Julien's Mountain Bike
Julien is the founder of Victoire. He loves cycling adventures on trails, both with drop bars and riser bars. To craft this mountain bike, Julien designed a playful geometry, easy to handle on the local singletracks, but also comfortable for longer rides in the Auvergne mountains. To create this very versatile MTB, Julien decided to combine wide tires with dynamic geometry.
Victoire bike n ° 444 has mixed wheel sizes: 29” at the front, to ease going over obstacles, and 27.5” at the rear to obtain additional comfort. The other purpose of this mixed wheel size was to create a short rear end, which improves handling. The frame thus offers very short chainstays (415mm on the shortest setting). Grip is provided by the wide and knobby WTB tires (2.5” at the front, 2.6” at the rear).
Julien had been dreaming of the XTR group for years. He opted for the“enduro”version of the components. The wider crankset helped create more tire clearance and made it possible to use a 2.6” rear tire. The 4-piston brakes, combined with 180mm rotors, provide powerful and reliable stopping power.
The gearing consists of a 32 tooth chainring and a 12-speed 10/51 cassette. This very versatile combination makes it possible to climb the steepest trails, aided by the roll-over capability of the 29” front wheel, and the huge traction provided by the wide rear tire.
A standout feature of this frame is the adjustable rear end. The dropouts (made by Paragon) can slide inside the frame, allowing the chainstay length to be changed from 415mm to 435mm, depending on the terrain and preference. When set shorter, the bike is more manoeuvrable and playful in rough terrain. When set longer, it can handle long days on smooth trails.
The seatstays are made from a single bent tube and connected to the frame by two small Columbus tubes from the Max series. These profiled and iconic seatstays are often used Victoire bikes, especially to manufacture our"René"stem. They usually increase the rigidity of the frame, but were selected here simply for their looks. The chainstays are strongly curved, to combine a very short rear end with clearance for (very) large tires. A bridge, also curved, reinforces this area subjected to significant stresses.
Julien chose a Formula Selva R fork. This fork features 2 air chambers, which allows to tune the positive and negative springs independently from each other, to optimize grip. Travel was adjusted to 140mm. The fork was completely taken apart to be painted and matched to the frame.
Julien painted Victoire n° 444 himself. After an internship at Cole Coatings in December 2018 and the construction of a professional painting booth in the Victoire workshop, Julien gradually took charge of painting Victoire frames. For his own mountain bike, Julien used Chris King's"Bourbon"color to define the paint scheme. The three metallic colors, Tungsten Gray, Beige and Light Gold, all complement the matte finish of the Chris King components. The fade, from the front to the rear of the bike, is carried out very gradually. The gold shade used for frame’s stays is also used for the logos, and matches the color of of the new head badge, made out of brass and representing a laurel.
The small Puy de Dôme graphics on the top tube were custom-designed by Matthieu Lifschitz (Manivelle) and painted by Julien. This type of customization is available on all Victoire bikes on request, to make bikes even more unique.
