As a child, Matthieu spent his summers in Bruniquel where he enjoyed restoring bikes. He sands them and repaints them. One of them, restyled in black and gold, brought back to Paris on the roof rack of his parents’ car, is broken while passing under a gantry ! His parents offer him a new one which he assembles completely. It was an unforgettable memory because he enjoyed it so much! At the age of 13, he helps an old friend who cuts up and modifies bikes, and at 17, he builds his first complete frame! During his applied art studies in University, he does an internship at Sunn and then starts a school in industrial design. At the same time, he had a couple of jobs: buildings and furniture restoration and interior design. Finally, he wanted to go into cycling where, with few things, you can multiply human capacities tenfold.

Now, Matthieu works in a 90 square meters workshop, which is also occupied by a few woodworking machines, destined for his other activity ! Since the beginning of his job as a framer, Matthieu has built 51 bikes, mostly “gravel tours”, even though he is a mountain biker at first.

It’s taking hold in France ! Demand is increasing, bikes are in fashion and people are turning to local manufacturing. Having your bike custom-made is the Holy Grail! Amongst framers, quality is rising and I can see an evolution between the 2018 and 2021 machine contests, we are moving towards “haute-couture”.

2021 was a good test year, because with Covid I only made bikes. Having sold 11 bikes, I ended up with a deficit without paying myself a salary. It’s a fact: framers don’t live well from their work. This is not the case in the United States nor in England where the customers are more aware of the prices. Personally, I don’t want to mass produce, I want to be sharp, to have as much pleasure as the client !

During their common engineering studies, Silvin and Thomas discovered prototyping. They were particularly excited by this experience and wanted to relive it. Passionate about biking, the idea of building one from scratch was a natural one… They took the plunge as soon as they finished their studies and launched themselves as framers in 2018. With a background in computer design and machining, they are mainly self-taught.

Based in Strasbourg in a 72 square meters workshop, Silvin and Thomas have manufactured 48 travel bikes, their speciality, mainly in the form of gravels or road bikes, with a new opening towards mountain bikes. They privilege accessories coming from France or nearby countries.

It’s hard to get a perspective, because the acceleration is strong at the moment. The growing participation of framers in the machine contest shows that the profession is interesting and developing. There are going to be more and more bikes produced in France by craftsmen. The price of industrial bikes will undoubtedly rise, which will ease the sale of more expensive bikes sold by artisanal framers. Perhaps there will also be more and more schools for framers because people want to make their own bikes. The craft must remain a profession of experimentation, the framer sells an experience, he dialogues with the customer. We are in the business of tailor-made products. We need to communicate and educate people about the craft.

It’s hard to get a good salary. The added value is essentially time. A good part of the work is customer relations and it’s difficult to charge for this time. We are developing our business by designing and selling accessories (baskets, luggage racks, water bottle holders, etc.) to make a living from our work and to smooth out our activity to take a break from time to time.

Andreas has been passionate about cycling and travelling since he was a teenager and went on his first trip around the world at the age of 18: a tour from Germany to Austria, followed by trips to Africa, South America and Asia. His love of cycling made him want to work one day in the bicycle repair or design field. The idea was dormant and for twenty years he worked in various fields such as IT, management control and business creation. In 2014, after building a dozen test bikes and completing two internships in welding and brazing cycles in Germany and England, he launched his own business and created La Fraise cycles.

Based in Roubaix in a 60 square meters workshop, Andreas lives 100% from his work as a bike frame maker. He has built 83 bikes to this day: mainly all-terrain touring bikes that seduce him by their polyvalence. At the same time, he organises internships that have resulted in 130 bikes built by his students. Many new bike frame makers have come to him.

I hope that one day, each town will have its own bike frame maker. This will allow to communicate better about their existence and to promote the profession. In my opinion, the craft will be more and more favoured. I also think that more and more bike frame maker will produce “mini series” of identical bikes, both to make a better living and to satisfy the demand.

It is difficult for bike frame makers to justify the price of their bikes in contrast to commercial bikes; Although this is the price to pay for the hours spent on a bike to make it. For example, a rider requires 150 to 200 hours of work.
Very often, the bike frame maker charges less than the price that would allow him to be adequately remunerated for the hours spent, like between 40 and 50 euros/hour. Step by step, people understand the price. We need to move in this direction to promote the bike frame maker profession, which is a tailor-made job. Personally, I earn a decent living thanks to the organisation of internships.

Sailing is Louis’ first love. After his studies in composite materials engineering, he left to manufacture carbon sailboat masts in Romania. He then flew to Chile where he made children’s games, then skis and snowboards. Back in France, he worked in an industrial engineering firm and launched in parallel his activity of making bamboo bike frames. He thus fulfilled his desire to do a manual activity and to make beautiful objects.

Based in St Maurice des Lions, in a 60 square meters workshop in a family home, Louis has built 12 bikes since he started in 2019. Mainly travel-oriented gravels, but also two EMTBs, a road bike and a city bike.

Born into a cycling family, with parents who were cyclists, Laurent had the freedom to observe the little queens shaking in the spokes… to the point where he saw his first desire to make a frame at 15 years old. An idea that he did not put into practice because he wanted to make a frame that was not made of steel, a bike with different shapes… In 2016, after finishing his studies, he worked in the world of mechanical design. His bike project is still there with the idea of making it out of folded metal sheets. Thinking further, he realises that composite materials such as carbon are better for his artistic desires. He first made a swing arm, then a whole frame. The composite adventure is launched! There is no limit to creation: everything is possible in terms of aesthetics and mechanics, provided that he masters the manufacturing process, which requires a great deal of know-how, the result of numerous experiments.

In his small 15 square meters workshop at home, Laurent has made 8 bikes. Despite his primary interest in making mountain bikes, he has also made road, children’s and city bikes. For him, framing remains a hobby. He has an independent design office and works for the general industry, but also for the cycle industry. He has also worked for a professional cycling team…

The explosion of cycling is exceptional. I think that framers will benefit from it and will be more and more numerous. To do this, they need to raise awareness of their profession in order to develop. In the future, perhaps there will be more links between the framers and the bike industry? These two worlds could be complementary. The arrival of the EAB also raises questions for the framers who will have to find their place in this new world.

A former DH and enduro competitor, Rémi has been a real suspension geek. His natural inclination for the Pyrenees has often led him to look up to the “soum”, rounded peaks in Pyrenean dialect, to find new fun rides on his bikes… During his engineering training, Rémi works as a trainee in the workshops of Milc Industry, a company that has chosen to relocate the production of cycles to France. Rémi enjoys working in the bicycle industry but wants to work with individuals. He is only interested in “all terrain” bikes inspired by his original activity: gravel, long distance, hiking. The only exception is that his first frame, made in 2018, was a BMX.

Rémi has made about ten bikes in the shared workshops of Milc, in La Barthe de Neste in the Hautes Pyrénées. He has just launched his micro-business but does not live 100% from his activity.

The framers will have more and more work because soft mobility is growing. But they will have to go into recycling and do more and more restoration, because we will run out of raw materials or they will be too expensive. More generally, manual work will take over. More farmers, more craftsmen. People will have less money and will have to reappropriate manual skills to get by, save money…

At the end of his thesis in industrial ecology, Maël felt the need to work with his hands. Without being at the centre of his life, the bike occupies a part of it through his practice of triathlon and his voluntary investment in a bike repair workshop. He is interested in their manufacture and, through his training, in the ethics of their industrial production. By chance, he learns about the existence of artisanal framers and the machine competition. Curious, he did a work placement at Cyfac which confirmed his attraction to the profession. He completed two welding courses where he learned TIG welding in particular. Having mastered this aspect, he took a 10-day course at The Bicycle Academy in England. There he learned the basics of frame manufacturing, structure assembly and marketing. He perfected his training with a lot of specialized and technical reading, especially on postural studies.

Maël has been renting a workshop of 40 square meters in Troyes since 2019. He has made about 15 frames, all different types. Apart from the cargo bike, he has done everything! A choice made with the desire to progress and to offer a complete range: road, gravel, travel and city. As far as equipment is concerned, he favours European sourcing.

More and more young people are going to train at the end of their studies and do this job when they enter working life. Perhaps one day there will be an engineering course in cycling? As for bikes, I think there will be a lot of innovation in cargo and practical bikes.

A bike lover from an early age, Julien arrived in his teens dreaming of pictures of craftsmen welding bike frames. With his degree in applied mechanical engineering in his pocket, he worked as a “mould driver” for a company manufacturing carbon parts for the automotive and aeronautical industries. A “globalised job” that led him to burn out on modern life after seven years of travelling back and forth to Asia… During a visit to Taiwan, he observed the factory of a bicycle manufacturer with sadness: a huge factory, employees without pleasure at work, thousands of bicycles… The image of the craftsman making a unique bike came back to him. In search of manual work and a job with more meaning, he launched himself and made his first frame in 2014, learning the trade by himself.

In his 33 square meters workshop in the hills above Chambéry, Julien specialises in “adventure bikes” able to accommodate panniers, from long distance bikes to mountain bikes. He has manufactured about sixty bikes to this day.

The bicycle is on the rise. It is in line with the need for gentle travel. In this context, the profession of framer is coming back to the forefront and developing. People have understood the added value that framers bring. But we are still faced with a globalised and broken environment: the retailers are pulling the prices and are finding it difficult to make a living…

With his first mountain bike at the age of 12 and his team of friends “Les Crazy speedy team”, Laurent has been riding all the hairpins and triathlon courses in the Gap area. This gave him an insatiable thirst for riding in the middle of nature. With his team, he designs bikes, suspension systems and spends a lot of time at the local bike shop where they give a hand in exchange for bike parts. After studying mechanics and obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in composite materials, he spent 6 years working in the industry. In 2007, he joined the entertainment industry where he became a designer, builder and installer of rope structures and devices. In 2019, an interview with the circus artist Pierre Glottin, now a framer, was a revelation. The year covid allowed him to mature his project and he soon made his first bike at Edelbikes in Grenoble, during an internship.

Laurent made his first two bikes in the Edelbikes workshop in Grenoble. He is now looking for a place in Die to set up shop. His production will focus on transport bikes (and everything you need to transport with a bike in the countryside: trailer, cargo, follow me…), and mountain bikes with rigid steel frames. He also wishes to recycle existing frames to adapt to the local context of the Diois where people do not necessarily have large funds.

Very few framers make a 100% living from it. It requires a lot of organisation and intelligence. I admit that it scares me a bit. It’s probably more acceptable when you live in a decreasing mode or in the countryside. Personally, I’m starting out with the aim of making a minimum living from it.