Source:
https://scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/1920462/custom-made-bicycles-luxury-must-have-todays-urban-aesthete
Lifestyle/ Travel & Leisure

Custom-made bicycles a must-have for the modern urban aesthete

French family firm that once made two-wheelers for the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf revives brand to turn out bikes that are virtual works of art, down to their oak wheel rims and handlebar leather. Get measured for one next time you’re in Paris

Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse

Updated: 12:24pm, 4 Mar, 2016

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A Tamboite custom-made bicycle. Each one takes three months to make, and prices start at €11,000. If you don’t want to ride it, it would look great in your hall or living room, suggests Frederic Jastrzebski, whose family revived the brand in 2014. Photos: AFP

Once forced out of business by mass production, a family firm in Paris has found a new lease of life, once again hand-crafting bicycles as a luxury must-have.

Maison Tamboite, founded in 1912, had an A-list clientele including the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker in its heyday.

Artisinal workmanship is key to the revived Maison Tamboite brand.
Artisinal workmanship is key to the revived Maison Tamboite brand.
“My grandfather didn’t brag about his customers,” said Frederic Jastrzebski. “It was by flipping through his order books and his diary... that we found mentions of these people.”

It was an uncle who closed down the company in the 1980s when bicycles began being mass-produced and could be found even in supermarkets, Jastrzebski said.

After working in finance for two decades, Jastrzebski was turning 50 in late 2014 when he persuaded his brother – and their wives – “to revive the brand with the same sincere, artisanal workmanship, the same quest for authenticity and perfection”.

The Maison Tamboite logo on a bicycle frame.
The Maison Tamboite logo on a bicycle frame.
In the new workshop near the Bastille in eastern Paris, Jastrzebski has kept the old wooden drawers from the original shop on the other side of town. He also has the original tools, an old catalogue and the counter on which his great-grandfather built bicycles.

Production has begun, with the Jastrzebskis peddling their two-wheeled creations as an “urban aesthetic” for the well-heeled.

Gleaming but not bling, the bicycles are virtual works of art, their metal frames contrasting with the honey-toned oak from Italy’s Lake Como region used in the wheel rims and the mud guards.

Hand-burnished leather is everywhere: used for the seat of course, but also on the handlebar, the pedals and the lock – as well as the optional satchel.

The leather used on the bikes is hand-burnished.
The leather used on the bikes is hand-burnished.
They sell for an impressive €11,000 (HK$93,000), with the electric version priced at €15,500.

Each bicycle takes three months to make, custom-fitted on the basis of no fewer than 15 measurements.

“The time justifies the price,” Jastrzebski said.

“Like a watch, a piece of jewellery, a handbag or an artwork, [the bicycle] will take its place as a luxury accessory that generates real emotion,” he added.

Craftsman Hugo Canivenc, the workshop’s only employee, said: “It’s work similar to making jewellery, requiring the same meticulousness.”

The frame alone can take a month to make before the glam embellishments are added, the 24-year-old noted.

Frederic Jastrzebski of Maison Tamboite shows off a bicycle at the firm’s Paris atelier.
Frederic Jastrzebski of Maison Tamboite shows off a bicycle at the firm’s Paris atelier.
Asked about the wisdom of leaving a Tamboite bicycle on a public street, even with a sturdy lock, Jastrzebski said: “All of our models are numbered and traceable. And let’s also remember that it’s the most basic bicycle models that are stolen the most.”

Besides, the bikes make excellent decoration in an entrance hall, “or even your living room”, he suggested.

Agence France-Presse