Marc,
The majority of Maillard hubs were freewheel hubs, not helicomatic. Yes, the beer bottle opener is only for the helicomatic hubs. I have run heliocomatic hubs for years on a Peugeot PSN10, and have never broken a spoke either. They can make a funny sound compared to Regina or even Maillard freewheel hubs, but I think that's normal (I hope!).
Galen Poole
Jackson, MS
> thank you all for the info on these hubs. The bottle
> opener tool, wasn't that only for helicomatic hubs?
> These wheels came with a nice shimano freewheel.
>
> Speaking of shimano freewheels, for the past month or
> so I've been running a narrow 7 speed shimano dura ace
> freewheel on my raleigh pro and I love it. The
> machined teeth which are obviously meant for indexed
> shifting allow for very easy and quick shifting. Dare
> I say it's almost like having indexed shifting. has
> anyone else run a similar set up? any draw backs?
>
> marc garcia
> chicago IL