Malcolm and Rob cycling their home build kits in France!

Malcolm and Rob cycling their home build kits in France. Two friends, two bamboo bikes, one French village road.

This is what it's about. Not just building a bike, but riding it somewhere meaningful with people you enjoy. The autumn colours in the trees. The quiet country lane. The casual pace that says 'enjoying ourselves' rather than 'training hard.'

Brown jacket and red trousers on one side, blue fleece on the other. Neither outfit suggests serious cycling, which is rather the point. These are comfortable rides through beautiful countryside, not races.

Both bikes show the golden bamboo tones that characterise our kits. From this distance the builds look similar — home builds from the same source, probably constructed around the same time, maybe even in the same workshop session.

France rewards bicycle travel like few other countries. The roads wind through villages unchanged for centuries. The drivers expect cyclists. The cafés welcome sweaty arrivals. Taking bamboo bikes built in British workshops to French roads feels like completing a circle.

The photo quality suggests a quick phone capture, which makes it more honest. This is a real moment, not a posed shoot. Friends riding bikes they built. Simple, and exactly enough. 🇫🇷