Étienne Chéret

Étienne Chéret climbed his first podiums in 1910, placing third at “La Grande Consolation” cycling race in Pont-Carré and in 1911, he was second in the Union vélocipédique de France (UVF) Winter Outing. He then participated in the road time trial at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, finishing 89th in the individual road time trial as a non-scoring member of the 10th-place team. In this year, he also repeated his second place in the 1912 UVF Winter Outing. In 1913, he achieved several solid results and also competed in the classic Paris–Roubaix race, where he finished 87th.

Drawing on his experience, Chéret started building bicycles under his own brand. The company existed at least from 1914 but disappeared with the end of World War I. As a cyclist, Étienne Chéret came back to compete at Paris-Brest-Paris in 1921, finishing 12th.

Like many former cyclists of the era, Chéret transitioned to motorcycle racing. He earned his first victories in 1923 aboard a 125 cc Mascot motorcycle, including the Bol d’Or, a 24-hour endurance event held annually since 1922. Between then and 1929, he won the Bol d’Or again in various classes, as well as multiple editions of the Paris-Pyrenees-Paris and the Six Days of Winter. He also set several world records over 1 km and 1 mile, both from a flying start and from a standing start. From 1926 onward, many of his victories came on Austral machines. He also competed successfully in hill climbs and sidecar events, and throughout his career progressed to racing 500 cc motorcycles.

In 1928, Chéret began competing in cyclecar races, achieving considerable success and setting several records. He went on to build his own machines and, together with a fellow racer, operated a workshop for motorcycles and cyclecars from 1929 into the early 1930s. He was crowned French cyclecar speed champion in 1930 and 1931, and claimed his final Bol d’Or victory in 1933 on a 350 cc cyclecar. After failing to finish the 1936 Tour de France for motorcycles, he brought his competitive career to a close.

In 1907, he married Jeanne Foichat and together they had one son. In 1938, he got married for a second time, to Suzanne Jeanne Versinger.