Frenchbuilt concept and a Pininfarina e-bike

frenchbuilt-bike-rendering-1

Every once and a while, a design on Pinterest catches my attention and I want to find out more about it.  Unfortunately though, learning more is often not always as easy as it should be. Many people on the web these days love to share images, but don’t feel the need to credit the designer (or photographer/artist/manufacturer/etc.) or even link back to the original website where they found an image. That widespread practice of posting images without any credit or explanation is one of the reasons I started to get disillusioned with blogging earlier this year, but I’ll save you the rant and move on with this post.

frenchbuilt-bike-rendering-2I had seen bits and pieces of renderings of this bike before, but the rear view with the filigree pattern between the seatstays caught my eye this morning. I clicked through to learn more and found that the image from Pinterest linked to a Tumblr blog that didn’t credit the source. A search for Frenchbuilt bicycle turned up a page of renderings on the Small Dots Facebook page that explains:

“The 22 triathlon is a RCD Except designed Aero Road Bike developed to be faster and more efficient in all road conditions. Carbon fiber structure frame reinforced with titanium tubes and a matrix of rapid prototyping random tubes. Brakes, derailleurs incorporated into the frame. All electric with assisted hydraulic ABS controlled brakes and switch operated derailleurs.”

So yeah…as you might expect it is somewhat of a “blue sky” concept, but interesting nonetheless. Small Dots also has a video that explains the process of creating the bike, which was done apparently for the salon du cycle at the 2013 Paris expo (about this time last year).

Pininfarina-Fuoriserie-ebikAnother bike that I recently spotted via a Pinterest link to nowhere is the Pininfarina Fuoriserie, which features  a rear hub based motor (similar to the Copenahgen wheel). Like the bike mentioned above, this one is not new. The Fuoriserie was designed by Pininfarina and built by 43 Milano for the Seoul Living Design Fair that took place this past spring. According to the company, “Pininfarina took inspiration from the iconic tailor-made cars of the thirties, to create an elegant and pure shape enriched by the combination of modern and classical materials.” The chromed steel frame has a walnut accent top tube and woven leather handlebars and seat that were inspired by “the interior of the Lancia Astura Bocca, an iconic model designed by Pininfarina in 1936.”

Personally, I am always happy to see electric bike designs that challenge the average person’s preconception of how an e-bike should look. For more images and information, check out the Fuoriserie page at 43 Milano.

Finally, I will mention that, even though I don’t like the practice of pinning images without including basic information, I do have a Bicycle Design board on Pinterest. I’m sure that I have been guilty of it too in the past, but in general I try to include a bit of info, including the designer’s name, with each pin. Designers put a lot of time and effort into sketches, renderings, and prototypes, so please try to credit them when you can (OK…off my soapbox).


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7 responses to “Frenchbuilt concept and a Pininfarina e-bike”

  1. Adam Rice Avatar

    You’ve probably figured this out yourself, but when I want to research the origins of an unattributed picture, I’ve had pretty good luck using Google Image Search.

  2. Georg Avatar
    Georg

    Try tineye.com for reverse image search.

  3. Bod Avatar
    Bod

    Yup, you can upload the image to google and it’ll search for that exact image. Searching conventionally can be hit and miss. It’s not something they highlight very well, I only found it recently.
    That slight misalignment of the Mavic logos really jars on such a clean bike, sorry…

  4. James Thomas Avatar

    Thanks for the tips. I have used Google Image Search, but tineye.com is new to me. In this case, the Google search for frenchbuilt was enough to find the information I wanted. For images with no logos or text though, the image searches are definitely a good option.

    I would rather people just take a second give credit though. Even though the search was easy in this case, that trend toward “sharing” the work of others with no caption or link really annoys me.

  5. Josh Lassen Avatar
    Josh Lassen

    The design of frenchbuilt concept caught my eyes also and judging my the number of views of this post, I guess I’m not alone. Its unique curves and filigree pattern reminds me of the bullet trains in Japan (don’t ask me why, that’s what it reminds me of lol). The last bike that caught my eyes like this was the 2015 Kestrel Talon I saw at Griffen , man what a beauty…

  6. Josh Lassen Avatar
    Josh Lassen

    Sorry, here is the link to the Kestrel Talon: http://www.griffenbike.com/p/2015-Kestrel-Talon-Tri-Shimano-105-Carbon-Fiber-Bike/B00LXIH3MG/detail.php , what do you think James?

    1. James Thomas Avatar

      Yes, it does look a bit like the Kestrel frames without a seattube. Some of the newer ones look pretty nice, but I have fond memories of selling a few of the old ones at a bike shop where I worked in the early 90s. Back then, the vast majority of road bikes were steel, so those carbon Kestrels like 500 SCi and the KM40 really stood out. Amazing bikes at the time!

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