1925 ‘Berceuse’ Gladiator Ladies’ Spring frame

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Our ‘Berceuse’ is the greatest improvement to the bicycle since the invention of the pneumatic tyre. It is the most comfortable and smooth bike you could imagine. Even on the worst roads, you will never be tired.  

– 1929 Gladiator catalogue

The Clement-Gladiator company introduced their ‘Berceuse’ suspension bicycle in 1922 (the extract below is from a magazine article ‘Au Salon de 1922’). The company was experimenting with various forms of suspension to use on motorcycles and, like other manufacturers of the time, used bicycles to test them. Not many of these machines have survived.

The word ‘Berceuse’ means lullaby, the suggestion being that suspension in a bicycle or motorcycle would provide a rocking action to send you to sleep. When I ride bikes with suspension, I’ve found the opposite to be true – the extra suspension definitely keeps me awake. As well as the sprung front, it is articulated at the bottom bracket. The seat stays end above the mudguard, where they join a pivot to the seat tube.

This is an interesting design, and I can see how it influenced motorcycle suspension.

1925 ‘Berceuse’ Gladiator Ladies’ Spring frame

with Front & Rear Suspension

Twin seat tube

22″ Frame

28″ Wheels

It takes a little while to get used to sprung bikes flexing where normal bikes don’t, but that doesn’t affect its rideability adversely. Passing cyclists intrigued by its quirky profile could become a problem …you need to factor in extra time to demonstrate its attributes if you’re cycling in a public place.

This rare ladies’ version of the Berceuse Gladiator (also sold with a Clement badge) is an older restoration. It was re-nickelled when it was repainted. A skirt guard is fitted to the rear mudguard and it has a Unic sprung saddle (made in Paris) and attractive four-bar pedals. Apart from a few scratches to the red paint (easy to touch up) it’s in excellent all-round order and ready to ride.

CLEMENT-GLADIATOR BERCEUESE SUSPENSION

SUSPENSION & DOUBLE SEAT TUBE: CLOSE UP VIEWS

SOCIETE FRANCAISE DES CYCLES GLADIATOR

18 Boulevard Montmartre, Paris, France

…Well worthy are ‘Gladiators’ to take their place by the side of Humber and Clement cycles. Wonderful, indeed, has been the rise of the Societe Francaise des Cycles Galdiator. In 1891 this now famous mark was the property of MM J. Aucoc and Darracq, the last named of whom is a familiar figure at all the race meetings. The renown obtained by the Gladiator Company is very largely due to the persistent efforts and great engineering and mechanical skill of M. Darracq, who has brought triplets, quadruplets, and quintuplets to the highest point of perfection. Hardly had the Gladiator Company completed two years of existence ere it was compelled to increase its plant and the number of its hands in proportion, while at its manufactory at Nantes, it was simultaneously producing the excellent ‘Phebus’ machine.

– The Illustrated London News, 10th October, 1896

During the 1890s, the Gladiator bicycle was one of France’s most prestigious machines and the company was a French market leader. What is particularly interesting is that, two centuries on, Gladiator bicycles are well known again because of their fabulous 19th century posters, designed by famous French artists of the day.

The 1896 merger of three of the leading French cycle companies – Gladiator, Clement and French Humber – was a turning point in the world of automobile manufacture, and The Gladiator became a top-selling car in Great Britain after the turn of the century.

BERCEUSE CLEMENT MOTORCYCLE

Clement-Gladiator revised their motorcycle line during the 1920s and introduced frames that also featured front and rear suspension, so were likewise known as ‘Berceuse.’