A Brief History of the Marque
Manufactured from 1925 to 1929 [1] at 12 rue Dupuytren, Saint-Etienne
Stéphanoise Massardier founded the parent company in 1910, building components including gearboxes which were supplied to Amilcar, De Dion-Bouton and Peugeot. They also produced Massardier engines. The company was well-established by 1920, its main product being Le Mineur hammer drills which were used by most companies in the mining industry.
The Royal Moto company was established in 1925, and released the first motorcycles that year.
Models included two-strokes of 100cc, 175cc and 250cc, along with 250cc and 500cc four-strokes both SV and OHV. Engines were all by Massardier.
Models
1926 175cc Model BM (Bloc Massardier)
1926/27 Type P, 175cc, 1 or 2 speeds, with kick starter.
1928 Types 175 P, 175 CC, 175 CC Sport, 175 BM, 250T
1928 350GT four-stroke
Type STL 250cc
Massardier Engines
In competition the results were good, with a 4th in the 1926 Bol d'Or 175 class, and a win in the 1929 Bol d'Or with Bruno Mariani at the helm.
Motorcycle production appears to have ceased in 1929, and use of the Royal Moto brand ended in 1930.
The Massardier company continued to operate as a family concern, with Miss C. Massardier as manager for some 35 years from the early 1960s. They supplied the railways (TGV), mining companies and the automotive industry. The company name had been changed to Rémy Barrère, and was renamed CMW in 2018.
Notes. 1. The first motorcycle engine was produced in 1922, but complete motorcycles were probably not produced until 1925, the year the Royal Moto brand was registered.
Sources: royal-moto.webnode.com, Motos dans la Loire, Cycle Memory, Tragatsch p265, wikipedia.fr, et al.
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