Project Bike: Open Mould Carbon Frame and Campagnolo EPS

Mercier-Badged Open Mould Carbon Fibre Road Bicycle Medium 54cm equipped with Campagnolo Athena EPS Electronic 11-Speed Groupset.

There’s something about the French way, even the simplest of simplest things has an air of elegance and traditional expertise about it. The humblest of daily items, the baguette, it signifies a touch of flair, of passion, of the qualities you’d expect from artisans making bespoke incredible things. Not like our stack of pain, *cough*, sorry ‘bread’ in aisle two that resembles a cubist influenced block of white dough from a sturdy and safe stackable hard wearing rectangular tin, presented in a colourful plastic bag with a matching white square collar around its spun neck. That’s just tip top.

Gasping? So am I.

But there it is, your daily bread in France, created by an artificer flamboyantly sifting and lifting just a few ingredients; flour, salt and water. Evoking the same expertise in its production as you have upon the allure of Baccarat Crystal dining wear as you’re encompassed in the joie de vivre imbued upon you as you lift your butter knife in the restaurant bearing the same name, Cristal Room Baccarat, Paris.

How is it that this ultimate craftsmanship for a simple daily doughy icon seems so far out of reach?

Mercier-Badged Campagnolo EPS Road Open Mould Bike Project

This is it then, the true challenge of inviting exuberance and pleasure into our every day through the simple things.

Not one child would argue, well after forgetting about the wobbly handlebars and the multiple skinned knees from those first free-spirited pedal strokes without training wheels, that riding a bicycle is the most wonderful of simple pleasures.

Whether its euro-living and you’re perched upon the Gazelle Mama Fiets with your fresh broodje or het stokbrood poking out the top of your handlebar-mounted brown hand-woven wicker basket, as the wind teases your hair behind you along the loft of the canal, sans helmet, and the clatter of the chain beats erratically inside the steel guard whilst the broad grooved tyres bumble over the brick pavers, or its cruising beside the Seine looking nothing but debonair in your pressed work attire and woollen long black winter coat.

Cycling. There’s a simple beauty to it. And through it you can evoke any such spirit you wish.

When I first spotted this project bike frame available second hand, I was immediately taken by the subtle stealthy matte finish, and most of all, the front forks in their pale blue lacquer. It sparked a degree of unseen potential, of such simplicity in the effect, yet just a shy bit short of the detailing to catch the eyes. It was bare, merely the black frame and blue forks, no branding, nothing else to work with, in its own way, speechless, without any muster of character, but it’s voice was in there somewhere, shyly awaiting an introduction.

The frame sat there for weeks as the cogs of inspiration spun under the springing of keyboard keys up and down, seeking, sorting, mouse-clicking, scrolling through pages upon pages of custom bicycle photos on the internet in all manner of colours and styles. Bicycle brands popped up here, there, everywhere, but the necessary highlights just didn’t seem to reveal themselves.

A palette of silvers, golds, and hues of blue that the sky would daily try to transgress in its latest showing.

With the passage of time, and like a statue slowly beginning to reveal its curves and form as the stonemason chips away at the tall square block of hard stone, as more and more material is discarded at the end of the chisel, the vision doth emerge clearly and defiantly, rising above the jagged mess of refuse left afoot.

Now, before we get carried away with French eloquence, honour and a life lived with genuine spirit and contentment through persistence and tenacity, let’s peer a little more closely into the modern practice of creating carbon fibre frames.