QBikes, l'exception sans concession...

The French mountain bike industry tends to revolve around one particular part of the country, with all the big ‘players’ residing in the sunny southern half of France. Taillefer just outside of Avignon, Sunn in Saint-Gaudens at the foot of the Pyrénées and tax exiles Commencal in the Principality of Andorra. While the ‘players’ are busy sunning themselves on the Mediterranean coast, is someone from up north ready to kick sand in their faces?

So just who is going to make sure that the southern softies’ sand castles get trampled on?
Cyril Lagneau: The French DH Champion in 2003. 3rd at the 2002 Telluride World Cup.
Julien Camellini: The 2003 European DH Champion. 9th at the 2003 World Championship.

Cyril and Julien will be supported by SRAM, Rock Shox, Maxxis, Truvativ, Formula, ODI, No Fear, THE, Time, Mavic.

Rémy Casanova: 2nd in the French National 4X Championship in 2003.
"Butch 13" Vincent Bucciarelli: Will be representing Qbikes at freeride events across Europe. Also see his section in Kranked IV.
Kris Dietschy: Young dirt and street BMX rider. Winner of the 2003 ‘Urban Vibrations’ contest in Istres 2003. 2nd place at the ‘le Dirt Marshall des 2 Alpes’.
Xavier Aumaitre: In 2003, Xavier injured himself after a very good 4X performance at the l'Alpe d'Huez World Cup, but returns for 2004.

Kris Dietschy foto: Manu Sanz

By any stretch of the imagination that is a strong team. This is Qbikes team for 2004.
Who… Qbikes are from just south of the Eurostar day-trippers’ paradise of Lille near the border with Belgium.

Descent World: Who better to get the low-down on these guys but Laurent Delorme of Qbikes. Most people over here probably haven’t heard of Qbikes before, so can you give us a little bit of the Qbikes history?

Laurent Delorme: The name of the Company is Quantum: since 1985, we have been in the "cycle business". Qbikes and Ellipsys were born 3 years ago. With Ellipsys, we offer mid-level bicycles, or as we say "a bike for everyone". With Qbikes, we offer only "high level performance" bicycles. All our products are tested by riders, such as Cyril Lagneau. We also work a lot on XC Bicycles, in order to find the good compromise between weight, performance, motricity and rigidity. We support the "Team Lons le Saunier", a lot of young riders from this Team are the next French Team Riders. All bicycles are designed and thought out in our R&D department. We also control all stages of production in our production unit. We have150 persons working there.

DW: Your team had a pretty good season in France last year, but you seemed to have stepped things up this year. The Qbikes team looks very strong, you must be well pleased to get such a strong team together?

LD: Step by step, we learn…Last year, we supported young riders, and it was a real good thing : 2nd in the French National 4X Championship Man and Woman (Audrey Le Corguillé). This year, we need to work with high level pilots, in order to have international results. Cyril and Julien are really interested in developing bicycles, and they should also have good results in the World Cup. For 2004, we aim a lot of our communication on our Team. Riders needs to know that Qbikes Bicycles are developed by pro riders for riders. The philosophy for the Team is : "maximum performance". Then we work a lot to prepare the season…

DW: How does your ‘Co Factory’ scheme work, and has it produced any riders for the Qbikes factory team?

LD: Sure, Rémy Casanova comes from our Co Factory scheme work. From the beginning, he seemed to be very motivated. He likes working on fork and shox preparation, and he will certainly test new products with Cyril and Julien this year. It's the same thing for Audrey Le Corguillé: for 2004 she will ride another bicycle company, but we have supported her for 3 years, and she finished 2nd in the French National 4X Championship 2003.

Kris Dietschy foto: Nico Buzz

DW: Are Qbikes developing DH bikes for Cyril Lagneau & Julien Camellini?

LD: We are working on 2 new Bikes with Cyril and Julien: a new Light Free Ride bike, to win long distance downhill races, and a Formula one, or the Project X, to win the Downhill World Cup. For the moment, they ride the Segment +, designed for long distance downhill, and the Shaolin 4X Bike. Cyril Lagneau thinks that the Segment is a real "weapon", a "bomb”: light, maximum rigidity and real smooth operation. They're training a lot, and the DH bike will be ready in few days.

DW: On the subject of bikes, your 4X bike for this year the ‘Shaolin’ looks hot. The box section back end of the bike looks very interesting, was it a logical progression from the technique you used for the chain stays on your previous 4X bike the ‘doom’?

LD: Yes. We used the Box Technology for the first time on the Doom: a lot of riders said that this bike was the most rigid that they had ever ridden. For 2004, we wanted to develop something new, with all the good things from the Doom. We then developed the Shaolin, for aggressive riding. We think that the Box Technology is the solution for maximum rigidity, with a low weight. Kris Dietschy, Dirt Rider, rode the Shaolin last year, and he said that it’s seemed to be as rigid as his BMX!

DW: I remember seeing photos of the ‘Shaolin’ on www.pinkbike.com back at the end of 2003 / the beginning of 2004, was there a lot of rider input in getting the bike ‘perfect’?

LD: We've worked a lot on the Shaolin in France. The R & D Department have made testing with the pilots, near our office, for 3 months. Riders (Xavier Aumaitre and Rémy Casanova) have also tested this bike at St Gervais and Les Houches, during the summer. There's a short history for this Bike. It's really funny. Last year, somebody robbed the Shaolin prototype from my car, in Paris. Then I sent some pictures to French magazines, and since then, the Shaolin is a star bike! With this bike, you can do aggressive riding: Street, Dirt 4X, and some people use it for Free Riding. A real bike to ride as you want…It's so sad because for the moment we don't have enough bikes for all the riders.

Shaolin

DW: You must be very happy that the ‘Shaolin’ has come in at a very competitive retail price of around 1400 euros for the complete bike?

LD: Yes, with a price like this, people can buy a bicycle ready to race, and ready to enjoy… We deliver the bike with chain guide and bottom brackets, for Downhill and Street use. People can also use the Shaolin in standard configuration, for 4X or Free Ride…This bike is a really good base to customise your own...

DW: France has traditionally been a very strong BMX nation, how is it taking to 4X & MTB dirt jumping?

LD: Kris Dietschy is the QBikes BMX Dirt Rider. He began in MTB with the Doom, after that he has tested the new Shaolin. For him, BMXs are better for jumping than MTBs, but he likes riding his MTB. For the moment, he is testing if all BMX actions are possible with a MTB, and a lot of BMX Riders in France do the same… you have the example with Thomas Allier in 4X, or Carmine Falco in 4X and Downhill…

DW: What’s the riding scene like in the North of France, are there any riding spots worth jumping on Eurostar for?

LD: In the North of France, you have a lot of really interesting spots. We have the "Terri’s" or Spoil Heap, sort of small mountains created when people dug to find coal. People from the Qbikes crew have made a small "North Shore", with Road gap, big curve, single track…We can test products when Cyril and Julien are in the North. We have also a lot of big indoor parks in Belgium, Kris and Butch will ride them this summer.

Thanks to Laurent, for taking time out to speak to us, at what is one of the busiest times of year for people organising their race teams.
Web: www.qbikes.com
Additional info about Qbikes can be obtained by going to their Yahoo group: Clcik Here For commercial info: davidq@qbikes.com

If you’re on the road this summer, Qbikes will be in attendance at rounds of:
The Avalanche Cup, Mégavalanche, Maxxis Cup, French Cup, French Championships, European Championships, World Cups and the World Championship.