Hi, I’m Ben, the founder of Yuba. I grew up on two wheels in Strasbourg, France. Here’s a picture of me and my cousin Benoit riding our bikes.
From that first ride, I fell in love with bicycles and what they can do. Over the years, I’ve had many adventures. I traveled to East Africa where I saw traders carrying their goods on two wheels. I spent time in Latin America, where dirt roads and broken trucks made bikes the best way to get around. Sometimes what I saw traveling upset me: waste, environmental damage, social inequalities. For a lot of small businesses or for families living in remote areas, I’ve seen that bicycles could allow people to make their lives better.
Eventually I grew up and translated my passion for bicycles and world observations into Yuba Bicycles, named after the river in California where I love to kayak and connect with the natural world. My wife Emily and I started a family and we couldn’t wait to pack up and bring our baby on our adventures.
My family and I love cycling. We also love making bikes, for us they are tools and toys. If I try to put my son drowsy and grumpy in a car after a long day, the poor little one howls. But when I put it on the back of a Yuba, she smiles every time. We love being outdoors, living a healthy lifestyle and greeting our neighbors as we pass. The best part about being the founder of Yuba is the moment when I see a family go home by bike from the bicycle shop, on the way to new adventures. When moms tell me that they feel safe to pick up their child from school and stop on the way home for groceries, smiling all the way... That’s when I know I did my job right. Because I know, like everyone else, that we parents also love to have fun, stay out and share new experiences and adventures, bringing children with us!