Defaux 1CV1/4 from 1903, one cylinder, 247 cc, 35 km/h
In 1898 the brothers Dufaux designed their first light motorcycle engine, which could be attached to a bicycle. By 1900 they patented a 1/4hp motor, which could propel a bicycle to 21km/h. The brothers were naturally interested in competition, and Armand won his first motorcycle race at Clement-St-Cergues in 1901.
The name ‘Motosacoche’ (literally, ‘engine in a bag’) appeared on their work in 1903, and was coined from their enclosure of their clip-on bicycle engine within a metal shroud. Motosacoche Dufaux and Co. (MSADC), a public company, was established in 1905, with a further factory shortly built in Turin (Societa Meccanica Italio-Ginevrina – est. 1908), and another satellite factory in Lyon.
