Staring at images of this 1937 Gnome-Rhone AX2 800, it’s easy to get lost in the myriad details of its design.
The relative age apparent on many of its components only adds to the allure — what stories could this machine tell? Unfortunately, this Gnome-Rhone’s backstory is lost to history, but Jim Balestrieri of Wisconsin’s Throttlestop Museum is certainly familiar with its most recent past.
Always on the lookout for motor-cycles to add to Throttlestop’s growing collection of diverse machines, in early 2021 Jim found the AX2 800 offered for sale by Yesterdays Antique Motorcycles in the Netherlands (yesterdays.nl). “I’m fascinated by motorcycles with a military connection, and Gnome-Rhone is just one more company with that background,” Jim explains. “And I like larger, more robust bikes, and the AX2 is a big mama.” Although he’d been looking for a Munch Mammoth on Yesterdays’ site, the AX2 piqued his interest. Instead of locating a Munch, Jim purchased the Gnome-Rhone. It landed Stateside in mid-August 2021.
Looking back
According to the website (or, loosely translated, Friends of the Gnome-Rhone) the company was at first two competing manufacturers of
