Where did the term motard originate?

I've been into and out of bikes, dirt and street for some time. The term motard is new to me, and I undertstand it to mean a motocross bike with street tires. The name sounds like the combination of Motocross and Retard, hence my curiosity as to where the term originated from, as I'm sure that's not what it means.

it's a french word, translates to cyclist or biker I believe

Motard

Supermotard

Supermotard-riding dirt bikes on pavement-is the answer. What was the question?

By Andrew Trevitt

If you're in the typical age group of sport riders, you'll remember the made-for-TV show The Superbikers from the early 1980s. Here's a brief recap: Take the top riders from the major flattrack, roadrace and motocross series, and pit them against each other on a mixed pavement/dirt course for a winner-take-all showdown. It's a recipe for, well...what was a great series but for some reason just never caught on at the time.

After a decade of dormancy, The Superbikers returned in the form of Supermotard or Supermoto. Surfacing in France as the Guidon d'Or (the Golden Cup), the concept was the same: Riders from a variety of disciplines compete on a partially paved, partially dirt course. And just as the bike of choice in The Superbikers was a lowered, wide-tired motocross bike, current Supermotard machinery typically consists of big-bore, four-stroke motocrossers, suitably modified. The Superbikers/Supermotard comeback has spawned a number of series, whether it's serious multi-race championships like Don Canet's SuperTT series or the Thursday night rumbles in the parking lot behind the local Target. They all have one thing in common though-dirt bikes ridden on pavement or a dirt/pavement mix.


When I first saw this thread I got curious. This is the best explaination I found.

A long time ago there was a guy name timothy blum that had to ride his dirtbike to work everyday cause he could not afford a car. Now he did this for over a year without any problems until the city started paving some of the roads. Timothy did not want to buy a road bike cause half of the roads were still dirt. So he put a sort of street tire on the bike and began using this setup to go on dirt and the pavement. Timothy had two coworkers one who would constantly call him a retard and his boss who called him a moron. So one day his boss put a nametag on his shirt that said moron and his coworker put one on that said retard and when he saw his boss had already put one on he tried to tear his off but only half of it came off and left the tard and left the mo from moron showing. Mo+tard=motard

hmmmmmm......... sounds plausable, lol