66 North x Café du Cycliste

Café du Cycliste x 66°North

"As cyclists, we have fallen in love with Iceland, where you can find a polar kind of beauty, totally different to the Côte d’Azur. The cycling scene there is as welcoming as it is well-established, they tackle the harsh weather conditions with smiling faces. These athletes test our products to their very limits and contribute to their development. It’s there that we met the team behind 66North, whose authenticity and expertise create an ideal platform to launch a new winter kit."

This is how Rémi Clermont, founder of Café du Cycliste defines this new technical collaboration for the brand and the importance of maintaining the strong relationship we’ve had for years with the elite of Icelandic cycling.

There are some places that make an impression on you, that cause a gut reaction which stays with you forever– Iceland is one of those places. The testing of the clothing that we developed was carried out in Landmannalaugar, on the slopes of volcanoes in the nature reserve of Fjallabak.

Over two days of intensive riding, Ágústa Edda Björnsdóttir and Eyjólfur Guðgeirsson put the clothes we had co-developed through their paces. There, far from everything, with its natural hot springs and fields of lava as far as the eye can see, the expanse of land is spectacular, but harsh.

The cold and damp can catch you out at any moment, as the Icelandic cyclists know well. 66North knows this too. For nearly 90 years, the Icelandic brand has developed a simple philosophy: the weather should not be an obstacle to getting out there in the open.

66North was founded in 1926 in the west of Iceland where the weather conditions are known for being very tough, and where the clothes worn are simply a question of survival for its fisherman.

Café du Cycliste and 66North saw an opportunity to share their respective know-how and offer cyclists the best in terms of comfort and performance. Both brands share a common idea: design is the key to tackling any type of challenge.

Neither brand, however, had risen to the challenge of getting men and women out on their bikes in the North Sea winter. This sparked off an idea : creating a kit designed for Iceland would allow cyclists to tackle the winter weather anywhere in the world.