Having lived in France and having visited there recently, I can tell you most French riders are overwhelmingly into modern lightweight gear.... perhaps even more than Americans. They love Lycra.
I will soon be putting up a full web site of the work of Gilles Berthoud who still handcrafts 650 B bicycles in the Alps. I have one with racks, generators, metal fenders, a leather chain slap!!!, and more.
For the time being goto:
http://www.goldsteinproductions.com/
This is an Adobe acrobat file of all of the bike shops in France still selling 650 B gear.
The best in Paris is Rando and of course the Alex Singer shop in the burbs.
cheers
scott