A Brief History of the Marque
Pieper of Nessonvaux, between Verviers and Liège, built their prototype motorcycle with the engine mounted above the front wheel. Another was shown at the Stanley show in London in the early 1900s with a more conventional clip-on engine.
Pieper also owned CIE and Bayard, both of which produced motorcycles, and went on to become a major player with FN.1
Henri Pieper's firm built the first electric trams in Liège.
The Nessonvaux factory was sold to Piedboeuf in 1907 and became the famed Imperia works.
Image courtesy Jean-Louis Dumont
Bayard
Mentioned by Paul Kelecom as being built in 1902 by Henri Pieper in Herstal.
Notes
Sources differ, some saying Pieper departed the firm of his own name to join FN in 1905, others saying that he was the co-founder of FN and majority shareholder in the late 1880s. Another source says that he died in 1898.
Sources: A-Z der Belgische Motoren, Wikipedia NL, rvccb.be, Kelecom Paper, 1905, et al.
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