Germain Chaline is the man behind Cycles Affranchi, which is based near the town of Foix in the rural Occitanie region of southwestern France. He builds custom steel frames, forks and luggage racks to suit customers’ desires and needs, but also under a guiding principle he boldly displays at his website: “FREEDOM: [he] who demonstrates a certain independence with regard to social and cycling conventions.” This out-of-the-box thinking produced a versatile but functional entry for this year’s Concours de Machines (CDM).

“I have often had a great time at CDM, riding beautiful routes and making strong, sincere friendships and work bonds. My involvement in different groups of Pyrenees artisans, my love for the playground that these mountains offer us and the true and sincere human relationships I maintain there, all of this has pushed me to present a bike and honor the Pyrenees and the people who committed to organizing this year’s edition,” says Chaline.

Photo: Xavier Scotto di Vettimo

Chaline’s minimalist and practical mountain bike entry involved his trifecta of handbuilt custom design: a frame, two forks, and a lightweight and removable luggage rack. “This bike was built for me and I love it! It’s a versatile MTB to be used for two-hour rides, two-day trips and two-week journeys! Its configuration for the Concours has a rear rack and a "semi-Truss" fork. This rigid fork is for a bikepacking setup, so to be used on a much longer journey shared between roads, gravel roads and single track,” says Chaline.

“I really wanted to give it a kinda clunker style to pay tribute to the folks in the US who developed mountain biking as we know it today. I'm talking about Joe Breeze, Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher, Otis Guy, Charles Kelly and the Repack races crew.”

The bike features a spare derailleur hanger on the rear seat stay which can be used as a secure support for the derailleur when the bike is put in a bag for train travels. The bike fits in train bags as required by SNCF (French Railways), which was one of the design criteria for this year’s Concours.

 
Photo: Xavier Scotto di Vettimo

“I added fun, bells and whistles and worked on luggage in collaboration with Aymeric from Atelier Rebié,” says Chaline. The result was a series of custom made bags and pouches suitable for the backcountry journeys of this year’s CDM. In fact, Atelier Rebie’s products define their own category of adventure bags that they call “Pyrenean Luggage”.

“Another useful feature is the map holder I fixed on the handlebar. I use it every time I need to use a map, not only for the Concours. I never use a GPS!,” says Chaline.


Photo: Cycles Affranchi

As with many framebuilders, for Germain Chaline the craft is a labor of love bolstered by a deep abiding passion, and underwritten by a series of day jobs.

“My 2020 move to Foix in the Pyrenees marked the beginning of Affranchi. I continue to work on the side for a bit because it's a business where it's hard to find a balance between proper pay and enough free time. I offer adventure bikes, with luggage solutions, ranging from gravel to bikepacking to multi-purpose mountain bike and travel bikes,” says Chaline.

But there’s one particular subcategory of the custom design craft that particularly engages Chaline and also reflects his love for the independence of the backcountry journeys that his bicycles help foster.

“I love making luggage racks!” he says.

Visit Cycles Affranchi’s website for more information (with an English translation).