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Description
Jean-Raoul Ducable, a.k.a. Jeannot LaCase, is a fan of Japanese bikes. Unlike fellow Joe Bar Team member Edouard Bracame, however, he doesn't take durable, reliable Hondas and turn them into hairy, scary, unstable beasts. Instead, Ducable buys bikes that are already hairy, scary, unstable beasts. In the early comics he rode a Kawasaki 750 H2, a three-cylinder two-stroke bike that made a *lot* of power in a very narrow rev band and had a light chassis with all the amazing rigidity of cooked spaghetti. Consequently, it would go very fast in a straight line, but braking and handling were... what's the word I'm looking for... Oh, yes: marginal, at best. In the later comics, bikes were not allowed to be that dangerous any more so he had a Suzuki GSX-R750 instead. The Gixxer had even more power and even less weight, but it had a rigid chassis and excellent stopping power, so it was much less of a "widow maker" than the Kawasaki had been.

It was really hard trying to find the right little tiddler for Ducable. Technically it really should be Japanese and two stroke, but my first idea, the Kawasaki KE100, made its debut in 1980, long after the demise of Manchzeck's Bantam. At the other end of the timeline, the Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon and the Fuji Rabbit were never exported in significant numbers and would not have made their way to France.

So, since Brasletti and Manchzeck had the two-stroke angle covered with the Vespa and the Bantam respectively, I decided that Ducable's bike need not be a two stroke. Also, since the only Japanese bike in Europe to meet the criteria was already under Bracame's bum, I decided that Ducable's little bike wouldn't be Japanese, either.

So here we have Jean-Raoul Ducable, who usually rides the nuttiest of nutter bikes, astride a small, sedate Cushman Eagle from the United States. Just because it's more likely for an American to take a Eagle to France than it is for a Japanese to take a Rabbit there. Or maybe just for the halibut.

I get the feeling that Ducable is enjoying his four-stroke American tiddler just as muchlittle as the others are enjoying their small bikes.

BTW, here are the others:
Guido Brasletti on his Vespa: [link]
Edouard Bracame on his Super Cub: [link]
Jean Manchzeck on his Bantam: [link]

Jean-Raoul Ducable, Joe Bar Team (c) Bar2 / Vents d'Ouest

Description
Jean-Raoul Ducable, a.k.a. Jeannot LaCase, is a fan of Japanese bikes. Unlike fellow Joe Bar Team member Edouard Bracame, however, he doesn't take durable, reliable Hondas and turn them into hairy, scary, unstable beasts. Instead, Ducable buys bikes that are already hairy, scary, unstable beasts. In the early comics he rode a Kawasaki 750 H2, a three-cylinder two-stroke bike that made a *lot* of power in a very narrow rev band and had a light chassis with all the amazing rigidity of cooked spaghetti. Consequently, it would go very fast in a straight line, but braking and handling were... what's the word I'm looking for... Oh, yes: marginal, at best. In the later comics, bikes were not allowed to be that dangerous any more so he had a Suzuki GSX-R750 instead. The Gixxer had even more power and even less weight, but it had a rigid chassis and excellent stopping power, so it was much less of a "widow maker" than the Kawasaki had been.

It was really hard trying to find the right little tiddler for Ducable. Technically it really should be Japanese and two stroke, but my first idea, the Kawasaki KE100, made its debut in 1980, long after the demise of Manchzeck's Bantam. At the other end of the timeline, the Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon and the Fuji Rabbit were never exported in significant numbers and would not have made their way to France.

So, since Brasletti and Manchzeck had the two-stroke angle covered with the Vespa and the Bantam respectively, I decided that Ducable's bike need not be a two stroke. Also, since the only Japanese bike in Europe to meet the criteria was already under Bracame's bum, I decided that Ducable's little bike wouldn't be Japanese, either.

So here we have Jean-Raoul Ducable, who usually rides the nuttiest of nutter bikes, astride a small, sedate Cushman Eagle from the United States. Just because it's more likely for an American to take a Eagle to France than it is for a Japanese to take a Rabbit there. Or maybe just for the halibut.

I get the feeling that Ducable is enjoying his four-stroke American tiddler just as muchlittle as the others are enjoying their small bikes.

BTW, here are the others:
Guido Brasletti on his Vespa: [link]
Edouard Bracame on his Super Cub: [link]
Jean Manchzeck on his Bantam: [link]

Jean-Raoul Ducable, Joe Bar Team (c) Bar2 / Vents d'Ouest