The episode in detail
The company bike: much more than a bike for hire
Alexandre Jomin is chief technical officer (CTO) at Azfalte, a French start-up that sets up company bike schemes for businesses. Azfalte does not stop at supplying bikes: the company supports employers from designing their bike policy through to full life-cycle follow-up of the bike. Choosing a bike suited to each employee’s use, servicing included, breakage and theft insurance, technical support: it is all packaged into a complete offer.
“We do not stop at being a go-between for a client and a shop. We are genuinely here to support companies and the employees of those companies. That is a strong, structuring ambition of the Azfalte project.”
The idea of a company bike is still not well known in France. Everyone knows what a company car is, but the company bike still raises questions: safety, tax, maintenance, theft. Azfalte spends a significant part of its time on evangelising, with contract timelines longer than expected.
Why have a CTO in a bike company?
The question appears legitimate: why have a technical team at a company that provides bikes? The answer lies in the hidden complexity of the company bike in business. Before putting a bike on the road, Azfalte puts together six to seven contracts: financing, leasing, insurance, maintenance, support. This whole ecosystem needs digital tools built in-house.
“I admit that when I joined Azfalte, I had slightly underestimated the scale of the task involved in putting a bike on the road. We put together 6 or 7 contracts before we can do that.”
Alexandre joined Azfalte right from the start, working from a blank page. Choosing the technical architecture, the tools, the development methods. The tech team, two people, delivers features on an ongoing basis to improve the experience of clients and staff members who use the bikes every day.
Matching the bike to its use: the key to successful bike commuting
One of Azfalte’s central principles is that not every employee needs the same bike. A parent who drops their children off at school needs a longtail or a cargo bike. An employee who lives in a hilly area will not have the same bike as one who rides on the flat streets of Paris. Personalised support in choosing the bike is part of the offer.
Beyond the bike itself, Azfalte works on reducing the barriers to adoption. Rain? With remote working, you can shift your departure time by an hour. Theft? Locks approved by insurers and staff awareness campaigns. Maintenance? Scheduled servicing, included in the package. Each irritant identified gets a concrete answer.
“We have to answer quite a few prejudices around the bike. The counter-argument is: look at the countries where the bike is used the most. It is not southern Europe. We are not made of sugar.”
From sound engineer to bike commuter: an unusual path
Alexandre is not a typical tech profile. Trained as a sound engineer (a BTS in audiovisual studies, a degree in applied physics, a master’s in Brest), he retrained in web development at 27. The bike has been part of his life since the early 1990s, when mountain biking was taking off in France. Now based near Lille, he regularly commutes by bike along a towpath that runs beside a congested road.
“Every time, I go under this bridge and I see people crammed together in the traffic jam at 8 in the morning. I think to myself: yeah, bike commuting is pretty great after all.”
His practical advice: minimise everyday irritants. Gloves, helmet, rain gear always in the same place. The bike has to match real-world use (errands, children, flat or hilly routes). The decision to take the bike should be as quick and as effortless as possible.
Cycling infrastructure: the missing lever
For Alexandre, the growth of the company bike in business runs into a structural barrier: infrastructure. More infrastructure brings more cyclists, and more cyclists justify new infrastructure. But France is considerably behind. French cycle tracks often amount to no more than a coat of paint on the road, where Belgium or the Netherlands offer separated, secure lanes.
“When a car overtakes you at 90 km/h, even being on a cycle track does not necessarily make you feel safe.”
The problem particularly affects women. Alexandre’s girlfriend avoids certain unlit routes in the evening. The towpath, pleasant by day, becomes a route perceived as a no-go area at night. The idea of a cycle track rating system (safety, lighting, separation from traffic) would let cyclists choose their routes with full knowledge and let local authorities identify priority upgrades.
