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Unfortunately I lost some links and can't find them again. There's very little to find related to the legal entity and history for producing Bebo, Bebolux, etc.

All I know the head office factory was in Dijon (not too geographically far from Simplex), along with a proper a AL foundry, rather physically small, that could survive almost exclusively via Peugeot contracts. The only physical picture of the foundry I found was Ebay.fr on a vintage postcard for sale.

From what I read via sources like tontonvelo et al, the company then got in trouble when the price of AL went too high, where most AL was diverted to defence and aviation. And at the same time Peugeot being more aggressive internationally related to price points.

They eventually posted bankruptcy (I could find the date if needed). The little I have had in my hands was always very well made.

It seems to me, having understood this, at a very very similar "round the corner" period comes the dreaded Delrin from Dupont in the French bike industry. The bean counters would have flagged the company health the moment they knew and sort of "dumped" the problem to engineers and new cheaper materials available.

These brakes were made near Sochaux, fief of Peugeot, not Dijon ;)

USINE DE PETITE MÉTALLURGIE BELEY-BOURQUIN

thank you so much gents!

had never had a shred of information regarding the Bebo marque nor the entity behind it...and always wondered


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That's the one! Excellent read.

No, not Dijon (probably got confused Terrot :rolleyes: ).

It's a few years ago I had a chat with an Ebay buyer looking for Bebo levers.

...au sujet de Terrot -

whenst P acquired T (1958?) did they get the motorcycle division as well?

were motorcycles & pedal cycles produced in same facility?

recall that P kept the T name going into the early sixties by placing it on P built products; do you know a specific year for when this ended?

have any knowledge of the legal dispute which arose betwixt T and its agent in Espagne which resulted in the creation of the Torrot marque? dost thee knowest the annum?

asking anent Terrot as it was a Terrot machine which sparked me interest in european derailleur geared lightweights, back when dinosaurs yet roamed the earth

in 1960 went into me local combination cycle shop and sporting goods store where saw hanging on a wall above the showroom a Terrot fifteen speed touring machine done up in the Peugeot house/team livery of the day - deep blue with yellow trim

LOVED the aesthetics of its lacyness, femininity & elegance

a decade later, after completing me university sojourn commenced me velo spannerin'


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probably like many thousands of others greatly miss our late Norris for his incalcuably vast store of velo knowledge gaulique

would like to nominate our @Woz & @Filochard to a position of a sort of Norris MK.II 😊


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What I've found when researching (in general) it can get rather complex - thankfully for Terrot a lot is on the web, and of course there would be more public available documents related to legal entities, physical buildings and of course advertisements. The motor-cycle fanboys seem to write the most. Another good source I have found are local researchers doing news articles.

http://terrot.dijon.free.fr/Chronologie.html

End of 1951 - Launch of the scooter - One million bicycles built is reached
May 1958 - the "Etablissements Terrot" come under the control of INDENOR (part of the Peugeot group)
January 1959 - the manufacture of motorcycles is transferred to St Etienne (AUTOMOTO factory)
End of 1961 - Cessation of the manufacture of cycles and motorcycles
1962 - 1970 - the TERROT brand is affixed to cycles and Peugeot mopeds

[ also many Terrot catalogues here: https://terrot.eu/documentation/catalogue/cycles ]

From here:
https://dijonpassionpatrimoine.fr/usine-terrot-sauvetage-facade/

"Benefiting from a solid reputation, it was not the Second World War and the German occupation of the factory that brought the factory to the ground, but the mismanagement of the shareholders. In 1953, Peugeot, its historical competitor, took 50% of the capital of Terrot. The brand gradually lost its luster to such an extent that in 1959, the production of motorcycles was relocated to Saint Etienne"

"Peugeot, not only owner of the factory but of the Terrot brand, used it for a few years before it disappeared in the early 1960s. Peugeot used the Dijon plant for its brand until the 1990s, before selling it to the Japanese company Koyo Steering in 2000."

Reading between the lines a bit (my own words), I would guess already by the mid-50s there was clear trouble. Probably too little market space domestically. Peugeot no doubt consolidated the bicycle manufacture, re-structured it and set it's sights on export too.
 
What I've found when researching (in general) it can get rather complex - thankfully for Terrot a lot is on the web, and of course there would be more public available documents related to legal entities, physical buildings and of course advertisements. The motor-cycle fanboys seem to write the most. Another good source I have found are local researchers doing news articles.

http://terrot.dijon.free.fr/Chronologie.html

End of 1951 - Launch of the scooter - One million bicycles built is reached
May 1958 - the "Etablissements Terrot" come under the control of INDENOR (part of the Peugeot group)
January 1959 - the manufacture of motorcycles is transferred to St Etienne (AUTOMOTO factory)
End of 1961 - Cessation of the manufacture of cycles and motorcycles
1962 - 1970 - the TERROT brand is affixed to cycles and Peugeot mopeds

[ also many Terrot catalogues here: https://terrot.eu/documentation/catalogue/cycles ]

From here:
https://dijonpassionpatrimoine.fr/usine-terrot-sauvetage-facade/

"Benefiting from a solid reputation, it was not the Second World War and the German occupation of the factory that brought the factory to the ground, but the mismanagement of the shareholders. In 1953, Peugeot, its historical competitor, took 50% of the capital of Terrot. The brand gradually lost its luster to such an extent that in 1959, the production of motorcycles was relocated to Saint Etienne"

"Peugeot, not only owner of the factory but of the Terrot brand, used it for a few years before it disappeared in the early 1960s. Peugeot used the Dijon plant for its brand until the 1990s, before selling it to the Japanese company Koyo Steering in 2000."

Reading between the lines a bit (my own words), I would guess already by the mid-50s there was clear trouble. Probably too little market space domestically. Peugeot no doubt consolidated the bicycle manufacture, re-structured it and set it's sights on export too.
The whole thing has parallels with Raleigh taking over it's competition
 
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To complete @Woz ’s message, Automoto was swallowed by Peugeot at the same time as Terrot.
After the takeover in 1958 by Indenor, a subsidiary of Peugeot, the production of Terrot motorcycles and cyles was transferred to Saint-Etienne at the Automoto factory.
The cycles produced were clones of Peugeot (see catalogs) until 1961, when the Terrot company ended.
Peugeot continued to use the Terrot brand from 1962 to 1970 with cycles manufactured in its historic factory in Beaulieu-Valentigney, south of Sochaux-Montbéliard.
The Terrot factory in Dijon was converted into a manufacture of parts for cars in 1959.

In Spain, Luis Iriondo obtained a manufacturing license from Terrot which led to the creation of the Spanish company Terrot SAE.
After the liquidation of Terrot in 1961, Peugeot, which already had its own sister company in Spain, refused to renew the manufacturing license to Terrot SAE.
Iriondo then obtained a new license from Motobécane in 1962, which was operated under the name Torrot SAE.
https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrot
 
The whole thing has parallels with Raleigh taking over it's competition

I guess the whole of Europe bicycle business is similar. Just making bigger companies, slimming down production, but still owning brand names and patents didn't really work out either to compete with motorbikes and cars. As a customer it all got boring - essentially the same bike (or very similar) with just a different name.

Back to Bebo brakes, and perhaps @Filochard may know something.

I was very struck how some of the Weinmann brakes were similar to the Bebo found on early Peugeot city bikes - down to the red dot for the bar clamp, the pivot rivet, the slightly sculpted edges and even where the brand name is stamped:

1759324154048.webp

Is this a case of old machinery assets after bankruptcy being purchased by Weinmann perhaps?

The Bebo for comparision:

1759324692477.webp
 
I guess the whole of Europe bicycle business is similar. Just making bigger companies, slimming down production, but still owning brand names and patents didn't really work out either to compete with motorbikes and cars. As a customer it all got boring - essentially the same bike (or very similar) with just a different name.

Back to Bebo brakes, and perhaps @Filochard may know something.

I was very struck how some of the Weinmann brakes were similar to the Bebo found on early Peugeot city bikes - down to the red dot for the bar clamp, the pivot rivet, the slightly sculpted edges and even where the brand name is stamped:

View attachment 1006145

Is this a case of old machinery assets after bankruptcy being purchased by Weinmann perhaps?

The Bebo for comparision:

View attachment 1006148
I wonder if Bebo bought some or sold some tooling
 
Is this a case of old machinery assets after bankruptcy being purchased by Weinmann perhaps?

All I can say is that this model was already present in the 1975 Weinmann catalog, so before Beborex ceased operations in 1978.

Maybe Weinmann was attracted to this red pivot and took inspiration from the Beborex model ...

https://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=28912
 
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In Spain, Luis Iriondo obtained a manufacturing license from Terrot which led to the creation of the Spanish company Terrot SAE.
After the liquidation of Terrot in 1961, Peugeot, which already had its own sister company in Spain, refused to renew the manufacturing license to Terrot SAE.
Iriondo then obtained a new license from Motobécane in 1962, which was operated under the name Torrot SAE.
https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrot


Merci Beaucoup Professeur Filocahrd! 🥳 :D

the Torrot matter is something have been wondering about for decades

wonderful to have it now sorted in me "mind" 🤨

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