Bugatti bicycles

Jaap Horst

Not much has been written about Ettore´s bicycle, and either much on the T72, his bicycle engine. In this article we don´t intend to say everything about this issue either, we´ll just show some pictures! Both the (old) bicycle as well as the T72 engine are in the collection of a French collector, who wishes to remain anonymous. The pictures were provided by (and are copyright of) Patrick Arnaud. Thanks to him for providing these!

Above an old example of Ettore´s bicycle, design from 1913. Doubtfull however is, if this really is an original from that date, or a replica from the 1950´s (it seems to me that the parts used indicate mostly the later date. We know for sure however, that the bicycle shown below is a recent replica, built from 1913 drawings and details from the Bugatti Trust. Only three are known.

It is shown here to make clear the basics of Ettore´s design, where basically the usually used tubes are replaced by 4 small diameter tubes placed in a square, and connected by spacers.

The collector Patrick Arnaud visited told him some pieces of history that he has not verified : only seven T.72 engines were made, this is the n° three (verified). He knows two other T.72 in USA, property of the same collector (a name as Askenashian or something like that), member of the American Bugatti Club. One of these two engines is ex-Marc Nicolosi, the well-known French Bugatti collector. These engines are incredibly in advance for the time they were created, the technique is typically Bugatti but miniaturized ! It was a great pleasure to see this engine and touch it !

The smallest Bugatti, measures only 12.66 cc. recently photographed in France, the one prototype built in 1944. Dimensions are 24 x 28, plus supercharger and gear driven overhead valve gear. It was capable of 10,000 RPM. The detail pictures below speak for themselves, really a very fine piece of engineering!

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Bugatti bicycles

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