Col de Turini together with Café du Cycliste
It’s that time of the year when you plan about your summer rides, and I can see Nice in my future. But you cannot say Nice without mention Café du Cycliste
And then, the warm season will arrive. That’s why I’m hugging my Hammer planning already about shiny summer riding between mountains and seaside.
Yes, I’m surfing through the Café du Cycliste website, and especially into the Where we Ride section: wonderful landscapes and nice routes, not only a catalogue of bicycle apparels. Yes they built a business on merino wool, but for sure their gears are made not only of fabrics and stripes but also of the same material of French Alps and Côte d’Azur.
I’m really fascinated, that’s why I’m looking into the contact section and after a couple of emails I’m talking with Remi Clermont, founder of Café du Cycliste.
Hey Remi, how are you doing?
Not bad Ste’, not bad.
Is it ok for you if we will start from the beginning?
For sure.
Let’s go then. How was it? How started everything?
First Café du Cycliste was between the mountains, close to Grasse. Wonderful spot sure, but not completely into the usual everyday life track. Then we moved to Nizza: Old Harbour, a lot of cafes, so many people more. Especially cyclist like us. You are really on the beach but with les Alpes maritimes around the corner, and also Italy is three steps on the east side.
And you were already a bicycle apparel brand?
Not yet. We started as a coffee shop for cyclists, the perfect place to have a pre-spin breakfast or a refreshing lemonade after-ride. At a certain point, being cyclist surrounded by cyclists, we decided to sew the gears we needed with our brand printed on them.
And your brand was…
French. Completely French. French like soft cheese into your baguette. Because you can’t be French without wearing a striped t-shirt and getting excited during the Tour de France days. Cycling is in our soul like it is for the Italians.
I was a bit surprised reading the names of your clothes: Female names with an upbeat accent,
Thing’s names are boring as practical, we needed something warm and emotional.
That’s why merino wool then.
Sure. Merino is perfect for sport: breathable, soft and comfortable. It’s the base to start with any of our creation.
Only for racing rides or also for urban experience?
Both. But on our city apparels we are also attaching some reflective details, for safety reason.
I read that everything is manufactured in Italy. Can you tell me who is the artist?
Top Secret.
Come on.
No Comment.
Do you receive any help from professional cyclists?
Well, we consider everybody who does more than 10k for year a professional cyclist, and we have some of those we trust the most.
Your customers are more ladies or gents?
More guys, for sure. But you would be impressed to see how many ladies are riding with helmet, jersey and clipless pedals.
What do you think about some personal questions?
But personal, personal personal?
Nothing extreme: where do you prefer to ride?
My favourite climb: Col de Turini. Perfect alpine track just a couple of twists from Nice. Amazing. Yeah, there are a lot of good mountains here, and this is the one I love the most, even if I have also a secret one: do you want to know it?
Is it a joke?
Ehm.
Yes, for sure.
Beyond the Col de Turini, at the end of that breathless slope, there is a small entrance to the national park. There you will find amazing landscapes and wild nature, everything at 2000 meters altitude. Keep the secret, please.
Yes, for sure. How many bicycles do you have, Remi?
Cinq.
A Mannheim Alloy Race Bike, a BMC Cross Bike, a steel Cycle Victoire, a Yuba Cargo and finally a vintage Mannheim.
Campagnolo, Shimano o Sram?
The three of them.
Chainring?
Compact with 11–28 cassette.
Look pedals I assume.
Yep. French pedals.
And what saddle?
Fizik, the best.
Last question, my main curiosity and I have to express it in front of a real french cyclist. I have a Peugeot bike in my navy. Elegant, classy, smooth. Why, at a certain point, did they give creating bikes?
Well, somebody is still producing something with this brand: but flavour and personality are not the same anymore. Fortunately in our street you can still see a lot of those, because everybody here has a Peugeot into their basement. We will continue to see them for long time, I hope.
