With its sleek frame and full-sized wheels, the Bastille has the allure of an elegant urban bike. But it also has a clever construction for quick and easy folding, enabling its inventor to claim an entirely new segment in the bike market.
French engineer Gilles Henry invented the Yoyo baby stroller, which shook up the category with a particularly efficient folding system. He then decided to make urban cycling more attractive and convenient with smart urban bikes that have the extra benefit of being easily foldable.
“Most folding bikes have tiny wheels. They do not have the style, performance and comfort of a real bicycle,” said Henry. The development of the Bastille took almost ten years, partly due to his demanding approach. He also teamed up with Cycles Victoire, a French supplier of high-end and customized bicycles. Along the way, Bastille Cycles obtained three patents, for the folding frame, the seat post and the stem that constitute the ingenious folding mechanism. Weighing 15.2 kg, the entire bike can be neatly folded in 10 seconds and three metallic clicks.
When folded, the Bastille can be placed in a car trunk or a standard luggage holder on a train. The aluminum frame is made in Angers by Expliseat, a company specialized in aeronautical products. “The frame requires very high precision, much higher than what you expect from a bicycle frame, even a folding frame,” Henry explained.
Bastille bikes are then assembled in eastern France by Re-Cycles France, the former Cycleurope France. It was acquired last year by the Rebirth group, which specializes in urban mobility. The name Bastille works particularly well, since Bastille is an area of Paris with many bicycle retailers. Henry’s track record helped to raise about €10 million in two rounds, led by two investment funds, Eutopia and Ankaa Ventures. He said this funding should suffice for the targeted production of about 1,000 bikes this year. The Bastille comes at €2,590 for the three-gear version and €2,790 for seven gears.
The production setup for Bastille is scalable, meaning it will allow the French brand to grow to a projected volume of about 10,000 per year in three years, and beyond. Bastille bikes are already sold through more than 50 specialist stores in France, some of them prominent partners such as En Selle Marcel and Cyclable. Retailers in other European markets include The Folding Bikes House in Barcelona, 10 stores around London and three in the Netherlands.
The Bastille mostly targets affluent urban consumers who are constrained by a lack of space or fear of theft, but don’t want to ride around on small wheels. The brand has been most impactfully marketed through clips showing the ease of folding, and the potential usage. “Folding is very visual, you can put some poetry in it. It has the wow effect of the product,” said Henry, adding that this “virality” has already created high social media recognition in France.
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