What is your Holy Grail among French frame builders?

May I give a shout out for the doyen of French frame builders, Bernard Carre. Built for Anquetil, Stablinski and many of the great riders. Also, Alain Michel who followed very much in Carre's footsteps but then built some extraordinary low-pro and time trial bikes. Particularly noted for building for French Olympic teams.
 
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It was originally a Miki-built Union Sapporo frame, which I'd bought for €5. Inspired by the French classics I painted it, hung my favourite parts on it, and took it to Italy for a test ride.

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I really liked it, and ever since I have been playing with the randonneuse légère format and enjoying the results.

A couple of years later I was back in Italy, this time with an Austrian-American Austro-Daimler. I had been looking at what Olivier Csuka was doing with modern parts at Alex Singer, liked it, and decided that 'Shimergo' would provide a means of having modern shifting while still being able to use most of my pretty (and cheap) old parts.
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My current toy is again Japanese: a Miyata-built randonneur frame I'd more or less rescued from becoming skip fodder. A lick of paint and a dive in the parts bin, and I was again off to Italy, as per the protocol. :)

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Got to love any of those lugless aluminium frames, the work that must have gone into a single build would be amazing. I nearly bought a red anodized Sabliere last year but there was a tiny crack in the seat lug. Would probably have been fine, but I chickened out of the auction at 400...
 
My particular favourite is the Ganolo with curved seat tube. They're not cheap though, the French love them and they go 2 grand upwards 🙄😁
 

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Probably Philippe Andouard known for its atypical and very nervy high end finished bikes,
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Cycles Pierre Perrin which is known to craft high end light steel frames. A race bike by Philippe Andouard For Perrin, steel is the most suitable material for building a bicycle, as it filters out vibrations and its rigidity ensures high performance, while also offering a wide range of finishing options. 7.6 kilos is the weight of a steel bike at Pierre Perrin.
Cycles Le Vacon which I consider the equivalent of Passoni regarding titanium welding. Jean-Pierre Le Vacon is renowned for his titanium frames, a material that does not oxidize. He also manufactures and assembles frames in aluminum, steel, stainless steel and carbon. Le Vacon titanium welds frame finish
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Cyfac (Cycles Fabrication Atisanale de Cadres) was and is a household name if you are researching a high end top notch made frame.
Based in the Touraine region of France, Cyfac represents a major name in the French cycle industry, and a certain idea of craftsmanship combined with state-of-the-art technology. Cyfac manufactures custom road, track and touring frames in steel, aluminum, titanium and carbon, as well as titanium/carbon (laminated carbon joints, titanium tubes). In its young history, Cyfac was a pioneering company, the first manufacturer to TIG-weld aluminum frames, a synonym for the weight savings sought by Chiapucci, Pantani and others. Cyfac represents a technologically advanced craft of precision and quality, demonstrating that an SME can compete with global manufacturers. Today, Cyfac continues to offer handcrafted, made-to-measure frames for the general public and professionals alike. Cyfac's high standards are also reflected in the Cyfac postural system, the method used to measure the rider's posture and frame geometry, which is now developed and marketed by Morphologics.
And at last but not least Cycles Pilorget has also been a specialist in custom bicycles for 35 years.
When I was roadbike racing from 1996 to 1999 one of my club leaders had a pilorget sandvik titanium custom made road bike of the same level of quality and finish than a Passoni and the other one had a Cyfac made of combus ultrafoco roadbike than was better finished than a Colnago Master or a Colnago Oval Titan.
 
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