New Bike Day is one of the greatest occasions in the life of any rider: an opportunity to imagine the boundless possibilities of this most perfect invention, the places you’ll go, the things you’ll see, the friends you’ll make, and the fitness you’ll gain. In fact, so momentous is such an occasion that it seems almost impossible to tarnish it. Almost.
The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) political and economic forum – the heads of state of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom – have each just been presented with a personalised Look 795 Blade road bike, featuring a white frame, custom-painted fork in the colours of their respective national flags, name decals, and a UCI World Championships sticker.
This news came to light courtesy of a tweet from UCI president, David Lappartient, who thanked French president Emmanuel Macron “for choosing to promote the Haute-Savoie UCI World Championships during the G7 summit being held in Evians-les-Bains [sic], France”. He attached a picture of himself standing alongside Macron – a recipient of his own bike, (probably) courtesy of his own taxpayers.
Thank you to President @EmmanuelMacron for choosing to promote the @hautesavoie2027 UCI World Championships during the G7 summit being held in Evians-les-Bains, France.
— David Lappartient (@DLappartient) June 15, 2026
All seven heads of state will receive a personalized bicycle. pic.twitter.com/G4wUrlngB1
There are diverse ways you might feel about all of this: delight that bikes are being used as a promotional vehicle; hope that it might usher powerful people into a passion for cycling; disdain for certain recipients of the bikes.
And sure, we could talk about the implausibility of Donald Trump finding joy astride US$10,700 worth of finest French carbon fibre. We could, specifically, rant about the way that his objectively evil and stupid regime has, over his two terms, made blatant corruption an everyday banality; undermined public health; assassinated and kidnapped other world leaders; jeopardised the climate; attacked reproductive rights; weaponised public institutions against the country’s own citizens; and covered up certain scandals and manufactured others. We could speculate about his credibly documented history of sexual assault. We could point out that he seems to be an outright racist. We could tie a bow on it all by saying that he is, at an absolute minimum, just the worst dude. [This is, obviously, my personal opinion and not a broader editorial stance. But it is also correct.]
Anyway. I digress. According to some, bikes and politics should be kept separate and these bikes – a political gift – are probably worth talking about in their own right. So what do we know about them?
Did we do a good job with this story?
