A shop designed like a garage

From the outset, the idea was not to build the largest possible catalog of motorcycle parts.

In fact, it is exactly the opposite.

Choose rather than accumulate.

The first Blackpines products came directly from Julien's motorcycles, his builds, and those he made for people close to him. Parts chosen because they look great, because they are well made, and often because they were fitted and tested on real motorcycles before being added to the catalog.

Blackpines is built halfway between a garage, a custom workshop, and a specialist shop.

With one conviction that has never changed: an interesting motorcycle is not necessarily an expensive motorcycle.

You can spend months, sometimes years, building your machine one part at a time. An old trail bike, a Japanese roadster, an English scrambler, or an improbable project at the back of a garage can inspire exactly the same pride.

What matters is not the value of the motorcycle. It is what you do with it.

And that is probably where Blackpines' philosophy has been from the very beginning.

Julien builds many motorcycles: Royal Enfield, Triumph, Ducati, Honda… Some will receive awards at shows and events, notably at Aces Expérience and the Lyon Motorcycle Show.

That is how Blackpines was born. One motorcycle at a time. One part at a time.

Blackpines was never going to remain a one-voice story. How Thomas joined Blackpines.

The years go by, and Blackpines grows. Julien leaves the Vosges forests for the Picardy plains. And that’s where our paths cross.

From here on, let me tell you the rest: for me, everything began in Picardy. I discovered motorcycles with a Suzuki RM 80, fields, trails, afternoons, and evenings spent simply riding. I only knew that a real motorcycle was supposed to take you somewhere, and that this “somewhere” mattered less than the journey to get there.

Since then, I’ve never really chosen a side. Road, track, enduro, trail, sand, or travel: to me, a motorcycle remains above all a wonderful excuse to ride. I have a soft spot for machines that already have a history. From the 1950s to the 1990s, from British to Japanese bikes, I like engines with character, slightly unusual designs, and motorcycles you don’t see on every street corner.

Old trail bikes naturally hold a special place in my heart. Kawasaki KLR, Suzuki DR-Z, KTM, Honda Dominator… I restore them, transform them, and above all, take them riding. I even have an unreasonably strong affection for Honda single-cylinder engines and their famous RFVC. RFVC forever. Those who know, know.

There’s also a passion for British three-cylinder bikes, especially the 675 Triumph, a love for the Kawasaki Zephyr, the Yamaha TRX, and all the oddities from that generation of 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s youngtimers that are now beginning to tell the story of another era in motorcycling. Machines that are sometimes forgotten, sometimes unloved, but often full of potential. Picardy demands it: the 250 CR for riding on the sand of our northern neighbors - Le Touquet is a religion here - and, of course, café racers, especially the stripped-down ones, particularly the Thruxton.

I’ve crossed France by trail on motorcycles that were sometimes at least as old as I am. I regularly head to Creuse for enduro, enter machines in sand races or on circuits, and prepare old trail bikes to take them places they probably were no longer meant to go.

My motorcycles aren’t prepared to stay clean. They’re made for action. If they come back dirty, it means they’ve done their job well.

And after riding for so long, I eventually ran into the same wall Julien had a few years earlier: the motorcycles I love - old trail bikes, youngtimers… - are sometimes the ones for which it’s hardest to find good parts.

So when Julien’s and my paths finally crossed in Picardy, everything fell into place almost naturally.

A company exploring new paths

I brought to Blackpines what I knew: travel, trail riding, off-road riding, and that slightly tenacious fondness for unusual motorcycles that the major accessory catalogs have too often neglected.

With one rule we keep in mind with every new part:

Function must never be sacrificed for style. And style must never be sacrificed for function.

A modification must add something.

A better riding position. Additional protection. Less weight. Better braking. Greater range. More light. A motorcycle that is more enjoyable, more effective, or simply better suited to the person riding it.

When we have to choose a part, I almost always prefer a distinctive part to a standardized product: one designed by a small manufacturer, machined in a small batch, or made by a French or European artisan who truly knows what they produce. Because a beautiful build is also created with those who still make things differently.

And if it also looks great... even better.

This is the way of seeing things that we try, year after year, to bring to Blackpines.

To the café racers and scramblers that gave birth to the company, we are now adding trail bikes, adventure motorcycles, enduro bikes, and this generation of youngtimers that we refuse to let disappear simply because they have a few miles on the clock. Not as just another line in the catalog, but as a genuine playground.

Concretely, this means a workshop that is growing. Parts taking shape right now, designed to travel far, along paths that sometimes have no name. Motorcycles we are going to bring out of oblivion, one by one. And other artisans, throughout Europe, whom we went looking for so they could join the selection.

If you have a slightly crazy project in your garage, a motorcycle people tell you is too old or too ordinary to be interesting, or a part you cannot find anywhere: we are here.

The story continues to be written. One path at a time.

The terrain as a filter

Blackpines is still not intended to become a catalog of 100 000 references. That is not what interests me, and it was never Julien's idea either.

Here, we look for manufacturers who know their products, artisans who still know how to make beautiful things, and equipment makers capable of offering gear that can genuinely handle the roads and trails.

We select. We test. We install.

Sometimes, we simply cannot find the part we would like, so we make it.

Some are born directly in the workshop, on our own motorcycles, before being improved, tested, and finally offered to others.

That is probably the best way to sum up how we work : parts we would want to install on our own motorcycles. Machines made to ride, travel, get dirty, and tell a story.

Today, Julien has chosen to take a different path. Through his new painting business, he continues to work with Blackpines and take part in the projects that come through the workshop.

I have taken back the handlebars of Blackpines with a fairly simple idea : to help the company evolve without ever forgetting why it was created.

And contrary to what a website might suggest, this adventure is far from being just one person behind a screen.

There is Jacques, who works on the website's copy and content. Olivier, who oversees the entire technical side. Marie, handling administration and accounting. Corentin, who prepares your orders. And Geoffroy and Vivien, in the workshop, where our ideas often end up becoming parts and motorcycles.

Different professions, different backgrounds, but the same desire to build something on our own scale.

Blackpines remains a small, independent French company. And I want that to remain a strength.

Being able to find a part for a project that matters to you. Call a manufacturer to obtain technical information. Test a product on one of our motorcycles. Tell you, in all honesty, that a part does not convince us. Discover another one from a small European manufacturer. And take the time to advise someone who is gradually building their motorcycle in the back of their garage.

Because deep down, despite the years, the new motorcycles, and the miles traveled since the black fir trees of the Vosges, the original idea has not changed that much.

Choose rather than accumulate.

Prepare rather than simply equip.

And above all, ride.

Welcome to Blackpines. See you soon on the trails.

Thomas