French Bicycle Industry - Golden Age

Golden Age

While the bicycle was popular among wealthy young men in cities such as London, New York, and Paris, Starley's safety bicycle ushered in the "golden age of bicycles." A bicycle craze swept Europe and North America during the Gay Nineties; suddenly, the bicycle was safe, affordable, and available for transport and leisure for the ordinary person. Although France was swept up in the craze, production remained centered in England and the United States. However, the seeds were sown for the rebirth of the French industry.

In 1881, Paul de Vivie, a man of twenty-eight, bought his first bicycle, an ordinary. By 1887, de Vivie decided to devote his attention to his avocation; he sold his business, and moved to Saint-Étienne, where he opened a bicycle shop and started a magazine, Le Cycliste. Velocio, as de Vivie was known, began to import bicycles from Coventry; within two years, however, he had begun to produce his own bicycles. His 1889 La Gauloise was the first bicycle produced in France.