One of the things that encouraged "parts nationalism" was the differing threading and tube sizes, right? French/English/Italian threaded head sets and BB? Also there were import barriers and tariffs to encourage home grown parts usage. My '77 Motobecane Le Champion has a French threaded BB and an English headset and is built with metric sized Reynolds tubing...(thanks to Jack at Franklin frames it is now ready to be rebuilt with as many French parts as I can find! )
Doug Wagner
Richmond,KY
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