My responses within:
>
> 1. There are absolutely no markings anywhere on the levers, and no
evidence
> that they've been removed somehow, are we sure these are MAFACs?
My reply was a bit too hasty I'm afraid; my apologies for that. No, I am
not sure they are Mafac's and they could very well (probably?) be another
makers "knock-off" of the relatively well known Mafac pattern.
> 2. Do you have any info about the actual length of the VE and VF levers?
> These, from the cable stop to the end of the lever are 5.5" long. The fit
my
> average male hand very well. They were pulled off an adult sized bike if I
> recall, so I'm a little surprised that they'd be children's levers. I
> realize that you're going on the shape and the lack of 'ball' tips to
> designate them as VE correct?
Yes, correct on how I made my initial determination that they were the child
sized ville levers. Sorry, no info on measured size. I only still have the
childs sized racing levers, the childs sized ville and guidonnet were
sold/traded years ago. I can confirm that they were indeed small relative
to what we would expect an adult sized lever to be - sorry that sounds so
fluffy and subjective but you know they are small when you see them. More
reason to think the ones we are referring to are indeed not Mafac, but a
similar looking item.
>
> 3. You mention the mounting bands and that the VE levers came with the
> simplified solid band and not the slotted patented band. These have the
> slotted bands so that conflicts a bit with the VE designation if they are
> MAFACs.
Again, more reason to theorize that they are not real Mafac's.
>
> 4. Age? Any thoughts about when these are from?
Just a guesstimate - 1950's through 1970's??
Eric Elman Somers, CT
>
> Thanks so much for all the detail, that's what I love about this list!
>
> David Bilenkey
> Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Eric Elman [mailto:tr4play@cox.net]
> > Sent: August 27, 2002 7:47 PM
> > To: Huemax@aol.com; cbeyer2@volvocars.com; dbilenkey@sympatico.ca;
> > classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > Subject: Re: [CR]Detailed Info/Guidonnet levers again
> >
> >
> > Here's details on these from both experience and the Mafac catalog.
> >
> > The levers pictured on the link below are NOT Mafac Guidonnet but in
fact
> > child sized Mafac Ville VE levers.
> >
> > http://cgi.ebay.ca/
> >
> > Specifics:
> >
> > Ville are straight.
> > Guidonnet are the ones that curve to follow the shape of a handle bar.
> > These came in plastic "GDA" for the Guidonnet or "VDA" for the Ville.
> > These also came in metal ("dural forge" as in the Mafac catalog) "GF"
for
> > the Guidonnet or "VF" for the Ville.
> > In addition, these same levers were available in child sizes("course
> > enfant")!
> > These are called "Guidonnet enfant GE" and "Ville enfant VE." They also
> > made a traditional lever for drop bars called "CE" for poignee
> > course enfant
> > and the same with an adjuster "CET" poignee course enfant avec tendeur.
I
> > have these on my childs size Peugeot racer. The catalog does not
specify,
> > but only shows/lists one material which in my experience has been
> > aluminium
> > except for the body of the racing lever which is plastic.
> >
> > Now, each VF, GF, VDA, GDA came in two variations: VF B, VF S,
> > GF B, GF S.
> > The suffix of B refers to the lever with a "patented stainless steel
clip"
> > and the S refers to the "simplified stainless clip." The
> > simplified clip is
> > identified by a solid band while the patented clip has a slot cut
> > out of the
> > center of the band (this is what I've only ever seen on Mafac bands).
The
> > child sized levers VE and GE had the simplified band while the
> > racing lever
> > CE/CET had the patented band as standard.
> >
> > Phew....
> >
> > Confused yet? But wait, there's more. The child size levers
> > guidonnet and
> > ville have relatively flat ends to their levers while the adult
> > sized items
> > have distinct balls at the ends/tips. The exception to this is the
childs
> > size racer levers which also have a ball at the tip. Also, the
> > child sized
> > guidonnet and ville have a very faint cast "Mafac" in them while the
adult
> > sized levers have Mafac cast within a rectantangle. I have
seen/possessed
> > all the childs varients and again, all were aluminium (except the
plastic
> > racing lever body). I have seen the guidonnet adult in aluminium and
have
> > seen a Ville in plastic. These are out there and show up on ebay
> > sporadically but are not impossible to find.
> >
> > Hope that helps.
> >
> > If you have trouble falling asleep tonight, read this post and it should
> > work as an effective non-pharmaceutical sleeping antidote.
> >
> > Eric "Mafac" Elman
> > Somers, CT