Moto Martin epitomised the golden era of European special frame makers, creating café racers that were very much of their time – although the man behind them is now recreating them once more…
When Moto Martin burst on thescene as the new creator of café racer cool, it tapped into the vibe of the early ’70s perfectly. The nascent era of glam rock had already spawned the likes of David Bowie and TRex, along with other outrageous and lurid characters – and the motorcycle world was undergoing a similarly seismic change. Just as pop was going through a major image revamp while embracing ever more excessive amplification power, the bike world was also trying to deal with the monster bhp churned out by the new generation of Japanese four-cylinder superbikes. Starting a business producing café racers and frame kits in 1972 couldn’t have been more timely.
Having swapped his Velocette Thruxton for a Honda CB750 in 1969, Frenchman Georges Martin was familiar with the high-performance Japanese four-cylinder phenomenon – but reckoned his bike’s handling left a lot to be desired. That was a pattern which repeated itself as more superbikes emerged from the far east – and Martin seized the chance to address the issue.
His company ended up building a total of 5800 complete hand-crafted Moto Martin café racers and frame kits between 1972-86, nearly all of which were designed around four-cylinder Japanese engines.
Born in Nantes, in the Vendée region of western France, Georges Martin had moved to Paris to study at engineering school, then found work there as a draughtsman for an elevator company. Adedicated biker, he realised that handling was acommon complaint amongst CB750 owners – so Georges gave up his job and moved into a small workshop near the Bastille, where he worked on building a new chassis for the Honda engine by day and slept there by night.
His twin-shock design in 25CD4S chrome-moly steel, offered with racing-style full fairing bodywork, was closely based on the recently announced Egli-Honda spine frame design. This used the central tubular backbone as an oil tank for the dry-sump Honda motor – and when he displayed it in February 1972 at France’s annual Salon de Compétition, offering replicas of his so-called Bol d’Or design at a much lower price than the costly Swiss frame kit, Martin was inundated with orders.
Delivering improved handling, plus a weight saving of around 40kg, the venture’s commercial success intensified. A move to a bigger workshop was the obvious next step, so in 1973 Georges Martin establi
