From the basement…

The coordinator of Nicotte’s small three-man Chevallier Honda GP team (mechanic Fabrice Petit was the third musketeer) had been his neighbour in Plaisir, the town he lived in 30km to the west of Paris – ‘Gull’ Rietsch.

Gull owns the ex-de Radiguès, ex-espié, ex-nicotte bike today, still painted in the Ville de Plaisir colours in which Nicotte ran it in 1989/90, sponsored by his home town, whose mayor must have been a bike fan!

“I gave up my job as a maintenance supervisor to go racing with Rachel (Nicotte) in 1988,” recalls Gull, today living in French Guyana with occasional returns to France to drink rum with his racing friends! “I did everything that didn’t involve working on the bike or riding it – so that included driving the truck, keeping us fed, sourcing fuel, parts, supplies and tyres, and especially repairing bodywork – Rachel used to crash a lot. I mean - a LOT!!

We ran it literally on a shoestring, because we had no money for parts. We made friends with one of the Honda mechanics, and he would tell us ‘at exactly 9pm, I am going to throw our worn out parts in that bin over there,’ so we made sure to be waiting around the corner when he did so.their idea of worn out was simply nicely run in for us!”

After Nicotte stopped racing the Chevallier, he entrusted it to Gull for safe keeping. “I kept it in our cellar first, until my wife told me to bring it upstairs to our living room,” he says. “She complained that she never saw me because I’d disappear down the cellar with my friends to drink wine, and look at the bike. She was right!”

In 2002 Nicotte moved to SW France, so Gull bought the bike from him. “It had been part of my youth – I’d lived three whole years centred around that bike, so it wasn’t going anywhere else.” Nicotte’s passing in 2004 inspired Gull to have the bike rebuilt to run again in the hands of friends in the increasingly numerous historic events like the Coupes Moto Legende at Dijon, or Bikers Classic at Spa.