>All that I have ever found out about AVA is that it was a brand originally
>produced by a company known as EMR (Etablissements Métallurgiques
>du Rhône). EMR was initially founded in 1889 as a nickel plating
>business by two brothers, Léon and Laurent Vielle.
>
>I am very familiar with the AVA alloy stems and handlebars of the 1950s
>through 1970s. And, I have also seen AVA rims but I don't know if they
>were actually produced by this company.
AVA and Mavic were made by the same company. Very high-end products that were popular in the 1930s through 1950s. They made a neat seatpost with integrated head, very lightweight fenders, rims, handlebars, stems and perhaps a few other products. Their slogan was "Materiel de Securité".
Thereafter, Mavic appears to have focused on rims. The AVA brand appears to have been sold, and was owned by a different, less-high-end maker in the 1970s.
The e-bay stem is odd, because it appears to be made from steel. Mavic/AVA's products were revolutionary mostly because they were made from aluminum.
Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly 2116 Western Ave. Seattle WA 98121 http://www.bikequarterly.com
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