Jaegher Cycles

[Jaegher]

Odiel was the first of the family with bike fever in his blood. He participated in Milan-San Remo and in 1932 he won the toughest stage in Tour of Belgium. This was the start of the Jaegher adventure. Odiel was a phenomenon.

That same year his son Etienne was born. He started a café / bike shop in Ruiselede (Belgium) in the fifties. Pouring pints and building bike frames, it doesn’t get more Belgian than that.

Etienne was also a great cyclist, but since his father had died prematurely, his mother didn’t allow him to compete in races. So instead he just rode for fun on the bike he constructed himself.

Etienne's son Luc (1958) is built of no lesser steel. For Luc, Eddy Merckx was not a god, but just one of the many racers who would stop by the family’s workshop. Merckx would come to pick up his personal bikes with which he won just about every race on the planet. A few years later (during the 70’s and 80’s) the Splendor cycling team would also order their frames from our company, for cyclists such as Sean Kelly, Walter and Eddy Planckaert, Michel Pollentier, Claude Criquielion, Rudy Dhaenens, Jan Jansen and others.

Diel, who is named after Odiel, also inherited his passion for racing and for steel. He grew up amidst the steel of our workshop in Ruiselede.

Together with his father Luc, he is now exclusively responsible for the fabrication of every Jaegher leaving our ateliers.

During this four generation period our bikes has won the biggest races all over the world, have traveled to the Himalayas, participated in P-B-P or are just enjoyed by many, many cyclists.

Nowadays we still do what we have always done, building high-end frames in steel and steel only. We strongly believe in made to measure, that’s why we offer this service as a no-cost option. We build both lugged frames and TIG-welded ones in (mostly) Columbus Spirit and XCR. While not offered on our site, we build many randonneurs. This ranges from race bikes with fenders to round the world bicycles.

Luc & Diel & Steven

[e-RICHIE]

What a great story and what a storied brand, too. I look forward to seeing this thread grow and hearing
that Jaegher Cycles has a new and growing following here in North America atmo. And Steven - feel feel
to add any anecdotes and historical chestnuts that come to mind. The V community is fortunate to have
you here with us.

[roguedog]

Welcome! What a cool history. Nice site. Really like the little touches like the quotes. It just adds that little something extra. Also really like that custom isn't extra.

Here are some questions:

Are you now exploring the US market?
What are the characteristics that make a bike a Jaegher?
How many of you in the shop?

Really like the site. Nicely done.

[GrantM]

I enjoyed looking at the Jaegher website, there are some very nice photos of the bikes on display,
and nice colour and component choices on the way the bikes are built. It appears to me that the
image of Jaegher cycles is very well defined in your mind, the products are very focused.

Does someone involved in this project have a design school background, or are these choices based on
what you see from classic bicycles? I find it interesting that so many brands have a very 'busy' look to
them, and yet to my eye something more simple, like the look of your Jaegher bikes, really stands out
as elegant, well designed, and sophisticated.

Grant

[pajotfix]

Also, as a fellow Belgian I'm happy to find there are still local builders that offer this degree of workmanship. Deeply rooted traditions are a big plus but not many have survived to this age. This forum has me often drooling for one of those nice US built frames, but really, Belgian roads beg for (at least one) Belgian built bike...

[jerk]

Do you still have the bike shop? Are most of your bikes sold direct to the client or through shops? How has the industry changed in the last twenty years for a frame builder? I remember that when I lived there, alot small frameshops existed- many producing for just a local shop and some others doing contract builds and some just doing re-sprays or repairs? who is buying your bikes now?

[Jaegher]

Roguedog, while most of our client are from Europe, we sell worldwide.
We are all about experience (4 generations...) and passion really. We make our bikes the way we think works best. So our bikes aren't just showponys, but meant to be ridden a lot (preferably fast) and for a very long time. Because of this, we prefer a timeless look without flashy designs. Our painter also paint the personal frames (and helmet, sunglasses...) for Philippe Gilbert, Niels Albert, Sven Nys, Silvain Chavanel... so paintfinish is also the very best available.

Grant, you are correct that we have a well defined look for our bikes. All of us prefer a more sophisticated, classy look, without to many logo's etc. Everything you see on our site, we do ourselves. So we don't only love building frames, but we also like photography, (graphic) design, art etc. I guess we know best what Jaegher stands for and how to visualise this.

Pajotfix, unfortunately, you are correct that not many framebuilders survived during the arrival of alu, carbon and mass-production in Asia. Together with Italy, Belgium used to be the center of high-end framebuilding. Cycling is and will always be deeply rooted in our culture. If you'd like to visit our shop, let me know when this suits you. Were are you from exactly ?

Jerk, our atelier is still at the same place were it always has been. A lot of patina... The only changes are our new showroom next to our ateliers. This was much needed to receive our clients. Direct communication with our clients is important to us, that's why we still sell direct only at the moment.

Steven

[GrantM]

Steven, which model are you riding? Please show us some more photos!

-g

[Jaegher]

Right now, I have a new Phantom with a steel fork for myself in paint. It will be Terra Orange with Terra Brown. Before I've had a Interceptor. Diel is riding an Ascender and Luc a Phantom and a lugged randonneur.
We try to keep our delivery delays really short (around 6weeks), which can be a challenge. Yesterday we had frames back from paint, but boxed them right away to be shipped.
I'll try to makes some photos before next time.

[Jaegher]

Our second film is finally subtitled ! Please check it and learn a little more about who we are :

Jaegher Steel, potatoes & farts on Vimeo

[Jaegher]

From now on our logo on the headtube will be in champagne. Do you guys like it ?

frame1s.jpgframe2s.jpg

[e-RICHIE]

From now on our logo on the headtube will be in champagne. Do you guys like it ?

So much awesomeness so little time atmo.

[sk_tle]

looks great as does the logo on the forks.

[pajotfix]

Ah, a much anticipated picture of the steel fork ! Very nice.
What about the stem ? Are they optional / custom Jaegher ?

[Jaegher]

The stem in the picture is a 3T painted to match the frame. We make our own lugged stems as well.

[cs124]

This package... History, website, sophisticated design aesthetic... makes for a really compelling story.
As a consumer I can't help but admit I'm hooked!

[hidayanra]

great looking bikes - they look perfect for riding the roads around there :-)

[Jaegher]

A few weeks ago, German TV made a little reportage about us. You can see the result here :
As we don't speak German most of the interviews are in English :-)

[RickM]

This package... History, website, sophisticated design aesthetic... makes for a really compelling story.
As a consumer I can't help but admit I'm hooked!

I have to burn up some bandwidth and say; I could not agree more. You folks at Jaegher have, as we say stateside, your act together. Much success to you! Really nice-looking bikes.

[GrantM]

Some great photos of recent builds on the Facebook page!

-G