SICAM (Société Industrielle de Construction Automobile et Motocycliste) located in Pantin in the Paris region. This company specialised in the construction of a 100cc inbuilt engine for bicycles. In this company worked Marcel Violet, the 2-stroke specialist of France, a young engineer Charles Benoît and the manager Abel Bardin. In 1923 Benoît and Bardin decided to stand on their own two feet and founded "Les Ateliers de la Motobécane". The company started modestly on the rue Lesault, still in Pantin, with a 175, the MB1, whose characteristics and engine design were somewhat reminiscent of those of the SICAM.

The SICAM was a 100cc 2-stroke engine that could be attached to the frame of a bicycle with a bracket on the cylinder head. The petrol tank could also be mounted in this way with brackets and wing nuts. On the rear tube of the frame a sprocket was mounted (not present here). The drive between engine and sprocket was by belt and the drive to the rear wheel was by chain.