In the western suburbs of Boston I ran into a guy of about 60 who was riding a 1970s 10-speed marked “Motobecane” and “Made in France” in big letters on the frame. Motobecane went bankrupt in 1981 and no longer makes bicycles (though you can buy Taiwanese bikes with this brand name today). No country was more enthusiastic about the early days of cycling than France (history) and it used to be possible to buy a competitively priced mainstream road bike with all-French components (Mavic or Super Champion rims, Simplex derailleurs, Christophe toe clips, Mafac brakes, TA cranks, Zefal pump, Ideale saddle, etc.).
I was reminded of this heritage once again at Verrill Farm in Concord, Massachusetts, a popular stopping point for summer road bike rides. Two very fit guys with French-made Cyfac frames parked their machines next to my Trek. One had started the ride in Jamaica Plain and the other in Foxborough, so they were both committed to 70-100-mile round trips. They said that Cyfac was a leading manufacturer of carbon fiber tandem frames for the Paralympics (a blind stoker can thus compete). Their bikes were close to $9,000 each including a lot of deluxe components. The tandem would be at least $15,000 by the time it was all done.
What do expert readers have to say about French bicycles today? Does the country make competitive products for ordinary riders? Or at least have a Trek- or Specialized-like company that is based in France and designs popular bikes that are manufactured in Asia? If not, why not?
Motobecane was bought by Yamaha and renamed MBK. It’s still based in France. They sold the rights to the name in the U.S. To a completely unrelated company.
Peugeot made bicycles before they made cars, and still do. Good, solid road bikes, I used to have one. Then there is the inimitable Solex, a gasoline assist mechanism that would drive the front wheel by direct friction, and updated since for electric.
The reasons for decline are the same as in other industries: crippling payroll taxes making them uncompetitive against foreign competition.
When I grew up in the 70’s in Queens, NYC, the Peugeot U-08 was the common standard that kids had or wanted to have. The Peugeot PX-10 was the affordable tour level bike that could be had for under $200. I’m no expert, but from reading Bicycling Magazine back then, I would think that there are legitimate french brands today,but with only a primary presence in France. French Brands like Motobecane, Peugeot, LeJeune, Vitus and Gitane that did have an international presence, at least Queens back then, don’t today. A unique thing about french bikes where the threading and standards of the parts and how the fitted together. It’s hard to restore or replace parts on a true
I’m going to take more of a macro econ approach to the explanation for this – the same thing has happened with the French wine industry – they just got fat and lazy, and the 35h workweek made it hard to compete with hungrier international players. Mavic’s market position was predicated on being the Tour de France support car. That worked for a really long time when the industry was pretty small. Starting with the MTB craze in the 90s, the US brands grew really fast on the growth of that industry segment, and poured a ton of marketing money and engineering expertise into product improvements. The European makers didn’t do that so much, and just ended up getting their lunch eaten.
b’Twin is a French brand with some French manufacturing, though it’s mostly produced in Asia and Eastern Europe; and it’s quite substantial because of Decathlon affilation
I have a Motobecane bike with a “mixte” frame from the late ’70s. A friend gave it to me together with the original paperwork. It was something like $175 back then, which is around $750 today. By modern standards it’s heavy. The shifters are in the middle so you have to take your hand off the handlebars and there are no detents so you have to shift by feel. It has plated steel rims and so very little braking when it is wet. I think they used center pulls so there was clearance for fenders but in “10-speed racer” style of the time (this was by no means a racing bike but it has dropped handlebars) there are no fenders. I use it as a spare bike in case company is visiting.
Sheldon Brown wrote about French bikes on his website. The French had, back then, before globalization, a pretty much self-contained economy. The entire bike would have been made in France and they didn’t feel the need to adhere to world standards (if any even existed back then) or to be compatible with the Anglo-Saxons let alone Japs. So if everyone else used 25.4mm tubing, they used 25mm. Maybe they would use left hand threads on certain parts, just to be French and contrarian. For the American market, they made a couple of concessions – they used tires and pedal threads in a size that you have some hope of finding in America. But if anything else on the bike breaks nowadays, barring a miracle find on Ebay, God help you – there are no parts.
Like a lot of industries, they were done in by the Asians – first the Japanese, then the Taiwanese, then the Chinese. The Asian stuff was either better and lighter (Japan) or cheaper (China). I’m talking about mass market stuff. The French were able to keep going at the very high end where price is not a consideration (and it may even be a “feature”).
When I grew up in the 70’s in Queens, NYC, the Peugeot U-08 was the standard bike that kids had or wanted to have. The Peugeot PX-10 was the affordable tour level bike that could be had for under $200. French Brands like Motobecane, Peugeot, LeJeune, Vitus and Gitane did have an international presence, at least in Queens back then. French bike brands today don’t have that level of branding.
Also American bicycles are becoming a thing of the past. Few things come to mind, Labor/Manufacturing costs, global competition is probably one of the largest factors.
Hi Phil,
Yes, check out Time and Look
I think one is manufactured in North Africa, the other in France iirc.
As I understand things all carbon frames are made in the same half dozen chinese/taiwanese factories. I suspect aluminum frame building is similarly consolidated. The rest of the components are from about seven companies: sram, shimano, FSA, etc. It’s a globally consolidated, de-verticalized industry. There’s a lot of branding on underlying product that is all the same.
Allegedly the few chinese plants making the carbon frames have started selling their own knockoffs. You can do velobuild or hongfu and piece together a bike for a huge discount. There are question marks about quality control, but many happy customers.
just got back from some bicycling in France
Outfitter used Cannondale bikes — not quite sure why