rally in New Hampshire in June 1961. But despite Ratier management’s best efforts nothing came of this.
Ratier also tried to imbue its products with some sporting flair by developing a series of bikes for long distance racing – then as now a popular means of demonstrating a marque’s dependability to French audiences. Eleven examples of the specially developed 499cc ohv Ratier C5 were constructed, with engines sleeved down to 66 x 73 mm to meet the Bol d’Or 24-Hour race’s 500cc capacity ceiling for solos. In three years, none finished the race, but in shorter races the Ratiers did well, winning the Two Hours of Montlhéry in 1962 at an average speed of 124.6 km/h on one of a pair of 500cc Ratier C5 GS prototypes with a ‘square’ 68 x 68 mm motor producing 40 bhp. But this was a final defiant salute by an ailing marque, with CSF ceasing production of Ratier motorcycles in December 1962 so as to use the Montrouge factory’s available space for the radical expansion of its aviation electronics business.
As the CRS gradually divested itself of its Ratier
fleet, these ended up in the hands of private owners, and during my two-year stay in Paris in 1968-69 they were still relatively commonplace on the streets of the capital. But the sight of one on British roads was always a rarity, making the example of the C6S to be found in the Sammy Miller Museum on Britain’s South Coast a fascinating exhibit. I’d never had the chance to ride one before so the chance to take Sammy’s Ratier for a canter along the lovely New Forest roads around the Museum answered something I’ve been wondering about for the past fifty years: what’s a Ratier like to ride? Judging by its chassis no.40416 the Museum bike is a 1961 model into which an earlier engine no.40184 has been transplanted to create the bike which a British enthusiast purchased from a French visitor to the UK’s Beaulieu Autojumble 30-odd years ago. It was in running order with mostly correct parts, including a pair of brand new exhaust silencers, and after restoring it to the condition it’s in now and adding more kilometres to the odometer in the Jaeger speedo mounted in the headlamp, which now reads a probably accurate 92,497km, he sold it to Sammy Miller in 2011. Ratiers were very robust and long-lived and this C6S shows no sign of old age. After lifting the tall knob on the back of the headlamp (which also works the lights) to turn on the ignition, I eventually succeeded in firing it up. Even with the low 7.9:1 compression ratio the rearwards-mounted foot-starter is an acquired skill as well as a nuisance – you have to stick it on the stand to be able to operate it, and I resorted to run and bump once the engine was warm, taking care not to knock the left-hand one of the two 28mm Bing carbs fitted to the bike, presumably sourced from a later BMW. Once lit up the Ratier sounds, feels and performs exactly like the BMW R69S of similar engine capacity and performance. Its flat-twin engine is just as smooth and torquey, and it has the same slightly heavy albeit reassuring handling, so that even with the quite compliant tele fork fitted instead of the BMW’s Earles front end, it feels very stable and planted in faster bends, as I suppose it should be with its low build and that long 1430mm wheelbase. The comfy 760mm-high seat with a toolbox beneath it delivers a fairly low but relaxed riding stance, though the right carburettor’s inlet pipe does inevitably get in the way of your foot somewhat. The one-piece handlebar is quite tall, resulting in a fairly upright stance – ideal for presidential escort duty. The 200mm brakes are excellent, especially the SLS rear, but the Ratiermade twin leading-shoe front drum is effective as well as good-looking – the quality of the aluminium castings is very good, contrasting with the roughlooking crankcase casting of the engine.
The C6S’s four-speed gearbox’s single-plate clutch has a light action, making it ideal for town work and especially escort duty, but the shift action of the leftfoot gearchange is rather slow, and you will miss a gear if you try to rush things. It’s also hard to find neutral, which presumably is why Ratier copied the short lever topped by a round knob sprouting out of the right side of the gearbox casing, just like on a BMW of the era, for you to find neutral by hand when necessary (as in, often!). However, the Ratier’s engine is so torquey that once you get it in top gear you can pretty much leave it there at anything more than walking pace, and must have been a great ride along the straight, fast French RN roads of the 1960s. The Ratier was publicised as being one of the first bikes you could cruise on at 100 mph, and I have no reason to doubt that, with its wind-cheating low overall build taking full advantage of the low-slung flat-twin motor. The 19-inch wheels give welcome extra ground clearance, with the low cee of gee delivering good stability over the bumps and lumps of 1960s highways, aided by the Lelaurin rear shocks which seemed quite effective on the Museum bike. The Ratier C6S is more than a footnote to WW2 and what came after in two-wheeled terms. It’s a fine French flag-bearer for a Gallic motorcycle industry that would soon be no more. If only a company with more commitment and better resources to making a success of it had been manufacturing this bike, it might well have led to greater things.