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The
French department of industry had a construction competition in 1978
which was won by three gentlemen by the names of Louis Boccardo,
Dominique Favario and Thierry Grange, hence BFG. The idea was to put a
car engine in a motorbike frame and was manageable enough to actually
make it into production. According to certain sources it was part of
the company that had been working with the manufacture of the Concorde
that got the assignment. According to the instruction book the
responsibility was in the hands of the moped- and bike manufacturer
Motobécane, at least towards the end when the BFG factory had financial
trouble.
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When
exactly the production started and ceased is not known, but it could
still be found in a German motor bike review in 1985. A total of about
450 bikes were made, and the French police were said to have bought
about a hundred of them. There was also supposed to have been a diesel
powered motor bike with the same engine as the Visa Diesel. However,
there was a bike called the MF with the 652cm3 motor from the Axel, LN or Visa.
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Citroën GSA engine
The engine is a 1 299 cm3 GSA
engine where the modifications were kept to a minimum. Among other
things the fuel pump has been replaced with an electric one and the
distributor has been replaced with an electronic ignition system. The
rocker covers are made of light alloy and the exhaust system is of
course replaced with chromed pipes and silencer. The clutch is modified
to make it manoeuverable by hand. The gear box is specially made, as is
the tubular frame. The gearbox has 5 gears with neutral between 1st and
2nd gear, and integrated with the cardan. An odd detail is the use of
straight gears in the gearbox. The brakes and wheels are from Brembo,
like the Moto Guzzi, and the silencers are also Italian.
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More car parts
On
the electrical side there are more car parts. The headlamp is from a
Renault R16 and the instrumentation from an Renault 5 TS. The generator
and starter engine are from the GSA.
Covers, tank and saddle are specially made. The tank isn't placed in
its ordinary place, where the air filter, battery and relays are
mounted, instead it's placed under the saddle (in the same way as the
Honda Gold wing). In the lower part of the covering there's the air
intake, and the fan on the motor has been retained which means there's
ample cooling even when driving slowly or standing still.
It's very long and wide, like a large BMW, but a few sizes bigger. The wheel base is 20 cms longer on the BFG.
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2 Cylinder MF
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Bore and stroke:
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77 x 70 mm
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Cubic capacity:
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652 cm3
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Compression ratio:
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9,2 : 1
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Carburettor:
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1 x Solex 26/38 CSI
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Ignition:
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Electronic A.E.I. Thomson
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Gearbox:
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5 speed
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Wheelbase:
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1 425 mm
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Height:
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740 mm
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Weight:
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190 kg.
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Max. power:
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36 bhp @5 500 rpm
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Max. torque:
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5,3 kgm. at 3 500 rpm
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Fuel consumption:
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5 litres/100 km
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If you have any more information about these bikes, please e-mail me.
The BFG Club in France
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© 1998 Julian Marsh/Citroënët
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This piece is lifted from The Swedish Citroen Club magazine written by Lars I Nilsson and translated by Ricard Wolf.
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