The Croissant, Renaud's randonneuse
Renaud is one of Julien's childhood friends. It was with him that Julien discovered cycling, over holidays spent almost entirely on the bike, and in a way that is where Victoire took root. Building a bike for Renaud meant coming full circle. He was first drawn to a Distance 45, but the project gradually drifted towards Victoire, and together we designed a versatile randonneuse, as much at home on the Jura passes as on gravel tracks. This is Victoire n°602.
Renaud lives on the shores of Lake Geneva, at the foot of the Jura. His bike takes him to Geneva every day, and the rest of the time he rides the local passes: the Col de la Faucille, the Col de la Givrine, or the forest road up to the Col de Combe Blanche from Divonne-les-Bains. At first he pictured a gravel bike with a carbon fork, a double chainset and hydraulic brakes. As our conversations went on, the brief narrowed down to a few simple ideas: a bike that is understated, low-tech, easy to maintain and able to stay with him for decades. Hence a steel fork, cable brakes, dynamo lighting and a front rack.
This project was built by Marc. At our workshop, one framebuilder follows a project from start to finish, so he also made the fork, the stem and the rack. The front triangle is Columbus Life and the seatstays Columbus SL. The steel fork uses the same crown as the Croix-Morand, our randonneuse at Distance (Victoire's "ready-to-wear" counterpart), with mid-blade eyelets to carry the rack.
Renaud wanted to stay mechanical. SRAM Rival cable levers operate a 12-speed GX Eagle rear derailleur thanks to the Ratio kit, which changes the lever's indexing to match the SRAM Eagle derailleur. With a 38-tooth chainring on a SRAM Force crankset and a 10-52 cassette, the gear range is plenty for the Jura climbs, whether the bag is full or not. Braking is handled by Growtac Equal callipers: cable-actuated disc brakes, easy to adjust and service on the road, in keeping with a bike that needs no complicated maintenance.
The stainless steel front rack, silver-brazed, has a looped platform that keeps it visually light. Marc's work carries a Gramm Diamond Bag, roomy enough for the daily commute as well as a day out in the Jura. The stem, made in the workshop and painted with the frame, holds a Teravail Feldspar handlebar. The headset is a Cane Creek Fifty.
The wheels are DT Swiss GR 1600 Spline, fitted with Panaracer tyres. At the rear, a 350 hub; at the front, a dynamo hub that DT Swiss developed with Shutter Precision and now offers on its gravel wheels. It powers a SON Edelux II headlight mounted under the rack, and an Allygn EdelMü tail light fitted at the rear dropout. Enough to ride home from Geneva after dark without a thought for batteries.
Renaud gave Julien free rein on the paint. The idea was to slip a fairly intricate paint job into an understated overall look, combining masking, splatter and fades. The white echoes Renaud's first Sunn, and the yellow splatter matches the colour of his second, a brand that shaped their childhood. Chevrons, lettering, the Victoire laurel and the seat tube inscriptions are all stencilled in paint, as on every one of our bikes.
And then there is the croissant, at the bottom of the seat tube. As teenagers, Julien and Renaud knew a bakery selling wonderful croissants at the top of a two-kilometre climb. They rode up it many times, just to fetch them. Without those croissants, Victoire might never have existed.
I knew Victoire before it was even born! At first I wanted a gravel bike along the lines of a Distance 45. I ended up with a steel-fork randonneuse, SRAM, cable brakes, lights and a front rack. What never changed is that I wanted it low-profile, low-tech, easy to maintain, and to last me at least forty years. Seeing it for the first time, I was thrilled, and the wait was almost the best part: you feel like a child waiting for Christmas.
After a few rides, I'm really happy. It behaves very differently from what I was used to, and that was the point. What strikes me most in the end is the comfort, without having changed anything in my position. I can tell I'll be able to ride far and for a long time. Mission accomplished!
My favourite detail? The croissant, no hesitation.
