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Ebykr celebrates classic and vintage lightweight bicycles through provocative imagery and opinion. Ride along with us.
Hobbs of Barbican built its reputation on Albert Hobbs’ conviction that “a cycle is as good as its frame,” and the timeline below traces the company from its 1930 founding through wartime relocation to a brief 1970s revival. Along the…
Long before it became a byword for the durable, elegant aluminum fenders that seem never to die or go out of style, the name of Lefol passed through the fires of revolutionary Paris, the golden era of French cyclotouring and…
Nearly a century before swoopy modern wonderbikes claimed aluminum frames and quick-disassembly travel bikes as innovations, Pierre Caminade had already built them. Working from a small Parisian atelier, Caminade pursued an obsessive, self-driven program of aluminum-magnesium frame construction, componentry and…
Bayliss-Wiley Co. Ltd. was a highly respected designer and manufacturer of bicycle components for nearly a full century, ahead of its time as inventor of the world's first cassette hub in 1938 and bespoke supplier to British cycling and automotive companies alike. This timeline traces its corporate lifecycle through motorcar production and changes of ownership to its 1969 fade into Renold Chains Ltd.
This feature article provides an unprecedented visual window into the industrial soul of the Idéale brand, presenting rare archival photographs of the F. Tron & Cie and Tron & Berthet facilities and the generations of artisans who defined them. The images trace the company's journey from its hydraulic roots at a former wool mill to the height of its mid-century power.
The history of Idéale is a century-long narrative of industrial perseverance and technical mastery that transformed a modest Parisian stamping workshop into the emblematic brand of the French saddle. Founded in 1890 by Jean-François Tron, this timeline traces its pursuit of extreme lightness through Duralumin and Titanium chassis and its racing pedigree under Marcel Berthet.
Idéale saddles remain among the least understood classic bicycle components given their standout prominence and frequent exorbitant value. This feature unpacks the dizzying array of models produced under the Idéale marque, 82 and counting, and the collapsing French cycling industry that nearly ended the brand before its recent revival.
Key Events from the Company To capture the essence of Mavic is to look beyond individual patents and witness a century-plus cadence of innovation that has pulsed through the heart of Lyon since 1889. While our broader retrospective explores the…
The Golden Age of the Yellow Diamond: A Mavic Retrospective To the enthusiast of classic lightweight and vintage bicycles, few component makers evoke as much prestige and technological reverence as Mavic. Familiarity, too. Established in Lyon, France, in 1889, the…
MAFAC’s story is that of a specialist brake innovator facing the rise of integrated groupsets. For 20 prosperous years, MAFAC filled a crucial gap by creating brakes—like the pioneering Criterium cantilever and revolutionary Racer center-pull models—that were revolutionary in their…
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