Terrot was a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruisin ...

manufacturer in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earl ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. Charles Terrot and Wilhelm Stücklen had founded a machinery

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with t ...

in Cannstatt,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

in 1862, and Terrot added a branch

in Dijon in 1887, and in 1890 the Dijon factory added bicycles to its products. In 1902, the Dijon factory made its first motorcycle. It was powered by a 2 bhp

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

supplied by

Zédel Zédel was a Swiss automobile manufacturer established in 1901 by Ernest Zürcher and Herman Lüthi. The name of the company was created by combining the first letters of the founders' names, "Z" and "L". During the early years of the twentie ...

of Switzerland. After that, Terrot built motorcycles with engines from 173cc to 498cc from proprietary engine suppliers including the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

manufacturers MAG and Dufeaux, the English makers

Chater-Lea Chater-Lea was a British bicycle, car and motorcycle maker with a purpose-built five-storey factory in Banner Street, EC1, in the City of London (now converted into flats) and, from 1928, premises at Letchworth, Hertfordshire. It was founded b ...

and JAP along with Givaudan engines from Lyon, France. Terrot produced its first twin-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infi ...

model in 1905. From 1915 onwards, it supplied 500cc machines to the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

. In 1921, Terrot launched new

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...

models: the 175cc model L and the 267cc model E. In 1925, the latter model was developed into the 250cc model F. From 1923 onwards, Terrot also produced

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either direct ...

models. First with a 350cc JAP engine. From 1927 onwards, also with a 500cc engine. In 1926 Terrot began to make its own four-stroke engines. In 1929, the company produced its 100,000th motorcycle. After the Great Depression a new class of vehicles, motorized bicycles, was introduced. In 1932, Terrot entered motorcycle racing and won a triple championship, winning the French 250cc, 350cc and 500cc classes. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Terrot supplied the French Army with sidecars: the model GT from 350cc to 750cc and the model DT from 500cc to 750cc. In 1951, Terrot produced its first

motor scooter A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycl ...

, called VMS. In the 1950s, the company focused on the market for

mopeds A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typi ...

and lightweight motorcycles. In 1958,

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and then ...

took over the company. In 1961, production ended at the former Terrot factory.

External links

Terrot Owners' ClubTerrot: Forging the Way
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Motorcycle manufacturers of France Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1862 Cycle manufacturers of France 1862 establishments in Germany French companies established in 1887 Companies based in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté {{Motorcycle-stub