Culture, sure. I like things that are culturally French. My Jack Taylor, my Ron Cooper, and my Trek are exceptions that prove the rule. But I've always liked French things of all kinds. That's why I learned the language back in undergrad. From there, it's a feedback loop. The more I got into it, the more I learned, which made me get into it more.
Politics might factor into it, maybe through culture. The governments of midcentury France and Britain somehow created an environment that allowed these small one- to five-man frame building shops to stay in business making these incredibly labor-intensive bikes.
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Owner & co-founder, Cycles René Hubris. Unfortunately attaching questionable braze-ons to perfectly good frames since about 2015. With style.