How We First Met #6: Ymane Yenga
![How We First Met #6: Ymane Yenga](http://www.cinelli-milano.com/cdn/shop/articles/18_{width}x.jpg?v=1687266221)
Earlier this month we went and visited young Parisian rider Ymane Yenga to talk about her track bike riding in Paris, dream bikes and her collection of Cinelli caps…
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Ymane, 25 years old, born and raised in Paris, first started riding 7 years ago. Her boyfriend of the time was obsessed with fixed gear bikes and, says Ymane “obviously he had to have a girlfriend who rode too. He bought me a fixed gear and said ok you can ride home with it now… I was like what? I don’t know how to do this… But soon after I became pretty obsessed.”
“A couple of years later I got my first serious job and immediately started saving up for my dream bike: the Cinelli x MASH Histogram silver from 2014, ever since I’d seen that bike on the streets in Paris I knew that was my bike, the one I had to have… It took ages for me to track down one in my size but I finally found it on a Paris fixed gear facebook group, in mint condition… And it was when I got this bike, the first bike I’d bought with my own money, that I really started riding all the time, buying parts, continuously upgrading and fine-tuning.
My current setup is super fast, super light with a lot of special parts like the Zipp wheels and cockpit." [see full details below – ED]
"I also have another Cinelli bike, the CinellixMASH work (the frame that would later spawn our current Tutto Plus). The Work is very different, heavier, but more comfortable. I’ve even put a front rack on the cantilever mounts and used it for traveling. I use the Work for longer more easy going rides, I use the Histogram when I want to go really fast… This way I have two very different views of fixed gear cycling through the two different bikes, which I really like..”
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“Apart from the bikes my favourite Cinelli item has to be the cap, which has become part of my uniform over the last few years.
When I first got into cycling I would see people wearing cycling caps, people who were not racing but wearing the cap as a kind of representation of a lifestyle statement, so messengers or alleycat riders. I alway s thought the cap was a really cool item but for some reason thought I couldn’t wear it, because I wasn’t a serious enough rider maybe or maybe because I have big hair I didn’t think it would fit. But one day someone gave me one to try, it fit, I liked the way it looked on me so after that I bought my first one: a Cinelli.
In fact Cinelli is the only brand of cycling cap I have ever bought and it has become a part of my whole aesthetic. Often I will try to match my outfits with my cap and I never ride my bike without one on, sometimes I even wear one when I’m not on my bike which is maybe a bit too much haha…”
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“What I like about the Cinelli cap is the way that I feel like I am collecting art pieces. In fact I love all the items from the Art Program not just the caps and it’s been a way for me to discover artists that I wouldn’t have otherwise discovered such as Mike Giant (I’ve got the Mike Giant x Cinelli bar tape, gloves and ass saver as well as of course the cap) but above all: Ana Benaroya.
All my favourite Cinelli caps are her ones. I even rebought my absolute favourite cap of hers, the Fire cap after it got ruined in an accident… Recently I found somebody selling some ten old Cinelli caps on facebook, I went with a friend to check them out and we ended buying everything from him including the Benaroya socks so my collection keeps growing haha… In fact I just moved into a new place I am trying to figure out not just where to hang my bikes but also my caps…”
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bike setup
Frameset: Cinelli X Mash Histogram
Chainring and Cog: Sugino zen 51t, 18t Cog
Crankset: Sram Omnium 165mm
Seatpost: Zipp
Saddle: Specialized power
Stem: Zipp 100mm
Handlebar: Zipp service course 80
Wheels: Zipp 303 firecrest
Tires: Continental Grand Prix 4 season and Gatorskin 25c
Photos: @giascobertoli