Circa 1930 Majestic & Bernadet sidecar

Lot 208. Bonhams will be auctioning this wonderful restored creation on 6th February 2014 at its Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais sale in Paris. The estimate is £74,000 - £99,000 (€90,000 - €120,000).

Georges Roy, a French engineer, is le créateur of this "shark like" art deco motorcycle. In the early 1920s, unhappy with conventional tubular steel frames, Roy began experimenting with monocoque design and eventually developed the bike you see here. In December 1926, he applied for a patent for his "New Motorcycle" and set to work consolidating his radical ideas.

Given that this was an age of streamlining, you have to question the wisdom of that gaping air intake that must act as a pretty effective brake, but the 500cc single-cylinder OHV Chaise engine was, for its day, reasonably powerful and allowed the outfit to maintain a comfortable cruising speed (45-55mph) for the road conditions and general traffic speeds of the day.

A prototype, note, was built using a four-cylinder Cleveland engine—which, you might think, would have been a more competent power unit. Regardless, the production bikes were manufactured with the Chaise single cylinder air-cooled unit, and the bike was displayed at the 1929 Paris Show.

Inspired by the American Ner-a-Car, Roy's creation also featured (advanced) hub-centre steering and sliding pillar front suspension.

Marketed as a motorcycling Grande Routière, production (according to Roy, speaking in an interview in 1970) began in 1930 and ended in 1933. But the design was simply too unconventional for the public of the day, and the concept was not a sales success.

Featured in the Guggenheim Museum's 'The Art of the Motorcycle' exhibition in 1998/1999, the surviving bikes are said to number around ten, but this is the only example with a sidecar. The colour of the outfit is French Racing Blue, and Bonhams is offering the lot with a photographic record of the 2012/2013 restoration along with the appropriate registration documentation.

The frame number is 402617. The engine number is 402617. The images are courtesy of Bonhams.

What makes this bike so special is its sheer "other-worldiness", like something from a Steampunk movie. As a consequence, interest is likely to be very high.

Drool.

— Del Monte