During 52 minutes, the documentary “La bicyclette fait sa vélorution” gives a good place to the modern bicycle, affecting both the cyclist and the utility sector as well as the e-bike players Mustache and Decathlon.
The bicycle has more and more fans in France, with 2.6 million sales in 2022, including 738,000 electric ones. But how does this success take place on the ground, in what forms and what uses? A France Télévisions documentary attempted to portray today’s bicycle.
Directed by Elsa Lheureux, “The bicycle makes its cycle” wants to show that the little Queen is no longer an old-fashioned machine or reserved only for leisure. For 52 minutes, we follow the modernization of what has (re) become a mode of transport in its own right. We call this cycling to go to work, as for this father also picking up his children from school, all in the rain, no offense to the detractors.
Opening the first minutes, the toddlers round off this doc with lessons in good behavior, with a… good-natured atmosphere. It’s quite relaxing to no longer systematically see the “bad cyclists who ride in any way” of certain reports or micro-sidewalks.
Focus on the VAE, between Mustache, Origine and Decathlon
And if cycling madness exists, it is with the development of bicycles of all kinds, and especially electric ones. Equipped with a motor serving as electric pedal assistance, they reduce effort on long journeys, on hills and for carrying heavy loads.
And when the electric bike becomes cargo with here a Decathlon R500E, where the company shows its entire current catalog of Btwin cycles, the parent can easily take their children several kilometers without needing a car. Goodbye to four wheels also for this midwife, swapping her Peugeot 108 for an Urban Arrow transformed into an “Emergency Bike” by the Parisian company Ecox.
Finally, we follow the adventure of Mustache Bikes, the French manufacturer specializing in VAEs now representing 130 million euros in turnover and 70,000 units annually. We thus discover the genesis of the latest Mustache J with a frame manufactured in France, or its prize collected at Eurobike in June, all in the company of co-founders Greg Sand and Emmanuel Annotot.
In contrast to mass production, custom-made bikes are also highlighted, the superb customizable Origin (both muscular and electric), aimed at urban, road and gravel use.
French cycling infrastructure ruled out but safety addressed
Finally, all these bicycles and cyclists must be able to ride on suitable and secure infrastructure, after decades of all-car use. It’s a bit of a forgetting of this large format, at least as far as France is concerned. He only mentions the example – to be followed – of Copenhagen (Denmark), having made such a place for cycling with its cycle paths, that it is the main means of transport for residents (700,000 bicycles, 5 times more than cars ).
At least, this documentary provides a nice reminder of bicycle parking, another blind spot in public policies, even if the Strasbourg station is ahead. With very many locations, the police must still monitor, because bicycle theft is a scourge, against which U-type anti-theft or BicyCode marking solutions are addressed.
Broadcast on France 5 on Tuesday October 3, 2023, the documentary is available for replay on this link.