Fabien gave us precise specifications, but left room for imagination. He needed a bike that could travel the flat roads of Touraine at high speed. He also wanted a bike with an American spirit, as a tribute to the origins of gravel biking.

A rare feature in the modern cycling landscape, he also wanted cable brakes. It's a choice that goes against the current trends, but one that we at Victoire particularly encourage!

As for the color theme, he had several specific shades of red and pink in mind.

Fabien is a regular customer of ours, being the proud owner of Victoire n°480 and n°304. This new bike was therefore based on these two other machines, adapting their characteristics to Fabien's new requirements.

He now has a Victoire for every possible type of use around Tours. Whether it's windy or rainy, whether he wants to go fast or far, he'll find a machine perfectly suited to his needs in his garage.

As is often the case, the frame is made from Colombus tubes. The history of the transalpine company has often crossed paths with French engineers: in fact, it was a collaboration with the Institut de Soudure in Paris that led to the first alloys used by Colombus several decades ago. The frame of Fabien's bike is made from the descendant of these early research results, Omnicrom.

The front triangle uses cold-formed tubes, to optimize the frame's response to the dynamics imparted by pedaling.

The headset bushing is 46mm to accommodate the Whisky carbon fork. Disc brakes are fixed to the frame and fork using the "flatmount" standard.

Fabien wanted a simple bike, with nothing superfluous. That's why we designed a frame that doesn't have any luggage rack or mudguard attachments. Fabien wants to be able to cruise the dusty and muddy roads around his town at full speed, without any hindrances.

We used all of our know-how to clean up the bike's lines: internal cable routing, seat clamp integrated into the seat stays. To protect the paintwork (which we present below), we welded a small stainless steel bar on the head tube to avoid any friction with the cables.

We were keen to surprise Fabien with a few finishing details. Even for a repeat customer who already owns two of our machines, it's important that each of our creations is unique and striking.

Marco built the bike, and used the bridge between the seatstays to give free rein to his creativity. This part stiffens the rear triangle, but this shape had never been seen before on a Victoire bike.

For gravel use, a one-by groupset offers many advantages: it's easier to use, and the components are generally more reliable.

Another big plus is that mountain bike components can be used with this configuration, ensuring even greater performance for sporting use in muddy conditions.

Fabien entrusted us with the choice of a hybrid drivetrain using the Ratio kit, which allows the use of road shifters with a SRAM MTB cassette and derailleur. The result is the best of both worlds: superb ergonomics and a very wide development range. Fabien will be able to ride on steep & highly technical trails, while at the same time enjoying top speed on the paths along the Loire.

Another of Fabien's requirements was the use of cable disc brakes. Although this request may seem to run counter to the current trend, it is totally understandable as it offers a number of advantages: lightness, ease of maintenance, inexpensive repairs requiring few tools, and great braking power if the right equipment is selected.

After considering for a while the excellent Paul Klamper brakes, we approached Growtac, a small Japanese artisanal brand that makes calipers in very small series and enjoys an excellent reputation across the Atlantic. We had seen these calipers on the personal bike of Igor, the owner of Vélo-Orange, at the last Made show. We took the necessary steps to distribute these exceptional parts in Europe.

Fabien is the first customer to benefit from these new parts, and it's fair to say that the results are impressive: the brakes are easy to adjust, remarkably smooth and with a much more pleasant feeling than any hydraulic brake on the market. Aided by top-quality incompressible cables and sheaths, Growtac brakes are our absolute favorite, and we'll be coming back to these components in the near future, which you can already get hold of by contacting us.

Fabien wanted a Victoire with an American touch, so it's only natural to find a pair of Chris King hubs as well as a bottom bracket and headset from the same brand.

We've been working closely with Chris King for several years, as they make part of extremely high quality. We regularly visit them and display Victoire bikes at the gatherings they organize, the Chris King Open House (in 2019 and 2021 for example).

For the paintwork, Fabien wanted something different from his previous bikes. Julien experimented with different techniques to achieve a result combining unusual application techniques, glitter in the varnish and even 24-carat gold leaf for the various logos.

Julien would like to take this opportunity to thank Cédric from Orion for his advices!

Other components come mainly from the USA, with a Thomson set, King Cage bottle cages and Enve rims.

A coffee-lover, Fabien took advantage of the delivery of his Victoire to come and discover Cartel Cycles & Café, our new location in downtown Clermont-Ferrand: a café, showroom, bicycle store, workshop-repair shop, meeting place and meeting point for rides.

Fabien took his machine on the road, and he was king enough to provide us with a feedback about his first impressions.