Confrérie des 650

This page presents a translation of an interview with Philippe Petit, former president of the Confrérie, about the situation of the cycle industry and market in France at the end of the years 1990s. These circumstances underlay the Confrérie’s action and strategy for stimulating the production of 650B rims, tires and classical touring bicycles.

Question#1 : The Confrérie claims today a particular vision on the cycle business, diametrically opposed to the ambient frame of mind. What is the basis for such opinion ?

As a first issue in our undertaking, we were confronted to the phenomenon of a cycle industry entrenched in its vision of the prevailing commercial context in France in the 1970’s while the society shifted to globalisation. Strikingly, the cycle market has experienced much the same changes as other sectors like cinema, photography, books and records : traditional points of sale virtually disappeared while at the same time the commercial offering was being standardized by large superstore chains. A few small businesses survived at the cost of profound changes in their positioning and profession.

Because of its commitment, the Confrérie has soon endorsed the brutality of this change, which we systematically reported without being well understood. Considering this situation with detachment, everything seems logical in the end. The principal motivation of the bicycle tourist is indeed far from these issues or pure commercial organisation.

Question#2 : How did you conduct this research work ?

As basically and prosaically as possible. We started in 1999 by visiting some fifty retailers of all styles, looking for 650B rims and tires (650B rims were out of production at the time). We listened to them and noted their remarks, their reactions, their limits. We then restarted from scratch, step by step, as modestly as possible. How is a rim, a tire manufactured. Had all manufacturers been contacted ? What was the minimum quantity to make the production viable ? How bicycle components are distributed in France ? What is the role of wholesalers ? What is their relationship to manufacturers ? How do they foresee the evolution of their job in the next five years ? What are their fundamentals ? Could it be possible to develop win-win strategies while respecting the three types of identities (industry, trade, consumer). In summary, we strived to be as professional as possible, as modest as possible, but respected without abjuring our associative origins.

Question#3 : what conclusions are you able to draw from this long search, owing much to both your professional experience and your personal investment on the field ?

We demonstrated that what was reputed impossible was in fact feasible, and that professionalism was rather on our side. We demonstrated that our fighting could eventually create value and jobs. We demonstrated that, contrary to what we heard and saw, it was not necessary to have huge resources to succeed. What counted in the end was the mobilization of human energies, a clear structured and democratic approach to the objectives.

We did nothing other than structuring with our own forces a business knocked down by globalization, both technically and culturally. A similar approach has been successfully undertaken by the state to preserve the French cinema industry (the only one still alive today in Europe); a similar approach enabled the development of a prosperous leisure boating industry in France whereas such strongly labour-intensive industry was at a time in great distress.

The classical touring bicycle makes sense, at least in the foreseeable future, in a globalized niche market : brakes come from the USA, some specific parts come from Japan, rims and tires produced in France are commercialized overseas… almost none of the actors of the sector has been able until now to realize that and draw the obvious conclusions.

Question#4 : in light of this solid experience, how do you analyse the behaviour of the various actors of the sector : integrators, equipment manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers ?

When one tries to understand what happened over 40 years (1965-2005), one is especially struck by the sightlessness of the whole of the French actors (industry, equipment suppliers, retailers, consumers) with respect to evolution. The French cycle lost the globalisation battle in the USA during the 1972-1975 years, whereas this period is generally considered as the apogee of the French cycling industry. Maladjustment to global market and changing rules of the game, cultural incapability to call itself into question, to revisit fundamentals without abdicating its personality, all this explains the collapse of the French cycle culture. On the opposite side, the prospective and strategic understanding at the beginning of the 1970s of the, by then small, Japanese equipment manufacturer Shimano explain their astonishing success.

The behaviours observed in France in 2007 are for the time being structurally the same as those which lead during the last forty years to the collapse of the French cycle industry and cycle culture as a mobility and touring tool.

Question#5 : could you briefly outline the enormous gap you observed between the expectations of the average cyclotourist, the speech held by nearly all bicycle dealers, and reality ?

The whole business (large manufacturers to start with, and the Federation of Cycle Industries of course) always declined to restructure and to professionalize workmen, wholesalers, retailers, etc. . They endorsed, starting in the years 1955-1960, the “all-automobile” ideology and did not help positioning the bicycle in the French society as a transportation and leisure instrument. Unlike what was done in northern European countries, the French cycle business never considered structuring the market, educating the public, developing differentiation strategies against Asian imports, accepting the world as it is evolving, inventing new concepts, etc. It is therefore no surprise that the French cycle market is dominated today by mass distribution networks and low-end products, and destructured when one compares it to other northern Europe markets. Bicycle dealers with a good sense of service and professionalism are extremely rare today in France, which is not the case in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany… The gap we have described is the result of forty years of wrong choices, of cultural blindness and subsequent dramatic collapses (400 medium size companies disappeared in thirty years).

Question#6 : It is in this context that your association launched, beyond their “Opération Chiche”, a comprehensive programme to advocate and produce classical 650B touring bicycles and the specific parts that come with it. What is the rationale behind this choice, unique in the associative cycle touring community ?

Having worked with other industry sectors for some ten years, the concept of industrial reorganization around flexible units, capable of responding swiftly to a diversified demand involving small series, was definitely on the agenda. The times of optimizing huge plants producing only large series (years 1970-1980’s) were over. Despite this, most actors of the cycle business kept holding me a speech exclusively oriented towards large series. We had to fight hard and be persuasive.

As another issue, we had to rebuild from scratch our approach to the dealer network and to the distribution of cycle parts, and tried to understand why the initiatives undertaken by the FFCT (French Cyclotouring Federation) around the “federal bicycle” topic during the years 1970-1980’s never went to fruition.

From these two key issues, the Confrérie attempted to develop a small yet viable setup that no professional had been able to conceive.

Question#7 : some two hundred “Confrérie des 650” classical touring bicycles have been sold which, in consideration of the small size of your association, represents an undeniable success, what are in your opinion the brakes hindering a greater development of classical touring bicycle sales in a general sense ?

Today, in 2007, the key issue concerns the social pressure (and resulting loneliness) on “traditional” bicycle tourists (they are perceived as such) still riding classical touring bicycles, whether new or old. The other issue concerns the loss of all the technical culture and the negation of the touring bicycle concept. The near extinction of French artisans capable of building touring frames, and the massive retirement of the baby-boomer generation don’t help. The essential know-how required to build a bicycle touring frame and the racks that go along with it survives only in rare workshops which anyway can’t subsist from the touring bicycle product alone. We are indeed facing the extinction of a concept, a product, a culture… It was sufficient to spend a half day with the young, nice and brilliant product manager from Cannondale Europe to be convinced of the complete loss of memory and risk of extinction of this hundred-year-old culture we are facing.

Question#8 : Of course, you and the more than thousand Confrérie members are attached to the 650B wheel standard. For what reasons and why is this intermediate diameter recovering its freshness in the present slump ?

First, because it makes bicycles that work remarkably well with respect to our expectations and our practice, and provide sensations one can expect from a genuine touring bicycle. This is above all the point of view of a user and practitioner. A 650B-equipped classical touring bicycle remains today a universal tool by the trade off it achieves between the three principal qualities demanded from this type of machine, i.e. comfort, robustness and rolling efficiency.

The reasons for the near extinction of the 650B standard are well known and classical: it is first due to the collapse of the French cycle industry, and then to the fact that, staring in 1955, the cycle business made the marketing choice on the 700C racing format, and the Tour de France as the standard bearer of the superiority of their products.

The fact that 650B has become an intermediate standard with the invention of the trail bicycle concept can explain its backflow, but it can also explain its revival in particular in the USA (a not too big, not too small, polyvalent wheel... refer to the excellent analyses from our friend Jan Heine).

The true performance with respect to an enlarged multi-usage practice, the respect for consumer expectations, the recognition of the quality and style of traditional products, all this did not (and still does not) fit into the decision pattern of the cycle business in France.

Question#9 : The Confrérie’s media material (magazine, web site, leaflets and information packages) clearly claims that its project articulates around two axes : the technical one and the ethical one. On the latter point, in which way does the association’s investment make sense ?

The instrument prompts the behaviour. We postulated it since 1998-1999, and it’s even more a topical question today. I do believe we were not mistaken. May be we did not claim it loud enough.

The racing bicycle market is structured by important marketing and advertisement expenses, which aim at mentally conditioning and generating a sizeable volume of expenditure per year for the sports cyclist. The target consists in about 30000 sports cyclists, not more, but who dedicate a sizeable budget in an attempt to enjoy once again racing and competition sensations (whereas their age varies between around 40 and 60 years). The animation of this market, which necessitates the launch of numerous false innovations to keep it buoyant, is completely disconnected from production facts, from the effective globalization of the cycle industry and from technological innovation.

The eminence of our classical touring bicycle product comes not only from the cleverness of the concept, but also from the fact that it refers to the essence of the French culture of leisure, that is, a humanist vision of man in its environment, of its social life and its relationship with others.

Question#10 : on which grounds does the Confrérie des 650 position itself today ? In other words, where is it located on the society’s checkerboard ?

First, on the conviction that a committed association, carrying humanist values, well structured and organized, could take inspiration from the new role, posture and methodology developed by numerous associations acting in the environmental field to start changing things. Whether it be associations committed to render fair trade viable and professional, or be the role of associations in inventing new modes of action for recovering and managing natural spaces, or even more simply be the issue of waste processing, all these notions were invented, perfected and generalized thanks to the work of associations.

Second, on the conviction that there exist intermediate ways between the "all-commercial" approach on one side and the "all-associative" approach on the other side, that in the painful situation where the leisure cycling tradition is today, one has to take advantage of all available new methods and endeavour to perpetuate this rich tradition and act in such a way that it fulfils our expectations today and tomorrow.

Question#11 : the Confrérie has already achieved exceptional results on the technical side, what should be its future ?

We did not believe in 1998-1999 to which extent our activity was agonizing, lacking vital energy and resource renewal. Our analysis was clear at the time, but we though that it was sufficient to reintroduce the missing technical elements in order to prime, modestly yet definitely, the interest for the wander activity, the bicycle touring in the French way. That was wrong! The future of the Confrérie is therefore to pursue as much as it can its technical and ethical struggle. We remain convinced that the technical struggle will remain difficult and that we will have to invent new methods and tools to keep the torch alive. This more than ever makes sense in today’s general context of the young XXIst century society.

Publication of "Confrérie des 650" /// 57, avenue de Montpellier 34270 CLARET - FRANCE