photo #6937264

1938 Peugeot 495cc Model 515 MotorcyclePeugeot displayed its first motor bicycle at the 1898 Paris Exhibition. It featured a De Dion-Bouton motor mounted perpendicularly on the rear wheel but it was never put into series manufacture.That same year, De Dion-Bouton manufactured a motorised tricycle for Peugeot that was equipped with a 239.5cc engine. In 1900, the tricycles were replaced by Quadricycles that were produced until 1903. Peugeot's first real motorcycle was produced in 1901. It was essentially a bicycle frame equipped with a 1.5hp, 198cc Swiss ZL motor mounted under the front frame tube in front of the pedal crank. Final drive to the rear wheel was by belt.Between 1901 and 1939, Peugeot presented a total of 61 motorcycle models ranging from 100cc to 745cc. The first Isle of Man TT in 1907 was one by a Norton powered by a Peugeot V-twin. Peugeot also built the first double overhead-camshaft, desmodromic, four-valve, parallel twin in 1914. In 1933, the company showed two single-cylinder, 495cc, four-stroke motorcycles typed 515 and 517. In1934, a lightweight 515 broke nine world records including setting a new world 24-hour record and a new 3,000km record at Montlhéry at average speeds of 118.7 kph (73.8mph) and 118.1kph (73.4mph), respectively.The 515 features a unit construction motor with helical drive to the longitudinal camshaft and magneto. The oil pump is gear-driven while the dynamo, primary transmission and kick-starter are chain-driven. It has a hand-change gearbox, a rigid rear frame and leading-link girder front forks. The silencers are of a stylish Art Deco design made of cast aluminium.