Not sure how one would make a claim of "best rims in the world" for any company. My job at Specialized included knowing all the suppliers of rims from about 1982 until 1990 or so. Before this I made my own bikes and had some experience with building and using various rims. I have a hard time remembering all the model numbers, but here are my opinions regarding rims from say 1970-1990:
1. The French rims were always very good quality and design. At the start of this period tubular tires were the norm. Both Mavic and Super Champion made tubular rims with double eyelets, a superior feature. Clincher tires with Kevlar bead started with Michelin around 1976, the tires required rims tailored for this use. Mavic I am sure worked with Michelin to develop a clincher rim. When Mike Sinyard came out with the Turbo tire, also Kevlar bead, these Mavic rims were the best choice also. For touring the Super Champion mod 58 was clearly the best rim, still a great rim. Mavic was pushing things like hard anodizing. I visited them and saw one of the world's best hard anodizing line in the mid '80's. Mavic also was very strong in Pro team support, and very good with marketing. During the 1980's Super Champion was bought by Michelin, this factory also made Wolber tires. I was close to Wolber as Specialized used them for some rims. Super Champion started welding rims clincher rims, much better for strength. Mavic then did this along with turning the rim brake surface, I am sure they did this first. Both companies worked with the big French aluminum company Pechiney to develop special alloys for making rims. As I was trying to make rims in Japan I studied this and found that the extrusions from Pechiney were the best available at the time. Also it seems that the tolerances of both these rim makers was very good. One of the problems making light clincher rims is the extrusion wall gets thicker as the die wears. So either the rim starts out too light to hold up, or gets too heavy as the die wears. The solution is to not push the life of the die but this means cost up.
2. Italian rim makers were mostly making tubular rims during this period. I did visit most of these makers and found them small family affairs without much R & D. Campi started making rims early '80's. They were trying to get back at Mavic because of the groupos from France. Early Campi rims were mostly for tubular tires and not that inspiring. Italy did not get on the high performance clincher bandwagon during this period. Tubular rims are much easier to make.
3. Germany made some nice rims up to the start of this period. Schreen wood filled rims were highly regarded. I really liked the Weinmann tubular rims, but they were rare in the USA.
4. Japan did not figure into high end rims until 1980 or so. 2 makers, Uki and Araya. Araya is the company that made rims for Honda motorcycle. I am sure they made the most rims in the world for motorbike. Same company makes DID chain, best in the world in my opinion. Araya made a Titanium rim in 1980 or so, very expensive tubular rim. Uki is a smaller company that Specialized used to make rims. I did the design for these rims, maybe not the best in the world but good value. Japan alloy was good, maybe not as good as France.
5. Swiss made Assos rim in 1978 or so? They made a tubular rim with aero section, maybe the first. This rim was very expensive, something like 10 times more than a Mavic.
Jim Merz Big Sur CA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Jan Heine Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 8:17 AM To: rsb000@hotmail.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [SPAM]RE: [CR] Mavic MA VS. MA2?
At 11:06 AM -0600 11/2/08, R.S. Broderick wrote:
>I believe that you missed my point....
>
>I was decidedly NOT commenting upon the quality of the physical rims
>themselves (...weather that be with respect to the MA / MA2 in particular
or
>MAVIC's broader product line or even its historical offerings in general).
>Rather, that brief editorial lead-in found within the opening paragraph of
>my previous post was made SPECIFICALLY in consideration of branding and
labeling "issues" - AND NOTHING ELSE.
Robert,
I apologize, I mis-read your sentence. After re-reading your post, I realize that you meant "quality control" with respect to the catalogues and printed materials.
So now that the lacking quality of Mavic's printed materials is well-established, I'd like to change the discussion toward the quality of their actual products.
As I wrote earlier, the quality control of Mavic's 1990s rims was not the best, either - a marked departure from their 1930s - 1950s products.
Did Mavic rims become worse, or did the standards evolve, with others becoming better, and Mavic being left behind? When did Mavic rims stop being the best in the world?
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com