Ted E. Baer wrote: I bought an old Maxi-(car?) drum brake hub with said brake on left side and a 4-speed F/W on the right side. In referencing a good Maxi-Car website, this hub appears to date from about WW2. Questions: It says "Maxi" on the drum side. Was Maxi the early name for Maxi-Car? Or is/was Maxi a different company altogether?
Ted, This is on Velobase. I posted it there myself a while back, but the information must have come from one of the websites linked below.
"Maxi-car is the brand name of hubs produced at least at some point by Rousson et Chamoux S.A., based in Feurs, France. On the later, definitive, versions of the hub the distinctive red label appears with italicized logo as "Maxi-car", with only the M capitalized. On older hubs and in brochures, the name appears in capital letters with hyphen: MAXI-CAR. Sometimes the name is seen as Maxi-C.A.R. The name is said to have originated from the design collaboration of hub makers Maxi, with Charles-Albert Ripet, of Lyon."
Helpful links:
http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
http://www.yellowjersey.org/
John Hurley
Austin, Texas, USA