Description
FN 1954 M13 “Luxe” 344 cc side valve single frame & engine # 11067
When FN presented the M 13 model range at the motorcycle exhibition in Paris at the end of 1946, it received a lot of attention. In the first place because the quality of the FN product was convincing again and secondly because of the appearance of the front suspension. This was a unique trailing cantilever structure with pulled front wheel. At first, the frame was a parallelogram shape with steel springs at the sides. In a later version the fork tubes followed the rounding of the mudguard, with rubber bands to control suspension movement. The theory behind this construction is that a wheel can be more easily pulled than pushed over an obstacle. The rear wheel suspension also attracted a lot of attention. This worked with a system with rubber bands, “elastics”. The engines were designed as unit constructions and all models in the 250, 350 and 450 cc classes basically had the same bottom end with identical crankshaft, conrod, clutch, gearbox, et cetera. All versions had the same stroke of 80 mm and only the bores differed for the various models. The M13 was popular as an army machine, in 1950 and 1951 1470 444 cc models were delivered to the Belgian army. The M 13 got excellent publicity in early 1951 because of the “Raid Belgique-Congo” that started on December 9, 1950 in Brussels. Seven officers of the 1st Parachute Regiment set out on their M13s for an extraordinary journey to the middle of the African continent. After having conquered many difficulties all seven of them arrived on February, 15 at their destination, the town of Kamina in what at the time was Belgian Congo. They covered 13,000 kilometres and their machines performed excellently, proving the reliability of the M13. From 1951 on the M13 models were also available with telescopic front forks.
The machine we present comes with VDO speedometer and has been meticulously restored according to “ Luxe” specifications, with many chromed parts and lining on the mudguards. The FN is running well (video available).