Thanks for digging up my original contri about the Perrin company, whose or iginal hubs were branded as "Exceltoo", until later on, possibly on in the 60/70s the name "Pelissier" was adopted. Curiously the two brands ran side by side for many years, and even as late as 1987, the same hubs could be bo ught with a choice of either name stamped on them, although I have a feelin g that "Pelissier" was preferred for export purposes.
The Perrin company was situated in the general area just NE of St Etienne, at Boen, not far from the town where Lyotard pedals were made or, for that matter from where the Maxi-car hubs were manufactured. Although sharing the same surname PERRIN with the makers of Stronglight components I don't thin k there was any other particular link...except possibly as different branch es of the same family
The Pelissier 2000 model was the top-of-the-range hub from this company. Av ailable in either small flange or large..and the flanges were larger than n ormal, and beautifully lightened from the outer spoke-hole rim towards the inner barrel, the hubs were somewhat ahead of their time in the fact that t hey used rectified pre-stressed annular bearings housed in forged shells Th e S/F hubs weighed 445gms a pair including some hefty all steel QRs, while the L/F ones weighed in at 495gms. Both models could be bought iwith anodis ed flanes in gold, black or silver - with the spoke rim being in silver on all models.
Although called the 2000 model the hubs were available in the very early 80 s, and I recall using the L/F ones on many occasions for 24sp and 28sp ligh tweight time-trial wheels, laced onto MAVIC "Oro" rims.
The hubs were beautifully smooth and the L/F hubs with their asymetrically shaped holes leaving raked -backwards "spokes" linking the barrel and the s poke flange looked exceptionally elegant..and light.
The other range of Pelissier hubs with L/F flanges did resemble those turne d out under the Normandy and Maillard and even Milremo brands, and it is certain that these last three all came from Maillard's factory at Inche ville near Dieppe. That town was virtually "Maillardville" due to the domin ation of the town by the bicycle parts company's large factories. even the main street was, and still is named after the "M. Maillard" who founded the company. Maillard had factories in the town for all manner of engineering processes and I assume that the Pelissier forged/cast mid-range hub barrels came from Incheville.
You will remember that Maillard worked closely with the Huret company, the latter being bought out by Sachs sometimes possibly in the 80s..the three c ompanies, as well as Sedis (Sachs) being grouped into one larger company. I n the early to mid 90s, possibly 95/96 Sachs, wanting to enter the blossomi ng internet companies more than it wanted to build bike parts..it was facin g massive competiton from Japanese and Taiwanese companies - sold Sachs-Mai llard-Huret to SRAM, in order to raise capital to buy Olivetti's internet b usiness.
I was in Incheville at the time of the sell-off! It was an incredibly sad s ight to see all the Maillard factories blockaded with barriers to, pr event the new owners from closing them down The french communist trade unio n, the CGT, simply took over the town centre, but unfortunately they eventu ally lost the battle.
I don't know if, about six or seven years ago, the Stronglight group sets e ver reached the States. There were about four or five models, includin a co uple of ATB ones. Funded by the Zefal company in an attempt to keep some pa rts of the French lightweight parts industry alive, the groups featured som e of the Sachs gears such as the New Success range. These were linked with some existing and some new models of Stronglight chainsets, plu s a range of bought-in brakes, and there were even some titanium cassettes. Unfortunately the venture was very short-lived..and so another group of Fr ench bike-parts companies bit the dust..just as Perrin-Pelissier had done.. and Peyraud-Nervar..in the early 90s..not long after Simplex and Stratec we re finally laid to rest.
Norris Lockley...Settle UK
Norris Lockley
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