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Omega - France

Martial Bergeron, Paris, 1898-1899

Engineer Mr. Martial Bergeron was owner of a bicycle factory in Paris. He was known for his patented "chainless bicyle", where the transmission from the pedals to the rear wheel was done by a so-called "acatène", an axis with bevelled gears comparable to a cardan drive. His bicycles became famous in 1897 when Gaston Rivierre sieged on it in the race Paris-Bordeaux. Here a few of those beautiful French posters promoting the chainless bicycles:

And here a nice example of such a bike with acatène:

In 1998 Bergeron changed his company into a motorcycle manufacturer. The bicycle activities of Omega were continued at another address by mr. Lauvergniat, later Lauvergniat and Ferrand.

Bergeron designed his "Omega Pétrolette", a bicycle-like vehicle with a single cilinder engine. The engine was placed just before the bracket, as integral part of the frame. It was possibly the first motorcycle with the engine in this position, as others like Werner thought that this position was not suited. The engine drove the bracket, and from there the transmission to the rear wheel was done by Bergeron's famous acatène. And this is how the Petrolette looked:

As bergeron was probably a very creative man, he used some unconventional solution in his pétrolette. The engine did not have a normal carburettor, but instead had a very special construction more or less integrated in the top of the cilinder head. Also for the cooling of the cilinder he did not trust on the standard solution, but tried to improve it by using copper tubes instead of only the normal cast iron cooling fins.
Here a cross section of the cilinder and carburettor from his patent application:

The carburettor is mounted directly above cylinder. It contains 3 chambers: a primary chamber where the air enters (Y), a secondary where the air is mixed with vaporised fuel and the third where the (automatic) inlet valve (S) is located.
The fuel comes in through the T-shaped tube on the top right side of the carburettor. It enters the carburettor at point P, where the flow can be controlled by raising or lowering the tapered needle, and flows down over the cone. The air enters the air chamber through the hole on the top left (next to the letter Y), and passes through the holes in the bottom into the mixing chamber. There it comes in contact with the evaporating fuel dripping over the cone. Inside the mixing chamber there are some sheet metal plates to enhance mixing and prevent a carburettor fire or even explosion in case of back-firing. Ignition of the mixture in the cylinder was by a spark plug.
The mixture can be controlled by changing the flow of both air and fuel. In total this carburettor has 4 different adjustments (see the 4 handles on the upper frame tube), which made it quite difficult to ride.
It should not be forgotten that in this time nozzle carburettors did not yet exist. Standard was the so-called "surface carburettors", in fact not more than a box filled with a layer of fuel that evaporated, and was drawn into the engine by air passing over it. So for its time this was a modern construction!

Overall the machine was not a big success, what can as well have been caused by the complex operation. It is not exactly known how long the Omega from Bergeron has been built. Some sources are talking about an end in 1899, but there seems to be a description of the Pétrolette Oméga in the English magazine "The Automoto" from february 1901.

Kreutzberger, Paris, 1903-1904

From 1903 the brothers G. and P. Kreutzberger used the brand name Omega for their chainless "acatène" bicycles. Most probably this was a continuation of the business of Lauvergniat and Ferrand. It seems that they started in the beginning of 1904 to sell motorized 3-wheelers, using 2½ or 3 horsepower engines, and a light car. Their business ended in June 1904 by bankruptcy.

I did not find any information on motorcycles or 3-wheelers from Kreutzberger. The only thing I found is 2 advertisement posters:

The one on the left seems to be from the 1890-ies, on one website it was more exaclty dated from 1897, so well before Kreutzberger took over the business of Lauvergniat & Ferrand. The address is also different. Perhaps Kreutzberger was already agent for Omega bicycles in these early years.
The poster on the right states the same address as where Lauvergniat & Ferrand were based.

Marius Lecomte and Sons, Lyon, 1905 - ?

In 1863 I. Lecomte established a company, making sewing and knitting machines (in French "machines à coudre et à tricoter"). Later this company was continued by his son under the name "Omega Cycles and Motocylettes Marius Lecomte Fils". The last 3 words were mostly abreviated to M.L.F.
I could not find at what moment the business was expanded to include bicycles and motorcyles. First they were most probably only selling Peugeot (motor)cycles, as the next picture shows:

The 3 motorcycles on the picture are all Peugeots, clearly visible by the Truffaut front forks. The twin cilinder model behind the window was introduced in 1905, so this picture must be from that year or later.

On another picture the name peugeot is not visible anymore, probably because Omega started its own production:

However, when looking carefully to this picture it becomes clear that the name was still on the building and has only been removed from the picture. With a bit of manipulation of the picture this becomes clearer:

So perhaps it is not a coincidence that the logo of Omega M.L.F. resembles the Peugeot logo:

The bicycles built by Omega M.L.F. were quite normal, with the usual chain drive to the rear wheel. This emphasizes that this company is not related to the Paris Omega founded by Martial Bergeron. Here a few advertising posters (probably from somewhat later period):

It is not clear during which years Omega has built its own motorcycles. I found 2 interesting papers which appear to come from some official register. The first one tells us that the brand name Omega has been deposited at the Chamber of Commerce on January 12th 1904, for "designing bicycles, motorcycles, parts, accesories and tyres, as well as engines for motorcycles".
Interesting is that at this time the Maison Lecomte was still selling Peugeot motorcycles as we have seen on the pictures above.

The second learns that the trade mark deposit has been prolonged at January 25th 1919, for exactly the same activities. This proves that Omega M.L.F. still had the intention to build motorcycles, but off course not that they really did so.

There is not much information about the Omega MLF motorcycles. The next poster of unknown date shows a motorcycle, and it is not a Peugeot. Looking at the flat tank, the very simple build and the absence of a magneto, it is probably from around 1904-1905.

The actual size of this poster is around 1 x 1½ m. An original example can be found in the Musée Henri Malarte near Lyon.
On the website vieilleschainesvillefranchoises.e-monsite.com there are some pages from the 1906 Omega MLF catalogue. In this catalogue (of more than 45 pages!) probably all products were listed: sowing and knitting machines, bicycles and the Omega motorcycle. Here a few interesting pages:

First page, listing the product portfolio, except the motorcycle!
(cover was the same but in red)

A picture of the shop, the same building as shown above but now with the name Omega

The motorcycle, available with 2¾ or 3½ horsepower engine

Interesting is that the motorcycle is the almost same as on the poster shown above. In contradiction to the poster, there is no battery visible. According to the description the standard bike has a Dinin battery (accumulateur in French), but as option a magneto ignition and sprung front forks are available. So probably the machine on this catalogue image has both options.
In the text below the image it is stated that "for amateurs who want to have a motorcycle with a light engine" there is a bicycle available with a reinforced frame, suited for mounting the Motosacoche engine unit. This version is shown in another catalogue, which is unfortunately not dated:

The Omega-Motosacoche cycle

List with bicycle accesoires, possibly also available on the Motosacoche cycle

The next image is probably also from a catalogue:

On the bottom left it says 1910. When this is the year the catalogue was printed, the motorcycle was very old-fashioned for its time! The image and the description in this catalogue are still the same as in the 1906 catalogue and on the poster. The sprung front forks ("fourche elastique") are still offered as an option, but a magneto ignition is not listed anymore.
The reinforced bicycle for the Motosacoche engine is also still offered, and for the same price as in the 1906 catalogue.
So it looks like developments did not go very fast at Omega MLF. Other motorcycle manufacturers already offered much more modern motorcycles in 1910.

Very interesting is the motorcycle that is shown on the website from the German Peter Zimmermann. He shows an Omega with a Moser engine that is said to be from 1926:

The motorcycle off course doesn't show any resemblance with the images from 1905-1910. But luckily the brand logo's on the tank give more clarity:

The logos are clearly those of the French Omega, and on the left logo even the letters MLF (now without dots between them) are recognizable.
This means that Omega MLF was indeed still producing motorcycles until far in the 1920-ies!

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