About Ebykr
Ebykr celebrates classic and vintage lightweight bicycles through provoking imagery and opinion. Ride along with us.
A De Rosa frame begins and ends with a single conviction: that steel, and later titanium, aluminum and carbon, can always be coaxed a little further toward perfection. From a teenage apprentice bent over a Milan workbench to a family…
This feature article provides an unprecedented visual window into the industrial soul of the Idéale brand, presenting rare archival photographs of the F. Tron & Cie and Tron & Berthet facilities and the generations of artisans who defined them. The images trace the company's journey from its hydraulic roots at a former wool mill to the height of its mid-century power.
The history of Idéale is a century-long narrative of industrial perseverance and technical mastery that transformed a modest Parisian stamping workshop into the emblematic brand of the French saddle. Founded in 1890 by Jean-François Tron, this timeline traces its pursuit of extreme lightness through Duralumin and Titanium chassis and its racing pedigree under Marcel Berthet.
Idéale saddles remain among the least understood classic bicycle components given their standout prominence and frequent exorbitant value. This feature unpacks the dizzying array of models produced under the Idéale marque, 82 and counting, and the collapsing French cycling industry that nearly ended the brand before its recent revival.
