A French flat tracker from a former Ducati racing mechanic…
In recent years, flat track has exploded in popularity across the globe. American Flat Track attendance is up, Indian has reentered the fray to challenge Harley-Davidson and reignite a great American rivalry, events like DirtQuake are getting more riders than ever onto the track, MotoGP wunderkind Marc Marquez has helped revive the Superprestigio, Sideburn magazine is killing it, and the Super Hooligan series is putting production-based bikes on the track.
Meanwhile, in France, BCKustoms (Breizh Coast Kustoms) has been building some of the hottest custom trackers on the planet. Headman Yann Le Douche worked a racing mechanic for Ducati France, a World Superbike team coordinator, and a MotoGP journalist before he caught the flat track bug during a 2012 trip to the States, where he watched the races at Daytona.
Since then, he’s gone on to build some of our favorite street and flat trackers, including this Sportster Hooligan we featured last year. Now Yann is back with something wholly different, a 1952 Peugeot 150 tracker built for apparel brand La Touche Française (The French Touch), who specialize in marine-style pullovers. The bike has a color scheme that matches the brand’s bestselling piece and the paint is even applied on the tank to look like a worn pullover.
In the near future, this sweet little Peugeot will be exhibited in an array of specialty shops in Bordeaux, Paris, Zurich, Biarritz, perhaps even Tokyo or New York. Yann and BCKustoms may end up offering bespoke Peugeot street or flat trackers via La Touche Française, allowing customers to choose the matching color scheme to their pullover, as well as race number and choice of saddlery, grips, accessories, etc. If you might be interested in such a build, let us know in the comments!
Below, we get the full story on this French flat tracker.
Peugeot Flat Tracker: In the Builder’s Words
It started with one of my motorcycles being exhibited in a local skateshop, Dezert Point.
This summer, Alan from Dezert Point let his secondary store as a pop-up shop to his buddy Hervé Delattre, creator of the brand La Touche Française (The French Touch), which manufactures marine pullovers 100% made in France (local wool production network, local manufacturing, only the buttons of the shoulder are made in Lille). My 256 TC4 arrived on the synthetic grass of the shop. His father worked on all his life for Peugeot.
One evening, around a beer with Hervé and Alan, we decided to make a promotional machine for La Touche Française. Tense budget but willingness from both parties. In exchange for my efforts on the construction, Hervé promised to have the machine traveling in classy shops where he sells his products in France and Europe, so that I find contacts there.
Found on leboncoin at the end of August was this Peugeot 150cc from 1952. Historic nickname, “the Bastard,” because it was neither one, 125 nor 175 typical for that period. Almost complete, just missing harness and coil, but these were not useful for this show bike anyway. A lot of work to be done in spite of the “pro” sanding coating treatment given by the previous owner…
In the workshop: all parts checked and evaluated to know what will be got back, hammered or changed. Sanding coating of the frame in black, modification and painting of the body elements in the colors of the best-selling pullover of the brand. Purchase of certain parts at Chambrier such as rubbers, saddle cover and silencers.
Naturally, my flat track style had to appear somewhere. As a result, we make it a little more aggressive and number plates came to finish dressing the bike with a LSL handlebars chrome and of two Megaton silencers.
A full exhaust was homemade and polished at Fifties and More. Wheels gone rebuilt with brushed hubs, new spokes and powdered rims. Tires were found at Heidenau and a recent tag of their products on the Scrambler XS500 HuXSy build led me to propose their presence on this project. Reception thus of two tyres: K34 Route, a little bigger (1/2″) for a little of the big tyre spirit of Dunlop and Maxxis, but in 18″ diameter. Top result and great products. Thanks to Charles-Henrick Gaurier, Heidenau France for this collaboration.
Finally, a big engraving work came to regain its former glory, with elements in brass engraved by AdG-Atelier du Graveur, local friend who make a perfect job.
Thank you also to Cap Enseignes for help to putting the famous matte black stripes on the fuel tank to look like the marine pullover. (They follow scrupulously the profile and the shape of the tank and also give a strange variation/move onto the back as a worn pullover in fact.)
The motorcycle arrived finished at the middle of November at Dezert Point. The delay of some deliveries made the project of reassembly complicated, as we were doing a timelapse video for promotional needs.
Last Thursday, the machine left for Bordeaux as requested by the store Michard Ardilier (luxury St-Catherine area, historic city center of Bordeaux, distributor of products La Touche Française) for the opening of a Deus ex Machina pop up store (they rented the shop of Mister Michard).
She has to stay there until Christmas time before being moved to Paris at Vintage Motors, in Bastille or Avenue de la Grande Armée for exhibition. These are are the biggest Paris Motorcycle stores and distributors of LTF products. Then? Andernos, Biarritz, Zurich in Switzerland, Bath in UK…
There are even murmurs that a second, even a third bike could be built for promotional purposes and that one of them could leave to the LTF dealer in Tokyo… I also await the outcome of a commercial partnership with a shop in New York. I shall naturally do the deliveries! Ah! Ah!
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Special thanks to…
- La Touche Française – Apparel brand
- Dezert Point – Skate & Surf shop – Quimper (Fr)
- Heidenau France – Tire manufacturer
- Vintage Motors – Paris motorcycle shop
- Michard Ardilier – Paris store
- Fifties and More – Surface treatment – Pont-Croix (Fr)
- Atelier du Graveur – Industrial and jewelry engraving – Ergué-Gabéric (Fr)
- Cap Enseignes – Stickers and advertising supports – Chateaulin (Fr)
