[CR] Sachs New Success kit

(Example: Production Builders:Pogliaghi)

Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:08:51 -0800
From: "Norris Lockley" <norris.lockley@yahoo.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR] Sachs New Success kit


The Sachs New Success group was French in origin...it is just that Sachs, t he German firm, had bought out the company some years ago...only to sell it on to SRAM in the early 90s.

The derailleurs were made in the former Huret factories in France, the  s uperb hubs and freewheels -  Sachs never produced a cassette version of t he road hub - were made by Maillard in Normandy, but the chainset was produ ced by Campagnolo..their Chorus model.

The brake stirrups were made by Modolo in Italy, and there is still some de bate who made the Ergo-type 8-speed brake and gear levers, if you go for th e later models. Some rumours have it that Sachs actually manufactured the l evers for Campagnolo. The chains were, of course, the famous French-manufac tured SEDIS.

The French company ZEFAL bought the rights to many of the Huret and Maillar d parts in the early 2000s, and in cooperation launched under the Stronglig ht brand about three groupsets, The top range one introduced a cassette hub , probably based on the system for the former Sachs New Success ATB groupse t, but employing titanium sprockets, that had been treated with a nitride c oataing to provide longevity.

If you are ever in Normandy, around Dieppe, then take a visit down to Inche ville, the home of Maillard's main manufacturing base. The whole town revol ved around the Maillard company which owned vast factories there. Even the main street was named after the founder of the company. I was there at the time when SRAM had decided to close down  manufacturing. The CGT - France 's communist-led trade union had taken over most of the main factory and administrative block and plackarded the outside walls . There were sit-ins, strikes and demonstrations, but SRAM still went ahead and transferred manu facturing/out-sourcing to the far-east and Ireland. They only kept the hub gear factory at Sweinfurt in Germany.

I have several Sachs New Success-equipped bikes...the quality is very high.

Norris Lockley, Settle UK