Lapierre Bicycles: A Brand with Long Lasting French Pedigree In Road Cycling

Image: Lapierre Xelius DRS 6.0

Tune in to watch a pro race, such as the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, or Vuelta a España, and you are bound to see Lapierre bikes appear in the peloton. That is the result of the long partnership the builder has held with professional cycling, namely the Française des Jeux (FDJ) team and the women’s pro team FDJ Suez Futuroscope since the early 2000s.

Lapierre Bicycles has always been a family brand motivated by its love of the sport. So, if you want to own and ride a road bike with a true, long-lasting French pedigree, you can’t go wrong with them. And if you also enjoy mountain bikes, Lapierre was the first company to develop full suspension systems.

About Lapierre Bicycles

Image: Getty Images/ Unsplash.com

Lapierre Bicycles was founded in Dijon, France by Gaston Lapierre in 1946. The company stayed with the family until the early 1990s. At that time, it was purchased by the Accell Group. The company, however, wasn’t immediately known for its road bikes but for mountain bikes.

Lapierre was, in fact, an early developer and builder of mountain bikes in the 1980s. Twenty years later, it created the X-Control, the first full suspension system. A year later, though, it began its partnership with the French pro road race team Française des Jeux (FDJ).

By 2007, Lapierre was distributing its bikes in the U.K. and Canada. The company now builds over 90,000 bikes a year from three locations it has in France.

Lapierre Bicycles Today

Image: Lapierre Bicycles Website

In addition to its road and mountain bikes and its continuing pro sponsorships of both the men’s and women’s UCI road teams, Lapierre continues to build bikes.

Lapierre Bicycles has evolved with the times by building electric bikes, trekking bikes, women’s specific bikes, and men’s specific bikes.

Last Thoughts

Image: Lapierre Bicycles Website

Lapierre Bicycles is a well-established and iconic brand that you will see every year in the Tour de France and other high-profile races. It has been on the cycling scene for almost 80 years.

And, from how it is portrayed on the company website, Lapierre Bicycles shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon. So, if you’re looking for a road, mountain, or other kind of bike by a rock-solid brand, it seems you can’t go wrong with Lapierre Bicycles.

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Author: Doug McNamee

Freelance Content Writer, Travel Writer, Editor, and poet.

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