SPLENDID POSTER of MODERNIST CYCLES, this illustrator is influenced by artists such as Cassandre, Loupot, precursors of Art Deco graphics.

A graphic success, the lightning crossing the character expresses the strength and power of this racing cycle brand

A French industrial and sports saga

DILECTA is one of the oldest and most prestigious French Cycle brands.

DILECTA (Latin): what we love, cherish. See the favorite

It was in 1913 that Albert Chichery created DILECTA cycles in the town of Le Blanc (36) where he was from. The entrepreneur who later became a politician (deputy for Indre) was passionate about cycling. He was a cyclist and sprinter of good regional level. His end of competition marked the beginning of the DILECTA adventure.

1913
The story begins
The DILECTA cycles brought together a wide range for professionals and cycling enthusiasts. 17 models: from racing bikes, half-racing bikes, touring bikes to city bikes and porters.

They developed rapidly from the opening of the Blanc factory at the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1913, the workshop manufactured around 1000 bicycles.
The following year when the First World War broke out, it was requisitioned by the State to produce shell casings. But the initial workshop continued to make bicycles.

At the end of the conflict, the factory resumed manufacturing cycles. Around 15,000 bicycles per year left the workshops where 150 workers worked.

In 1936,
25,000 bicycles were produced,
a record!
From 1937, DILECTA's high-end custom frames and road bikes for professional riders were manufactured in a new workshop opened in Tours. And from 1950, the carriers were produced in the Chinon factory.

The attention to detail, Dilecta's DNA since its creation
During the Second World War, the factory was requisitioned again to contribute to the war effort for France. During this period, it produced shells in particular.

At the end of the second conflict, the factory resumed its activity. It expanded its surface area and its production capacity, still under DILECTA, but also under Dion-Bouton (purchased in 1931), a brand in the same sector with which Albert Chichery had started his activity and carried on until the 1950s. Also owner of the JB Louvet (1937) and Helyett (1962) cycles, it then produced up to 25,000 bikes per year with more than 250 employees.

The road convicts
Dilecta cycles very quickly began by equipping and sponsoring regional and then national level riders in the 1920s in order to make the brand's yellow and blue colours shine on the roads of France and Europe.
The brand wrote the most beautiful pages of its history in the 1920s with the "road convicts" of the Tour de France, wonderfully described by the journalist Albert Londres. The latter interviewed the legendary Pélissier brothers in a café in Coutances (Normandy) during the 1924 Tour de France. He spoke of them in these terms: "Heroes of the era, riders with unmatched physical courage - where we rode for adventure, self-improvement, discovery". They made the DILECTA yellow and blue jersey shine on the roads of the most beautiful races and classics in Europe.

The Pélissier brothers, Charles and Francis, winners of the event, and Henri, the "road convicts" here during the 1926 Criterium des As. They were among the champions who won the most beautiful races of the time.

This was also the time when the main cities of France, Europe and the United States built their velodromes. Albert Chichery and DILECTA contributed to the construction of the Blanc velodrome in 1927, initially with a cinder track, then a wooden track in the 1930s and finally a cement track in 1949. The latter saw the greatest champions race there during the post-Tour meetings, including Coppi, Anquetil, Poulidor, Merckx and Fignon in 1983.

The DILECTA-WOLBER epic
1925 – 1955
The DILECTA-WOLBER adventure began in 1925.
The team is made up of many Belgian riders including Frans BondueL, Achille Buysse and Edgard de Caluwe who have won many victories in the biggest races: stage winners in the Tour de France and Paris-Nice, winners of the Tour of Flanders, Bordeaux-Paris, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, Paris-Brussels, etc.

In 1953 and 1954, the DILECTA-JB LOUVET-WOLBER team held the top spot with the yellow jersey worn by François Mahé on the Tour 54 and the victory at the French Championships by Jacques Dupont, who had already won Paris-Tours in 1951.

The KAMOME-DILECTA team
1966 – 1967
After 34 years at the highest level of professional cycling followed by a break of a few years, came the time of the KAMOMÉ-DILECTA team
It was created in 1966 under the direction of Louis Caput, former French Champion, who recruited French riders

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