1% for the planet : Cyclotrope

1% for the planet: Cyclotrope, cycling in all its forms

Café du Cycliste devotes 1% of its turnover to supporting organisations committed to preserving the planet. A steady contribution to a cause that has become an absolute necessity in the sportswear industry, Café du Cycliste made a commitment at the start of the year to work alongside homegrown organisations.

Our first association was with the sailor and Caravan ambassador Alexia Barrier’s 4 My Planet project, working with schools and young sailing enthusiasts to educate and collect data in order to sustain and hopefully clean up the oceans. And in September 2022, Café du Cycliste is also now supporting Cyclotrope.

Based in Nice, Cyclotrope is first and foremost a Bike-School. It teaches children and adults through collaborative workshops to get back in the saddle, educate how to safely ride in traffic and carry out mechanical repairs, in a friendly and fun environment. They carry out amazing work to help democratise the practice of cycling, increase its use and make it a real tool of autonomy and freedom.

Cyclotrope also offers learning sessions in the professional environment: promoting cycling in companies because it has its place in daily transport and represents an economic, ecological and easily accessible alternative for the future for the wider public. Opting for a bicycle for your daily professional journeys means escaping traffic jams while reducing the number of cars on the roads and therefore pollution, it's easier parking (eight bicycles o every single car parking space), it ensures regular exercise and boosts mental wellbeing. Cyclotrope is growing a community and each year brings along more people into the cycling universe.

The work of Cyclotrope in less privileged neighbourhoods also caught our full attention. At its core cycling is more than a means of transport: it encourages self-improvement, community-building and empowerment to explore and discover the wider world. Guillaume, founder of Cyclotrope, explains how teaching a mother or a child to inflate their tyres themselves is a simple but important tool for self-sufficiency and great personal satisfaction. The deflated wheel is remarkably the most common immobilisation of bicycles. Cyclotrope tackles the problem of mobility at its base thanks to their painstaking work.

For any community to thrive, the dissemination of knowledge and basic learning are paramount. The bike is a tool of freedom that allows you to go beyond the borders of a territory, to explore the world. The bicycle breaks down many barriers and benefits the environment. It is a magical machine. Café du Cycliste supports Cyclotrope in the pursuit of its activities with high added social and environmental value.

1% for the Planet - Alexia Barrier.

We spoke to our Caravan ambassador and professional sailor Alexia Barrier about her 4myplanet enterprise and how Café du Cycliste will be contributing to her future projects through 1% for the Planet.

The Life Cycle.

Cycling as a lifestyle empowers people physically and mentally and allows us to connect with nature – a key force for changing behaviours and reducing carbon emissions.

Shorts Stories : Marinette

Our ‘flagship’ in the bib shorts fleet, they’ve ridden across continents, up to the highest peaks, and down low on the hottest highways.

1% – a point of difference

Rome wasn’t built in a day, they say, and the Planet certainly wasn’t either. 1% seems like a minor figure, but we’d like to argue just 1% can make a major difference to the outcome, from here to eternity.