Description
Gillet 1931 Confort Luxe 400 cc side valve frame and engine#60705
The first Gillets -built in Herstal near Liege, Belgium- were brought out in 1920 and were unit-design300cc two-strokes with belt drive.
The design was simple, rugged and reliable and soon the company was an established and successful motorcycle manufacturer.
Many long-distance runs were made and the two-strokes were very prominent in races.
From June to December 1926 two Frenchmen rode their Gillets for a distance of 25,000 kilometres and covered almost all continents of the world.
No real problems occurred with the machines and from December 1926 the venerable two-stroke was named the “Tour du Monde”. Sporting four-strokes were brought out also at the end of 1926 and in 1928 the 500cc OHV “supersport”model broke many world records at the Monthlery track in France. At the end of 1930 the first side valves were introduced.
The machines had sloping engines in unit design and were available in 400cc ( 75×90) and 500cc versions and were named “Confort”.