History FN.
FN which is short for Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de querre, was founded in 1889 in Herstal. At first, the factory was only focussed on weapon & ammunition production, starting with Mauser guns for the Belgian government, but very soon also for several other countries. Investments were made to further develop modern, technological procedures, in order to produce precision material. This soon resulted in making a broader range in product assortment, such as bikes, cars and motorbikes.The factory already started building motorbikes in 1902, which were for sale to the public. After a short while, they already had a catalogue, showing 15 different models..
The first M13 was put in production in 1947.Typically to this model was the front suspension, being a unique trailing cantilever structure with pulled front wheel.At first, the frame was a parallelogram shape with steel springs at the sides. Later on, the model follows the roundings of the mudguard, foreseen of rubber bands to control suspension movement (given the fact that the wheel of a wheelbarrow was more easily pulled, than pushed over an obstacle).Around 1953, this front-fork was replaced by a telescopic model. The rear suspension with rubbers was applied to all these models.In 1954 the frame of the M13 was completely renewed with telescopic suspension at the front, as well as the back.

The driving gear was a type of blockengine, of which the carter and the gears were the same with each model.This was a clever move for the production and storage of elements and spare parts.In 1958, this all came to an end and the factory decided to only concentrate on producing lighter motorbikes (M22 etc.)
A comparison.
I have an original company invoice of an 450cc ohv deluxe from 1951 in my possession, which amounts BEF 33.688. Comparing this with a piece of land of 30 acres, bought by some friends in that same year, this only costed BEF 4.500.This is probably the explanation why they suddenly only produced lighter bikes at lower prices.
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