I think the French 75 - and Pake frames in general - are considerably better than most people give them credit for.

My only beef with the French 75 is the single-sided dropouts, but that's a relatively minor complaint. Overall quality is quite good, the welds look tidy, the included carbon fork is above average and the finish looks great. I've considered building one up for myself but already have an aluminum bike I like very much and can't really justify having two bikes that would be built up so similarly.