Bike Check: Bordure Cycles’s Symbiose X
This week, we’re featuring another French frame builder with Pierre from Bordure Cycles. Based in Épernay, in the northeast of France, Bordure is still a relatively young brand, as the first bike rolled out of Pierre’s workshop in 2018, followed by his first titanium frame in 2021.
At Bespoked Dresden, Pierre brought a couple of bikes with him, but today I want to focus on the Symbiose X, a creation that didn’t even have a name at the time of the show.
At its core, the Symbiose X is a very honest interpretation of what the gravel world has been asking from frame builders lately. It offers clearance for up to 56mm tires, features a machined head tube, 3D-printed titanium bits, and a suspension-corrected geometry designed around forks with up to 30mm of travel. It’s a platform meant to cover adventure, endurance, performance, and everything in between, without trying too hard to define itself.
In many ways, the Symbiose X sits on the simpler end of the spectrum compared to some of the bikes I chose to shoot at Bespoked Dresden. But there’s a certain beauty in going straight to the point, without adding unnecessary layers or visual noise. Pierre has proven with other projects that he can go much further, custom carbon tubes, complex 3D-printed titanium structures, etc… But somehow, it’s this bike that felt right to highlight here.
Detailed Parts List
Frameset
Bordure Symbiose X
Groupset Sram Force XPLR
Chainring
Gemini
Seatpost and Saddle
Enve seatpost, S-Works Power Mirror Saddle
Stem and Handlebar
Enve Integrated cockpit
Wheels Tune Wheelset with 55mm Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge tires
Details are still very much present. Custom anodized, frame-matching Bordure titanium bottle cages and seat clamp, CeramicSpeed bearings for the bottom bracket and headset, and a forged carbon chainring from Gemini add just the right amount of bling.
The rest of the build follows the same restrained logic: a SRAM Force groupset, ENVE seatpost and cockpit, and an S-Works Power Mirror saddle. Nothing excessive, nothing out of place.
The Symbiose X is really just the tip of the Bordure Cycles iceberg, and I hope we’ll get the chance to explore more of Pierre’s work in a future release here on Slow Spin Society.
Can’t go wrong with gold Ti anodizing
🎞: Kodak Color Plus 200
📷: Leica M6
📍: Dresden
