Hi Ken! ;-)
Greg Parker
Ann Arbor, MI USA
> Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 08:47:04 -0800 (PST)
> From: r cielec <teaat4p@yahoo.com>
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR]MAVIC / OMAS / SR cranks
> Message-ID: <20030123164704.9976.qmail@web41011.mail.yahoo.com>
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>
> 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