Cycles Automoto poster – 1923 Vintage Cycling Poster The vintage cycling poster featured on this listing was created in 1927 to advertise the company’s recently introduced Tour de France bicycle model. The posters image, by an unknown artist depicts a well-dressed businessman casually riding home. He is sporting a suit and tie complemented by a hat and gloves. Meandering down a quite country lane, after a busy day at the office, the rider takes another draw on his cigarette. All of a sudden the loud whir of cycle wheel moving at speed draw his attention. A group of cycists appear from nowhere, racing each other in the opposite direction. The riders are the members of the Automoto professional cycling team. It’s difficult to assertain whether the businessman is impressed, in awe, or completely ambivalent about seeing the successful race team ride past. Maybe it’s because the professional’s bikes don’t appear to be any better than his! The Automoto Cycling Team The bikes may not have been any better but the riders certainly were. Automoto was a French professional cycling squad that was founded in 1910 The team’s main sponsor was the French bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer Automoto. The Automoto Cycling team depicted in the poster possibly resemble members of the squad. In 1922, about the time the poster was published, the pioneering Cycles Automoto Saint-Etienne team included the French riders Eugéne Christophe and Honoré Barthélémy and Belgian cyclists Paul Deman and Victor Lenaers. The team dominated the Tour de France, from 1923-1926 with a series of convincing victories captained by riders with international appeal like France’s Henri Pellisier, Italian Ottavio Bottecchia and Belgium’s Lucien Buysse. An earlier version of this Cycles Automoto poster provided a list of bicycle parts and their manufacturers. These include Jantes Kundtz wooden wheel rims and Pneu Hutchinson pneumatic tyres. Also listed are Wooden rims by Fairbanks of Boston, the Bowden tourist brake, Brampton Chains and Pedals, Cicca cycle lamps and Lamplugh saddles, all of which would have been made by speciality manufacturers at the time. The Automoto Company Automoto was a pioneering French manufacturer of bicycles and motorcycles founded in 1902. Although the cycle manufacturing side of the business, Cycles Automoto, was quite late to join the phenomenal bicycle revolution, the company soon built an enviable reputation for considered design and well contructed bikes. Sales were helped by Automoto’s keen use of adverts, marketing materials and in particular its Cycles Automoto poster s promoting some of the company’s wide range of products. According to the Ebykr website in a 1952 Automoto catalog the range of cycles available to the French market included: “grande,” “ballon,” “demi-ballon,” “tourisme,” “randonneur,” “demi-course,” “course” and “porteur” class bicycles, with many available in both men’s and women’s models. Automoto had an impressive 28 year run as a top French manufacturer of bikes and motorcycle. The company joined forces with the titan Peugeot group in 1930 and was completely absorbed by the company in 1962 How much is a 1923 Cycles Automoto poster worth? Depending on condition, original copies of this poster currently sell (2021) for between £750 – £1,000.This seems a fair price for a poster that has survived for more than 100 years. It is within the price range which is considered amongst the lowest for those thinking of starting an original vintage poster collection. There’s no argument from us, if you can find an original copy and can afford to buy it, you’re on to a winner. There’s nothing like owning an original vintage poster and they often make a great investment. Chances are in just a few years you’ll be able to sell it for more than you paid for it. Unfortunately, for most of us, an investment, even at the entry-level prices of the collectable poster isn’t even close to being a possibility. This is where our stunning high-quality reproductions come into their own. They cost a fraction of an original and look absolutely fantastic when they’re framed and hung on your living room wall.
