Page 400. 1939 Sironval Sportplex 4-Wheel Bicycle

1939 Sironval Sportplex

This strange – but fabulous – machine is essentially a two-seater four-wheel bicycle. It was designed and built by Victor Sironval, in an era when fellow inventor Charles Mochet’s Velocars were evolving from similar designs into microcars, first with pedal-power and subsequently motorized.

Victor Sironval produced various models in the late thirties, including a two-wheeler and a motorized Sportplex four-wheeler. So it’s interesting to consider whether, if WW2 had not interrupted production, Sironval’s concepts would have taken a similar route to Mochet’s.

This velocar has been completely restored by one of my friends, to a very high professional standard. It’s ready to jump in and cruise 🙂

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STEERING & FRONT WHEELS

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MOCHET VELOCAR

Mochet was the most successful of the inventors who experimented with four-wheel bicycles. They evolved from simple wood-bodied structures, through more refined wood-bodied pedal-powered ‘cars’ in the thirties (as above), to full microcars after WW2 (below).