classic motorcycle forum

The DD front end looks very similar (closest I've seen)

Yes, I assume the fork is French, or at least continental. "S&AG" rings no bells for me, but I know little about French/continental fork makers. "AG" is (roughly) "Pty Ltd" in German, and often found on German (or Swiss) products. "SGDG" is another commonly seen stamping, relating to patents. I'd actually expected the fork to be AD.

The Dé Dé engines are discussed in the article I posted a link to: Moussard-Madoz (often called just Moussard) and Duten. Try Google translate if your French is a bit dodgy.

The "Bowden France" lever is interesting. Lots of British manufacturers were busy in France in the 1920s, and some like Bowden obviously developed "local" versions of their products. The AMAC brand finished up in the UK c1930 when AMAL was formed, but it continued on from a French base right through the 1930s.

No clear photos of the saddle, but Brooks had a patent protecting the supporting rod to the saddle running through the centre of the spring. Very commonly Brooks saddles have another spring inside, and concentric with, the main spring. If the saddle is Broooks, the Brooks name will be stamped on the saddle clamp, and "10-12 Stone" will be stamped on the front part of the flat steel seat rails. If it's not Brooks, it's a Brooks copy.

All 4 strokes in the 1920s had a cable-operated valve lifter.

Not sure what the object on the saddle post of the Dé Dé and the Claude Delage is, but it might be an auxiliary oil tank. These were sometimes fitted inside the petrol tanks of British bikes, and a measuring cup was used to move the appropriate amount of oil from the oil tank into the petrol tank when filling with fuel, there being no "premix" on offer.

"Zhumoriste" (aka "Bourdache") has written several books about French motorcycles, including one about French motorcycles of the early 1920s) and may be a good person to ask re the Atania. Unfortunately his long-running blog has been disassembled into remnants (like the Dé Dé article) but he now writes at  http://zhumoriste.eklablog.com/ and can probably be contacted there.

Good luck,

Leon

De-De doesn’t have an  Albion gearbox.

Well that one doesn't, it's probably the 3 speeder. Maybe the 2-speeder (which had a visibly shorter gear lever) was Albion. [Edit: should have read the article more closely - seems the 2-speeder was a Staub.] There was also a direct drive version, and four strokes, and ... all this in one year (1926) from a make most of us have never heard of!

Interesting to speculate what engine the Atania might have used. One of the big French houses advertised both Albion boxes and Villiers engines, but it seems that in the mid 1920s there were not too many French makers using the Villiers. Lots of unusual (to us) French-made two-stroke engines: for example the engine in the Claude Delage is a 175cc Lescanne, with the magneto driven off the end of the crank, like Union in the UK.

I'm a bit out of my depth...

Cheers

Leon

Yes, plenty to compare here... http://zhumoriste.over-blog.com/article-de-de-et-le-mystere-des-moteurs-duten-113737594.html

Leon

I wonder if the towers on the headbadge could be https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_la_D%C3%A9couverte in Lorient.

Leon

Barbet registered the name Atania for his bicycles and bicycle parts in October 1921

In fact he lodged the application for registration in March 1921.

Leon

Yes presumably we're some around 1924-25? By 1926-27 even lightweights were doing away with belt drive and getting a front brake.

Albion boxes of all sorts were advertised in the French magazines of the day, for example in La Revue Motorcycliste et Automobile in August 1925 below, and were used in many French bikes.

Atania is a new one on me. Must have been a very small manufacturer, presumably M. Jean Barbet of Lorient (in the Morbihan district in Bretagne (Brittany), France? Barbet registered the name Atania for his bicycles and bicycle parts in October 1921 - no mention of motorcycles so presumably they came along a year or two later.

I have quite a few books on French motorcycles, but Atania is not mentioned in any of them. Atania was not exhibited at the annual shows in Paris in late 1924 (unsurprisingly), nor did it appear in a comprehensive list of French manufacturers for 1925 in La Revue 10 November 1924.

Based on my experience with small Australian makes, I'd guess that Barbet [edit: not Bardet] either built the bikes from available parts, as suggested by 33d6, or put his bicycle head badge on a machine made for him by someone else.

Speaking of the head badge, I wonder if it was specially made for Atania? Hard to see in the photo, but it looks like it might be a generic badge, onto which you stamped your own brand - in this case CYCLES ATANIA. Are the radial marks to help you line up your letters in a nice arc?

Tell us what you know!

Cheers

Leon

Ah yes - I actually came across a real Malvern Star at a "Show and Shine" here in SA a couple of weeks ago, and I had a close look. The first time I have actually examined one close up!

Although it was badged as "1945" it had an 8M frame prefix (on the seat lug), so 1948. The engine number was 586/9150 - the prefix as noted by 33d6 for the postwar Malvern Star models. I had a chat with the owner and the bike was purchased many years ago (say 25) in Queensland, so not sure where it was originally sold. Does it appear on your Victorian list 33d6?

It was very cute, and I enjoyed looking at the detail. Particularly the "low temperature welded" frame. It had been restored from a very original machine.

Cheers

Leon

Yes I don't think there's much chance of a line of restored Triple Hs displaying their silver tanks! Important to have a silver that looks 1920s rather than 2020s though... I like Ian's Norton colour and finish.

Leon