I've been following and enjoying this discussion. Yet, I've also been wondering why the deep resouces of the CR list hasn't been able to tap any authorative sources as from the three companies under discussion. Historians, collectors, and people who have interest in keeping the records accurate do work in corporations and are willing to share information either officially or from their personal interest in accuracy.
Richard Cielec
Chicago, Illinois
Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net> wrote:Mark Bulgier wrote:
>
> Greg Parker wrote:
>
> > As a nerd Engineer, I can tell you that scenario makes a TON
> > of sense - I once worked for a Japanese Manufacturer that
> > often bought their forgings from Forging Specialists, and
> > machined them here in the US into the final product
>
> Except it's the machining that makes those cranks identical! If three
> different companies were machining the forgings, it would be a pretty
> unbelievable coincidence for them to all turn out the same.
>
> I see two possibilities: The Mavic catalog has a photo of the cranks being
> machined at SR, or Mavic machined the cranks for SR and OMAS. (Not that
> those are the only possibilities, just two we haven't aired yet)
Judging by all the photos in the Mavic catalogs over the years of the factory and the way the components were designed and produced (the first generation derailleurs had the typical look of early CNC produced parts... simple and angular) it's pretty clear that Mavic had the machinery to machine its own parts. Plenty of photos of ladies in shop coats alongside forged hub shells being machined (and the already mentioned cranks).
OMAS was machining parts in the 1960s for E. WEBER carburetors and doing all the titanium parts for Campagnolo in the mid 1970s. (Company history )
Also, remember that the part of the crank forging that gets machined are the sides, back and ends of the spider. I have a Mavic, SR and OMAS crank and the flutes in the arms and spider are formed during the forging stage and are not milled in later, hence the identical look to the three. Same thing with the bevel on the crank arms.
Logically SR, MAVIC and OMAS were all doing their own machining on the SR crank forging.
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
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