LEJEUNE

In 1947, the twin brothers Roger and Marcel Lejeune, former amateur racing cyclists, set out to manufacture bicycles. In the 1950s, Lejeune Cycles purchased a small manufacturer J. Beck, of Rue Réaumur in Paris, whose brand was called Sauvage. The bicycles were marketed under the name Sauvage-Lejeune. The head badge of their bicycles depicted a caricature of a “savage” that would now be considered offensive by some and may be the reason that from the late 1960s the bicycles were branded only as Lejeune. In 1974, Lejeune Cycles bought and moved into the empty buildings of the Suze-Pernod Company at 39 avenue du Général Leclerc in Maisons-Alfort on the south-eastern outskirts of Paris.

Lejeune sponsored or co-sponsored professional cycling teams from 1961 through to 1980:

• 1961: Sauvage-Lejeune – Pelforth 43
• 1962 – 1968: Pelforth – Sauvage-Lejeune
• 1969 – 1971: Sonolor – Lejeune
• 1973: De Kova – Lejeune
• 1974: Jobo – Lejeune
• 1976 – 1978: Lejeune – BP
• 1979: DAF Trucks Aida (Lejeune bikes)
• 1980 DAF Trucks – Lejeune
• 1985 CSM Persan – Bic (Lejeune bikes)