Shape bicycles was in Les Landes area last weekend, to take part of the Banos trail jam, in order to celebrate the 40th birthday of Marc and the 20th birthday of the trail ! The arrival at Banos is special, the town is located on a small mountain with a nice landscape of the surrounding countryside; especially after crossing the National Landes parc, which is totally flat and full of pines as far as the eyes can see.
On the spot, the whole trail was already without tarp, it's beautiful and impressive, mainly the new jump of the year, called the boomerang ! Lots of people were already there, friends from Normandy, from South, from Anglet, the Belgium crew, Sapnish, Dutch, Germans... The midday BBQ was ending up, we swept and put water on the trail, the session would begin; the first one in my case even if I have already came to Banos.
The Belgian rider Foerske was the first to start riding, on the second run, the line was validated. Everyone shyly took part of the session, in fact the jumps are scary, until the moment of a German crashed on the famous « Hip de la muerte », he finished his day at the emergency; as a result, everyone took a break to recover. The session got back up, gradually everyone got pleasure and looked happy, in my case I rode well and validated the line until this famous hip, massive sensation, a bit scary at first ! The highlight of the day is Foerske who tried and validated the boomerang jump; not to mention Titou who crashed and got a low rider handle bar, fortunately without injury.
At the end of the day, we had a good evening with a small crew (in some way the warm-up birthday party).

Saturday morning, I woke up with the nose of the rain, se we concentrated on organizing Marc’s birthday party (the main one this time) : preparation of the room rented for the occasion, sound and DJ, put in place the photos exhibition which retraced the history of the trail, assembly the Shape bicycles display, preparation of the fire for the evening « méchoui ». Many people arrived during the day, from BMX (Jems and the Pinch and roll tour riders ; PJ, Josh, some Australian, Hugo Beldame…) as well as some friends and Marc's family members. During the day, there will be a tentative of removing the tarp on the trail and prepare the line, until the rain will definitely stop the most motivated riders.
Due to the weather, the birthday party started earlier, in a good general atmosphere. In my case, I took the long road back to Brittany during the evenig, letting this troop finishing the party and well celebrated the birthdays in question.
A big thanks to Marc for his welcoming and giving access to his beautiful trail.

This weekend will be hold the annual jam at la Source trail at Toulouse, the twelve edition ! Our rider Jems Muller and the locals worked hard last winter, as mentioned in a previous news, they changed the whole Donut section, one of their famous line.
The program is simple and the same as every year : riding, some watering obviously, BBQ, concert on Saturday night and a photo exhibition, from our English friend PJ Turns, who is good at making photos.
Rendez-vous at Toulouse on 2nd and 3rd September.

As we have already mentioned, our rider from Britany, Bruno Abiven works with Toine in their art foundry, close to all their creations made of dirt.
More than a year ago, they took in charge the project of a sculptor from eastern France, his name is Franzi, who created a sort of robot which is 4,5m high.
The goal is to produce it in bronze, specifically a white bronze (it contains 17% of manganese which gives its color); each part of the robot has been overmoulded in sand then cast with metal (from models which were made from polystyrene at scale 1 by Franzi). After more than 2000h of finishing and mainly polishing, each part of the robot were assembled at the joints (knee, hip, elbow, shoulder), without to forget his accessories such as sword and shield; like any Celtic warrior or knight who inspired the artist.
This peaceful warrior as his creator named him, is a tribute to his dead uncle who was tall and strong, who transmitted to him several human values that he wanted to transfigure. It's a timeless message, materializing the quiet strength.

We have made several custom sprockets recently, in fact it is a service that Shape bicycles can offer, including more time to be realized.
So we made and delivered to UK, a custom 44T spline 19mm and black anodizing, to Dan from Brighouse trail. This is the largest sprocket we made !
We also manufactured a specific sprocket to answer the needs of our rider Bérenger, we made a racing sprocket, 43T with 4 points bolted. It’s a unique model, we haven't planned to produce this sort of sprocket yet.
In the end, we realized a custom 33T spline 19mm and black anodizing, to our friend Antoine from Normandy. He asked to us to make it in black in order to add his own touch. In fact, he makes an engraving sentence between branches of the sprocket, you can read « Pedal to the metal » ! Black anodizing with laser engraving is such a beautiful association.

We were able to follow our daily life lately, mainly about the fabrication by ourselves of several Shape bicycles sprockets.
We want to show you some photos of those sprockets, which the team riders are currently testing, Bruno (28T spleen 19), Bérenger (25T spline 19), Jérémy (25T spline 22) and Jared who will receive his one soon (30T spline 19).
Those sprockets are designed to be assembled with Profile racing type of adaptor, offering all possibilities in terms of crank (standards 19, 22, 24mm and spline 19 and 22mm).
From design point of view, some details need to be validated or refined, find below some photos.

Our rider Jérémy Muller has just announced the dates of the next jam of la Source, it will take place the 2nd and 3rd of September 2017.
Two big changes have to be noticed this year, the whole modification of the famous line Donut (see older new) and especially the addition of a high start, as a result it is the end of pedaling !
Jérémy and the locals have mastered the organization of their event, this one has become one of the main event of the French trail scene ; see you in Toulouse !

Our rider Bérenger Cordier traveled a bit lately, he has not left his home spot Peynier (and close spots) for several years. This is why, in the beginning of the sunny season, he decided to enjoy ride new spots, especially in Spain. I will translate his summary soon...

The last jam at la Source in Toulouse, was again a success as usual.
Our friend Pef edited a video of the event, eventhough to real appreciate this good atmosphere, we advise you to take part of the event.

Another Shape bicycles DIY sprocket has been machined, this time it's a 25T, still in spline drive. This one is intended for our Southern rider, Bérenger Cordier, who is about to built up a new BMX.
Our goal is to machine the three main models of our sprocket range (25, 28, 30T) in order to validate our manufacturing process and especially optimize it (time, tools, cost...etc.).
The next sprocket planned in machining is a 30T, for our American rider Jared Ball.
Below some photos of machining for pleasure !