January 2024

Manufacture Berthoud Cycles
Text: Jean-Acier DANÈS

At the Manufacture, eight people are working.

    At the Manufacture, eight people are working. Eight people, regardless of the weather, regardless of the season, take different roads to Fleurville. Some drive a long way and cross the Creusot's forest foothills, some others come to the manufacture from the Ain, Tournus, Mâcon. Some live nearby, or at a pedal's reach. There are the ones who arrive early, the one who watches the deliveries, the one who books a table for lunch, on the way. And there's always a night when, guided through the night by the glow of the hub's dynamo, one has to come home late.

    At Berthoud, the passion for kilometers remains unchanged from 1977. More than an old childhood love story, it's a soul that was forged and welded, an identity which is enriched as the equipment travel the world. We are in 2024. A new year begins. New days which will make us contemporaries of a surprising world, sometimes joyful, sometimes harsh, sometimes creative, sometimes destructive, sometimes soft, and so often fascinating.

balade à vélo en forêt

Photographic credits: © Philippe Marguet

     Talking with the people at the Manufacture and beyond, I notice that the desire to ride a bike is motivated by endlessly varied reasons: our health, our environmental footprint, our time, our wallet, our interactions or encounters with people living here, our aesthetic joy or physical discipline – and of course, the pleasure to be on our bike, moving in nature. All these reasons unite at least eight people in their work, with all their craft and savoir-faire, making quality bikes. They will be the perfect fellow travelers for any adventure, starting with the ones within easy reach.

   On an autumn day, a conversation gives rise to an idea. The year 2024 begining on a Monday, why not starting to evoke what's at the origin of this taste? It should be materialized, told, we should write about what's the genesis of everything.

   What better reflects Berthoud's wish – designing high-performance bikes, beautiful trekking equipment, inimitable saddles and bags that became classics – is the landscapes we run into. Weeks after weeks. Seasons after seasons. Frames. Vignettes. Icons. Inspirations. Qualms that we project. This contemporary manufacture's genesis, it's landscapes.

     These horizons we cross. These views we leave as we go: a certain light on the plains, the fog between two hills, a train running through the pink hour, trees stuck in the cold like frozen sticks, sunrays on the golden stones of a building, or a funny sign by a railway track. A humble way to face the road's challenges as an aesthete.

    These surrounding regions geographers call "territories", sociologists call "background". They are the "vicinities" who talk so well about those who grew up there. Soil and land are the binder to a soul – a glass of wine, a handful of corn, an odour prove it so well. Like Ulysses who, in Homer’s Odyssey, smells in the wind the fragrance of the land he wants to go back to, Berthoud Cycles' identity is written in the landscapes. Through them are tested bikes' most famous parts, rear view mirrors, fenders, bags, pannier racks, saddles, and of course, bikes themselves. It's in this radius of about ten kilometres where innovations are born, where the artisans making them a success live: whether they are creators, collaborators, young apprentices, or highly qualified subcontractors. Finally, it is with the impressions of this regions that customers leave, like me, they are simple visitors, travellers making a stop-over in Saône-et-Loire.

paysage vue par un cycliste

Photographic credits: © Philippe Marguet

    To tell the story of the Manufacture, an article will be published on this website (gifted with an editorial section) on the 8th of every month. You will learn more about Berthoud Cycles' raison d'être and these daily adventures through landscapes. The occasion also to get to know the readers and to invite them over to Fleurville.

    To conclude, here are some notes taken in January, inviting the bike into the frame without ever mentioning it.

"January - Thin snow. Frozen gushes of wind on slippery roads speckled with icy patches. Mild temperatures, and then excessively high ones – the maps turn vermillion, red, purple. Two figures on the speed- and thermometer. Mild weather so questions, also. Cold, in the end. Tires screeching on an uneven asphalt, tires deflating, gloves on top of other gloves to keep the hands warm. Camera all wrapped up; a two-hour ride on the rack and a can freezes in the new ultralight bag. Night. The apology of dynamo lights and the comfort of the SON system's wide beams. Another morning, a glorious sun rising at the halfway-point, immense on the mirrors of the overflowing Saône. Curves slimy with salt. A woollen neck gaiter all over the head, just the two eyes emerging. Upside-down country town signs. The smell of heavy soil, of forgotten straw. New ideas for the Manufacture."

    All the team at Berthoud Cycles wishes you all the best for 2024 and let's meet again here on March 8th for a new article.

Jean-Acier DANÈS, writer of Bicyclettres (Seuil).

October 2024

October 2024

October is a harvest of sunlight. The world is drenched in cinnamon, the leaves have hues of maple syrup and my heart full of envy illuminates the lines of this landscape notebook like a Jack’O Lantern pumpkin.

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Editorial: the monthly journal of Manufacture Berthoud
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September 2024

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I have two wishes for September, the first being to evoke the feeling of putting on a pair of long shorts again and riding through the woods towards a cup of cappuccino and a slice of cake.

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