CYYYCLES - THE BOOK

Context:

I started shooting bikes in 2014, mainly to learn how to use my camera. I quickly understood that bikes and everything surrounding them was the perfect subject to learn many practical things about photography:

I could sometimes just shoot cool bikes laying against a wall, sometimes moving quite fast with people riding them, often full of details to highlight… I could shoot portraits of their owners, shoot them all together, by day, by night… Almost everything was possible. I really liked it, so I kept doing it.

For many years, I was happy just posting my photos online, I didn’t need more than that. Up to late 2023, almost ten years later, when I was involved in a very bad car-vs-bike accident, which almost got me killed.

When I woke up after three weeks of coma, I realised that all my photos would have been lost forever if I had died, as they only existed online.

I wasn't a huge fan of this idea. So, about three months after the accident, as I was still in hospital, I began to work on a book. With a book, whether I’m here or not, my photos will live on︎

Read the latest updates about this book at the bottom of this page.

My bike and helmet after the accident ︎

So that the existence of my photos no longer depends on my own.

IN NUMBERS:

× 21x21cm

× 294 pages
× 1300 photos

× 10 years covered

× 2 years spent working on it

FOUR SECTIONS:

︎Section 1/4

STAGED PICTURES - 140 pages.

Staged photos, where the whole image matters, and almost everything is calculated/planned:
The bikes, the background, the environment, up to the corners. Almost nothing is left to chance.

︎Section 2/4

EVENTS - 66 pages.

Photos shot during cycling events.

Here, unlike staged photos, nothing is planned.
Almost everything depends on chance, and being in the right place at the right time, and ready to shoot.

︎Section 3/4

TRIPS - 70 pages.

Photos taken during my few bike trips.
Sometimes a bit staged and planned, but always with a good dose of chance.

︎Section 4/4

BONUS SECTION:

10 pages, 0 bikes.
But bikes were often only a few meters away.

THE COVER:

The cover went through several phases. The earliest versions looked fine on digital images, but not so good once printed - I'm referring to the purple versions you may have seen at some point. Here is the final version, which is exactly the opposite:

It looks way better in your hands than it does in these photos.
CYYYCLES printed in white ink (white ink is quite unusual), on mass-dyed grey textured paper, making it look like road markings.

Watch this film to find out more about my photos, about this book, and about the accident that triggered its creation ︎

× UPDATES ×

- DECEMBER 2025 UPDATE -

Pre-order is over!

This project began in January 2024, and in December 2025, the pre-order phase is now complete.
All the pages have been printed, and should be put together to become actual books near January 2026.
So, that was about two years of work and reflexion on how to organize everything.

Goodies included!
For everyone who preordered it, it will come with small envelopes marked with my logo, created using linocut printing, with some stickers inside.

- JANUARY 2026 UPDATE -

Here they are! I have just picked up the finished books, and they look perfect.

200 books in 7 boxes, 200kg in total. Before sending/handing them to people who ordered them, I now have to finish preparing the lanch event exhibition that I want to make for the occasion, which should happen in February.

Here are some details of this event:
Around 200 prints in two different formats (lots of small prints and a few larger ones), continuous screening of most of the films I've made so far (40+ minutes), lots of cool bikes, some of which can be seen in the books or on the prints, and of course the books themselves, which can be collected along with a few goodies (stickers, posters, maybe more). I will then send the book to everybody who didn’t collect it at the event.

My goal with this book is almost achieved. Once they have been handed out to you, the existence of my photos will no longer depend on mine.

I started working on this project in January 2024, and now, two years later, it's almost finished. Until next time!

- MARCH 2026 UPDATE -

The book launch party & exhibition happened this month at Mass Works in Paris, during a week, with many people and cool bikes. Thank you!

How to get this book ?

For now (April 2026, as I write this), you can’t. It was a pre-order thing.

If you missed it, I printed a few extra copies, so I might reopen my online store at some point. I’ll let you know about it on Instagram @cyyycles and on this website. I may also run a reprint at some point, in a few years maybe, so keep your eyes open!

And if I keep shooting bikes, a second edition will probably see the day as well!

︎