Jan Heine wrote:
>> Quoth Dominic Rose:
>>
>>> Could anybody tell me when french threads stopped being used on
>>> bikes made in
>>> France for the french market and how common they are? There is a
>>> four speed
>>> currently on ebay.fr but the seller doesnt know which thead it has.
>>> I'm trying to decide whether it's best to rebuild a wheel with an
>>> english hub than trying
>>> to find a four speed french threaded freewheel.
>>
>> I can't tell you exactly, but I believe the switch occurred after
>> the move from 4-speed to 5-speed.
>>
>> I very much doubt that you would find a French made 4-speed
>> freewheel with English/ISO threads.
>>
>> The 4 to 5 switch occurred in the late 1950s.
>
> Most French bikes (sold in France) well into the 1980s had French-
> threaded freewheels (and hubs). Sometime in the late 1980s, Peugeot
> made a big deal out of the fact that the bikes they sold in Germany
> now had "BSA" threads, by which they meant British threads.
>
> If a freewheel was sold in France before 1985 or so, it most likely
> is French-threaded. As was pointed out earlier, French companies
> did export British-threaded freewheels, so if you find the
> freewheel in Britain, it is likely to be British-threaded, unless
> it is a recent import by an old-parts dealer.
Jan, when I custom ordered my Peugeot PY10CP in 1978, the order form had boxes to check if you wanted your bike with all French threading. I thought it would be cool to have the bike "tout froggy" so I checked all the appropriate boxes on the order from for French threading (there was even a box to check if you wanted your name lettered on the left side of the top tube). When the bike arrived 10 months later it came with all English threading so I figured that the factory knew something that I didn't (DUH!).
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California http://www.velo-retro.com
.