Le Pionnier
“Le Pionnier” is one of the 3 bikes I presented at Bespoked as part of a portfolio of bikes that represent my philosophy of building bespoke bicycles. Thanks to John and The Radavist, who perfectly covered the show, I can share some great professional photos in this article.
The frame of this particular bike is made from Columbus XCR tubes (it can be built in Zona or Max as well) and I built it two years ago. It actually has about 5000 km in it already and for the past two years it was in permanent prototype mode. The bike is an evolution of the bike I built for the 2018 Concours de Machine with a few modifications to be more versatile - hence the rocker dropouts to be able to install just about every transmission and disc brake type. I previously rode it with a Ritchey Adventure carbon fork and built a steel fork for the show, a) to show that I can and b) it just looks nicer and gives the bike more character. Because I had to paint the fork and the bilams on the head tube are from steel, I went for a partial powder coat, a semi-transparent fade in outdoorsy colors.
The most apparent accessories are TimTas U-Loop bags, an ultra-light pannier system developed by my friend Jean Michel of which I used the first version already for the 2016 Transcontinental Race. They sit rock solid and are very easy to slide on and off.
The bike is equipped with many parts from Hope (made in Europe, awesome quality, enormous catalogue depth and great customer service - thank you Laurent and Damien).
For the transmission and brakes I went with Growtac. I wanted to keep the bike mechanical, easy to maintain and compatible for future evolutions. The new Growtac brifters are right down that alley and it is now very easy to combine MTB derailleurs with drop bar shifters.
The front wheel is equipped with a SON dynamo to power the Forumslader Pro, an external power bank hidden in the top tube bag which powers the SON lights and allows plugging in other devices to charge while riding fast or slow or not at all.
The tires are the Rene Herse Umtanum Ridge 650x55b. The extra light version was a little too fragile during the initial test so I went for the endurance casing for this build. Also a much better match for the colors.
An all-weather C15 from Brooks, finishing kit from Ritchey and washable Grepp bar tape to finalize the build.
