Back in the saddle for Michel
Michel is a keen cyclist. After the illness that left him with hemiplegia, riding had become increasingly difficult for him: reduced mobility on the left side, limited support through that arm, and real trouble swinging a leg over the frame and getting up onto the saddle. This is exactly where our craft comes into its own. Michel wanted to keep riding, so we designed with him a machine built entirely around giving that simple pleasure back to him. Bespoke geometry, a lowered centre of gravity, controls grouped on a single side: beneath a sober appearance, every detail answers a precise need. This is the Victoire no.583.
The challenge was twofold: to make mounting and pedalling easier without ever turning the bike into a piece of medical equipment. Rather than piling on gadgets, we looked for simplicity. Flat bar, single chainring, flat pedals, a reassuring position: Michel wanted a machine that was obvious to use, one he wouldn't have to think about. All the ingenuity of the project is invisible at first glance, and that is exactly what we wanted.
The frame is built from Columbus Omnicrom steel, a high-strength chromoly that Grégoire welded in our workshop. But the heart of the matter lies in the geometry, which is entirely specific to Michel. We lowered the bottom bracket as far as possible: the centre of gravity drops, swinging a leg over becomes easier, and the difference in height between saddle and bar is reduced. The result is a low, stable, reassuring machine, every measurement of which was calculated for his body and his way of riding.
Everything is operated with the right hand, the stronger of the two. Michel works both brakes through a Hope twin hydraulic lever: two independent levers, one for the front, one for the rear, brought together on a single master-cylinder body — an unusual arrangement that works surprisingly well. Shifting and the dropper-post control are likewise moved to the right, as small wireless SRAM AXS electronic paddles. The Whisky flat bar gives a wide, natural grip, and the Cane Creek ViscoSet headset adds a slight damping of the steering that calms shimmy and brings welcome stability.
The drivetrain is deliberately pared back: a single 38-tooth Wolf Tooth chainring, paired with a 10-44 SRAM Rival AXS cassette, is enough to cover all of Michel's riding without his having to manage a front derailleur. The heart of the adaptation lies in the Appleman crankset, handmade in the United States, as on Marie's small-frame Victoire: its crank arms are short and of differing lengths, 145 mm on the right and 135 mm on the left. This offset realigns the pelvis and eases pedalling on the affected side. A 30 mm-spindle Praxis bottom bracket completes the assembly, and flat pedals leave the feet entirely free.
True to the idea of favouring Europe wherever possible, we built Mavic rims onto DT Swiss hubs, shod with Hutchinson Challenger tyres. Braking is entrusted to Hope Tech callipers, whose anodised-orange finish sets the rhythm across the whole bike, and which also appear on Julien's Larpenteur. Robust and low-maintenance, this build is exactly right for a machine you want always ready to roll.
The colour is a deep metallic green that lightens towards a soft sea-green on the lower part of the frame, picked out with a few orange markings. On the head tube sits the golden Victoire laurel, our emblem. The seat tube carries, stencilled in paint, the bike's number and the names of those who brought it to life: Grégoire for the framebuilding, Max for the paint, Antoine for the assembly. A Brooks Cambium C17 saddle and stainless King Cage bottle cages round off a sober, carefully judged finish.
Michel first got to know his machine on a home trainer, over many hours, before venturing outside, cautiously, around his home. He is gradually getting the measure of his Victoire and hopes to take to the road once the fine weather returns. That is all we wish for him.
Michel's bike is not an isolated case: we regularly design bespoke machines and parts for cyclists whom illness or an accident has kept away from riding, such as the stem we devised for Sébastien. If you, or someone close to you, are looking to get back in the saddle, tell us about your project — we will find a solution.
I'm finally taking a moment to write and tell you how delighted I am with my Victoire. The more I look at it, the more beautiful I find it, and that view is widely shared: everyone I've shown it to has fallen for it. Congratulations to the three co-signatories of my frame! The first outings have been very encouraging: after many hours of pedalling on the home trainer, I felt no discomfort at all, my position on the bike seeming spot-on. I then ventured outside, around my house, so as not to take too many risks. I'm getting to know my new mount little by little, and I have high hopes of setting off on the road once the bad season is behind us.
