Festival International de la Petite Reine

October 2009

The Festival International de la Petite Reine, the first handmade bike show in France, is in the books.

The weekend was magnificent, blue skies, temperatures that seemed like summer instead of early October. Inside the hall a relaxed ambiance that felt like a family gathering. To say that exhibitors and visitors alike had never experienced a bike show like this one would be an understatement.

To start with, there’s the entry road to Fort Barraux, a narrow road framed by thick trunked trees that curls up the side of a low hill and into a small maze of rock walls. Then a sharp left onto a bridge over a dry moat. The bridge isn’t much wider than a couple of cyclists riding abreast then it’s through a narrow gateway piercing the walls of the 16th century fort. Between the wooden planks rattling under the passage of bike wheels and the gloom of the arched entryway, you have to wonder where you’re going, to a bike show or into some sort of medieval prison.

You press ahead and burst into a great park of sunlight, blue skies, mountains in the background, a small stone chapel in the foreground, and to the left a grand hall with music floating out the massive double doors. Welcome to the Festival of the Small Queen, France’s first handmade bike show.

The hall’s interior is a setting like none anyone has ever seen before for a bike show. A ceiling supported by massive wooden beams supported on even more massive wooden posts, all showing some 400 years of history! The contrast with the display of modern bikes was remarkably comfortable.

The show was a revelation for all the french cyclists who either had no idea that handmade bikes were still built or had simply assumed they’d been relegated to the world of antique dealers. Not only did they discover that handmade bikes are alive and well, they discovered a quality many had never even seen before.

Yet the real marvel was watching the interaction between visitors and builders and between the builders themselves. Seeing someone enter the hall and suddenly realize that standing right there was none other than Laurant Brochard and that he wasn’t there to sign autographs but to talk about the array of beautiful bikes he and his brother Christophe build. And right across from Laurent and Christophe were Daniel Guédon and Daniel Cattin, the two french builders with far and away the longest histories of french frame building (along with Alex Singer in Paris). If they weren’t busy answering questions from visitors they were as often as not exchanging information, techniques, and stories with the new wave of french builders who’ve only recently plunged into the world of tubes and angles, builders like Tom Bailly-Salins (oTm), François Cau (Edelbikes), Patrice Drouin (Vagabonde), and Kris Vacheron (Julie Racing Design).

The vast majority of visitors had no idea who Sacha White is nor that his Vanilla Bikes are considered by many a connoisseur of hand crafted frames the finest on the market. The visitors might not have known but the french builders knew and were thrilled to have him at the show. He doesn’t speak french and not all the french builders speak english but they all spoke the language of frames and as often as not Sacha could be found head to head deep in some conversation with one or several builders.

The same could be said for Darrell McCulloch (Llewellyn Bikes), an australian whose frame work is as renowned as Sacha’s. He wasn’t there as an exhibitor but happened to be in the region and decided to pass by to check out the show. He stayed for the two days and spent the entire time in long conversations with all the other builders.

Jan Dejonckheere added his long experience building bikes in Belgium to the show and showed a full display of his work - mountain bikes, bmx, road bikes. He enjoyed himself so much he promised to come back only next time he’d bring along a bunch of his fellow belgium builders to add even more impact to the belgium array. Adding even more diversity to the festivities was Gilles Gaillard showing his prototype wood frame mountain bike designed for snow. Then there was Gabriel Mensi with a display of recumbent bikes plus a trike with an electric motor in the rear wheel that seemed to be constantly surrounded. According to Mensi interest in and sales of electric assisted bikes has exceeded all his most optimistic projections.

Michel Roux, a tubing, lugs, and fork supplier, had a complete stand that for many a visitor was an education in and of itself. It was also a popular stop for the builders.

Kent Eriksen unfortunately had to cancel his trip to the show but his bikes were shown by his french importer, ti-bikes.com, and the frames never ceased to turn heads with the exquisite workmanship speaking eloquently in his absence. Also represented by his products rather than by himself was Lou Binik of Foxwear clothing, a bit of an iconoclast in the sense of manufacturing remarkably efficient sports clothing at prices that are so low that people had to look twice to see if what they were reading was correct.

A last stand that was well appreciated was a collection of old mountain bikes. They weren’t selling anything, just showing a bit of history that apparently hit all the good notes.

In sum the weekend was for all - exhibitors, visitors, organizers, the volunteers who organized the cycling tours on Saturday, the volunteers who served the food and drinks - a weekend of wonderful conviviality.

All of which came to pass thanks to the support of local administrations. Those politicians whose financial support made the festival happen visited the festival Sunday morning for the official inauguration and ended up spending way more time at the show than they had planned. The visited every stand, talking with the builders, looking at their work, and the more they saw and heard, the more impressed they were and the more time they took looking and asking questions. They were so impressed that well before they’d even finished the tour, they’d already decided that the show had to continue.

Hence we want to thank M François Brottes, député for the Isère, president for the Grésivaudan and mayor of Crolles; Mme Eliane Giraud, president of the Parc Naturel Régional de Chartreuse and commissioner for the Rhone Alpes region; M Francis Gimbert, commissioner for the Rhone Alpes region; M Christophe Engrand, mayor of Barraux; M Philippe Thuet, president of the association for Fort Barraux. and of course the Office du Tourisme du Grésivaudan and its president, Mme Denise Cugnilio, and M André Vidal, vice-président, and the entire tourist office team who did so much to make the weekend a success.

We need to also thank M Bruno Janin of Acro Bike for his well appreciated and rather spectacular trials show. His display of bike skills that went so far beyond anything most cyclists have ever dreamed of in their wildest moments had to be seen to be believed. Even Laurent Brochard was impressed.

Thanks to all, the exhibitors, the visitors, the volunteers, and especially to the weatherman.

Hank Barlow