Steven Maasland wrote:
>
> Peter asked:
>
> "I have just got a quite nicely made C Reault French bike made with
> Vitus tubing
> which I'm guessing is from the 1970s. it has has a Stronglight 49d chain set,
> Mafac brake set and Simplex gears. All these parts have been rebadged "Spidel"
> Any one know why ?"
>
> Spidel was a French marketing attempt to counteract the full Shimano, Campagnolo and Suntour groups. It is actually more likely to be from the early 80's rather than the 70's.
My 1979 PY 10 CP team Peugeot had a little "Spidel" sticker stuck on each Stronglight crank arm.
Here's a quote from _The Unknown Tour de France_ by Les Woodland (great book!):
"And why did Simplex and other French companies lose their grip? Gerald O'Donovan, who looked after race bikes for Raleigh in the 1970s, says, 'The problem was getting the French to agree on a common set of parts. They just would not get their game together. I believe still today that the French component industry shot themselves in the foot by failing to co-operate with one another. They would have been in a much stronger position to resist oriental competition. But there, I am forgetting that M. Chauvin was French.'"
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
.