Didier's lightweight
Didier was looking for a road bike for his sports outings in Puy-De-Dôme. We made the Victoire n°503, a stainless steel Victoire dedicated to asphalt whose simplicity equals its sportiness, without compromising on its performant character.
Ultra-sporty and dedicated to pure performance, Didier's frame was made from the Columbus XCr stainless steel series. The tapered head tube of this series provides rigidity, as does the bottom bracket in T47 format. The set has been designed by the Italian tube manufacturer to offer an explosive rendering : these tubes have very interesting mechanical properties which allow a very thin thickness, a contained weight and therefore a reactive frame.
All of Didier's Victoire cables pass inside the frame. This lightens the appearance of the bike and protects the cables, placed inside conduits brazed in the tubes.
Olivier's punch was brazed onto the project's seat tube. This small piece of copper is like the signature of the framer who worked on the project, and underlines the authenticity of Didier's Victoire.
Didier chose to remain sober about the choice of possible options for his frame, and to direct his attention to very high-end components. He also brought back several references that he already had on his side so that we could mount them on his project.
The Victoire n°503 crankset, a Cane Creek EEWings, is made of titanium. This very exclusive product weighs no more than 400 grams. The manufacturer presents this crankset as 20% to 30% stiffer than a similar reference in carbon range, which corresponds to what Didier is looking for. To top it off, Cane Creek guarantees this reference for 10 years.
The chainring chosen by Didier is specific: it is the ovalized reference Garbaruk Road/Gravel Oval in 50 teeth. Manufacturers of ovalized chainrings claim that these products offer a gain in speed and less muscle trauma thanks to constant pedaling power, without dead spots. On this subject, the cycling community is divided. What is certain is that it is a reference addressed to practitioners looking for performance, like Didier.
The Victoire n°503 transmission chain is a KMC DLC12, a light, durable reference, and chosen in a black and green anodization that matches the finish of the bike.
The rear derailleur, provided by Didier, is a Sram X01 Eagle. It is associated with a Rotor 12-speed cassette in 11 - 39 which offers a wide range of development to face the most climbing reliefs.
In order to be able to use the Sram Force 11-speed levers with Didier's 12-speed cassette, we used a Ratio kit. These kits, offered by the English brand, make it possible to change the pulling ratio of the levers with a little handling. We now use this system frequently at Victoire (see Victoire #507, see Victoire #491) and we are delighted with how well it works.
A road bike does not exclude powerful braking, which is why Didier chose Hope RX4 four-piston calipers. The four pistons, originally designed for off-road use, allow progressive and vigorous braking.
The wheels mounted on Victoire n°503 are Extralight carbon wheels, which, as their name suggests, weigh very little on the scale. They were fitted with Pirelli P zero tyres.
Seat post and handlebar are also made of carbon, produced by the German manufacturer Shmolke.
The stem, like the wheels, comes from the supplier Extralight. Again here, it was chosen with the aim of reducing the weight of the bike as much as possible in order to obtain a light and explosive whole.
The saddle and its total weight of 59 grams comes from the Selles Italia catalog, with their reference SLR C59.
The paintwork of the Victoire n°503 consists of two metallic colours. The first is an anise green that covers the front of the bike as well as the ENVE fork. The back of the frame reveals the stainless steel as well as the welding work made in the workshop using a transparent clear coat.
The other shade was chosen to match the color of the cords made with the filler metal containing 54% silver that we use for Victoire bikes. It is therefore a light gold, which was used for the bike markings on the down tube and on the seat tube.
I chose Victoire for my bespoke bike because, being from Auvergne, I favor local businesses.
I knew exactly the characteristics of my future dream, but Julien gave me advice which made it possible to make my missile more reliable, and to sublimate it by choosing the Ewings titanium crankset from Cane Creek. When I picked up my bike, tears came to me because this project is the culmination of my 60 years. I scaled down my developments from 50 - 11/46 to 44 - 10/44.
I haven't yet done an outing that combines several mountain passes, but that will be done in the following months. My future Victoire project will be a full-suspension steel mountain bike, with suspension kinematics derived from those that worked best when I rode in motocross competitions, so transposable to the bike!
The first sensations are magical: comfort, performance, incredible braking, ability to pull higher gears compared to my most efficient carbon frames and great tolerance on the end of outings exceeding 120 km.
