Christophe, AVA, Lapize(sic), poutrait-morin; all names for the same toestraps,
They are still made in France but may or my not be owned by Zefel-or a Zefel marketing group. It is hard to say about ownership. Zefel does own the revered rim tape and handlebar tape concern of Velox. Lately my sources inform me that the French government has heavily invested in French cycling companies to revive the domestic component industry (who else would make French threaded parts these days after all)? 35 xP1 is a mostly a cultural issue after all, nes pas? Simplex by the way is still in business(as of last report) but making very basic molded derailluers for OEM domestic, Eastern Europe and third world manufacturing concerns. There might even be a revival of classic designs by Huret (can you spell "Duopar") as there are reports from deep within France that Duopars are manufactured today without labels for an insider crowd. I'll update the group if new details present themselves.
The efforts today are similar to the banding of Simplex derailluers and Retro-friction shifters, Sedis chains, Stronglight cranks, Maillard Hubs and Lyotard Pedals in the early 1980's to form the Spidel Group. The group seemed to group together basically non competing companies to offer a full fairly integrated component group that probably was targeted at overcoming the advances that Shimano was offering at the time. While Trek and a few other companies spec'ed large amounts of these products on their own bikes few other companies on this side of the Atlantic embraced anything but Sedis Chains. Sachs Huret were an Item before complete assimilation into the German Sachs collective as well.
It's worth noting that I sold a good friend at the time (1980-81) a new Motobecane Team Champion equipped with the top of the line components in this group. He wanted a Tour de France Team Issue bike. Well he got one of the finest built and functioning bikes every made at the time. The frame was midnight blue with full chrome rear stays and full chrome forks. The frame number brazon on was in place and an oak dowel was hammered up the rifled Columbus steer tube as a safety measure should the fork crown and steerer separate during the long cobble stretches of Paris-Roubaix! Stronglight Ti sealed BB, and Simplex 6600 derailluers, Mavic SSC rims and silk tubulars rounded our this fine machine. The shifting (very close ratio) with retro friction levers was superior to Shimano and the parts on the Columbus SL frame must have been much lighter than Campagnolo as well. I suspect some lightening was performed to the lugs, BB shell and dropouts as well as perhaps the tubing as the weight of the 54cm complete bike was 19.5 lbs with no experimental equipment. It was repainted years ago by Chuck Schmidt at Cycleart and I'll try to get the owner and the bike to the Cirque 2001 for your viewing pleasure!
Gilbert" Long winded as always" Anderson Bicycle Outfitter 519 W. North St. Raleigh, NC 27603 800/321-5511 cyclestore@aol.com
In a message dated 12/8/00 6:31:15 PM, tymn61@earthlink.net writes:
<< Okay, I had to run this past the collective wisdom...
Last night, someone at the place I've been fixing up bikes for kids for Christmas asked "did those Christophe people make anything but toeclips?" I pointed out that they were still around, but I honestly didn't know, is it a company all about toeclips and straps? Are they a part of a bigger company? Have they always been? Not a thought that had ever troubled me before, but now I'm curious.
Tim
Tim Fricker
tymn61@earthlink.net
>>