Nougier Motorcycles
Nougier was a brand of French hand built road racing motorcycles made by Jean Nougier from 1937 to 1972.
Entirely hand-built, the engines were dual overhead camshaft unit with hairpin valve springs, which remained popular on racing engines since due to their ease of replacement. The motorcycles had maximum power at 10,000rpms, rear suspension (rare for the time), and a forward mounted rear brake.
Between 1937 and 1972 Jean Nougier of St. Andiol in Provence hand-built innovative and quite successful DOHC racing singles, twins and fours, often utilising basic components sourced from Terrot and Magnat-Debon.
His rather beautiful Tournevis OHC models used hairpin valve springs and a slotted camshaft drive coupling (tournevis=screwdriver), a three bearing crank and a modified separate Terrot gearbox. In 1953 he built a four to challenge Gilera and MV, but lack of developmental funding was a large factor in the unsuccessful venture.
The Marseilles Motorcycle museum (Le musée de la Motocyclette de Marseille) houses a collection of Nougier motorcycles, one note stating "all motorcycles Nougier of 1936-1971". Wikipedia however states that they were built from 1937 to 1972.
Jean's brother Henri Nougier raced a Magnat-Debon in the September 1945 GP de la Libaration in Nice, and also rode Nougier racing bikes.
Jean Nougier died in 1999 at the age of ninety.
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