How to make a motorcycle even more versatile? Of course, you need to make it caterpillar, increasing the cross-country ability. So thought, for example, back in 1931, the French Minister of War André Magino, a little later Henri Dreskra presented his project for the military, and somewhere in between there was Adrien Mercier from Switzerland.
At that time, the Mercier factories produced 50 cc mopeds and 125 cc motorcycles. For the needs of the military in 1932, Adrien began work on a tracked off-road vehicle, tested at the beginning of 1937 on the hills near the French Bois-Colombes.
Mercier tracked motorcycle tests.
To increase tractive effort, a 350 cc OHV JAP engine with ten hp was installed on the motorcycle. (at 3000 rpm). This allowed the tracked mechanism to move at speeds up to 65 km / h. The motorcycles were equipped with a three-speed Soyer gearbox, manually shifted. Air cooling of the engine included an additional fan driven by the engine.
The surviving original motorcycle from the collection of V. Sheyanov.
Attached to the motorcycle frame (like a standard motorcycle), a gas tank, saddle, muffler, footpegs and rear wheel (270/90). But the front of the motorcycle was a complex design that included several wheels, springs, gears and springs. A rubber track 150 mm wide was attached to the wheels.
The first model of the Mercier tracked motorcycle.
A total of two models were produced and tested. On the first, a large steel sheet was installed - an armor shield, but, as tests showed, it only increased the weight of the structure and prevented it from overcoming dirt. The second model was tested in July 1939. The tests were carried out in comparison with the Sevitame motorcycle, which was in service with the army. The tests showed the superiority in cross-country ability of the Mercier motorcycle, but its extreme "gluttony".
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The military was interested in further development of tracked motorcycles, but Adrien Mercier rejected proposals to improve and build a third model: "It wastes too much energy and money." And on July 27, 1939, the project of the unique tracked motorcycle Mercier ceased to exist. A total of five copies were released.