One piece hub shells were introduced very early - some years ago I had a French tourer with Nivex rear gear and a Maxicar rear hub which had the Nivex design split axle. This bike I was acquired from its original owner and had been bought like that in 1948.
Hilary Stone, Bristol, England
> the question asked the other day about maxi-car hubs was
> timely, for me, because ive been slowly gathering info lately
> for a maxi-car page similar to the ones i have for ta, lefol,
> magistroni and jos...
>
> theres a few things im looking for right now that im missing, to
> round out the page:
>
> 1. a good scan/photo of the maxi-car logo from the red sticker
> on the later hubs (i know grant handley sold a set of these on
> ebay some time back, and i *know* i saved off the pictures,
> but i cant for the life of me find them!)
>
> 2. a good photo of a 1970s era hub or hubset, or at least a
> description of what was different, if anything, from the 1960s
> or 1980s hubs...
>
> 3. any idea when they switched from stamping their name on
> the hub barrel to using stickers (im think sometime 1970s-ish?)
>
> 4.any further info on the history of the company, when the
> hubs were first introduced...
>
> 5. anything on other hubsets than standard? my brain is trying
> to tell me that there were maxi-car drum brake hubs, but it is
> failing to provide me with information to back up this hunch.
>
> 6. pictures of low flange hubs or hubsets
>
> right now, the breakdown of the timeline is pretty rough, by
> decade, and goes like this:
>
> 1940s/50s - 3 piece alloy hubshells, stamped logo (possibly
> also one-piece steel hubs?)
>
> 1960s - one piece alloy hubshells, stamped logo? versions
> with holes/no holes
>
> 1970s - "stepped" hub barrel (not really sure what this means,
> as i have no pictures), maxi-car decals?
>
> early 1980s - not even really sure what the difference is here,
> as im missing that crucial 1970s step...
>
> late 1980s - hub flange centered on bearing rather than on the
> outside, "tumpet" shaped barrel-flange transition, larger bulge
> outboard to flange
>
> oh yeah, and the provisional page is at
> http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
>
> any help, feel free to contact me!
>
> -joel