Re: [CR]Racelite hubs / Raliegh Gran Sport

(Example: Framebuilding:Norris Lockley)

From: <HughWThornton@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Racelite hubs / Raliegh Gran Sport
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 18:14:33 EDT

I don't think that Racelite hubs actually had anything to do with Milremo. To the best of my knowledge, they were manufactured and sold to any wholesaler who would buy them by BH. I do not doubt that they were in the Ron Kitching catalog but I doubt if they were Milremo-branded, at least not in the way that Normandy / Maillard hubs were.

The quality of those that I have seems quite good -- smooth bearings after lots of years -- but they look ever so dull against compared to BH's Airlite hubs, which were always considered to be the best of the range. In theory a one-piece aluminum alloy shelled hub with replaceable bearings should be better than a 3-piece one, but I would chose the elegance of the Airlite any day.

Hugh Thornton Nantwich, England

In a message dated 18/09/02 16:23:44 GMT Daylight Time, OROBOYZ@aol.com writes:
> In a message dated 9/18/2002 10:26:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> bikenut@gte.net writes:
>
> << Charlie, I believe that 'Racelite' was a BH / British Hub product.
> If memory serves the line included Solite, Racelite and Airlite. >>
>
> Correcto, Matthew. Milremo was a brand, not necessarily a manufacturer...
> That Milremo brand was applied to many products from many countries. In
> France and Belgium it was the brand of (and originated by I think) Bertin
> and then Ron Kitching was the importer and promoter in the UK. I would
> assume
> that Kitching arranged for BH to make those up as a "private label" deal.
>
> Dale Brown
> Greensboro, North Carolina