spidel, frexa and gitane
Marc Madiot's 1985 Gitane Delta TT Bike, complete with oddly modified steerer tube, pointy cow-horn bars, flattened ovaloid tubing, classic yellow Rolls saddle and matching Benotto bar ribbon. Looks like Super Record transmission although many commercial Gitane bikes of the period had Spidel components.
Spidel never really existed as a Gruppo - it was a 1980 collaboration between French component manufacturers in response to competition from SunTour, Shimano and Campag who had started to provide OEM groupsets direct to frame builders and manufacturers. Previously it was more usual to supply bikes with a mixture of components, Weinmann for brakes, Huret for gears, Rigida for rims etc.
Under the Spidel badge, Mafac (brakes), Maillard (hubs and pedals), Simplex (transmission) and Stronglight (chainsets) produced their own components, changing nothing but the name. Hilariously, it was never possible to purchase as a Gruppo - the individual bits had to be purchased from the different makers! Perhaps this why the venture failed although it's as likely to have ended as none of the manufacturers involved ever thought to unify the look of the various bits beyond sticking on the Spidel badge. Hence the Gruppo never looked like a match, unlike the early Shimano, Suntour and Campag sets which were starting to be fitted in the mid eighties. A Spidel equipped Gitane can be seen here
A similar fate befell Frexa at about the same time. Frexa was a collaboration between Rigida (rims) and Huret (transmission) with (I think) Maillard and Poutrait-Morin. Poutrait-Mourin became Zefal some time in the 80s. They marketed various still familiar brands such as Christophe toe clips and straps and of course Zefal pumps. Again, due to logistical problems (and the sudden desire of every cyclist to possess a bicycle with a matched groupset) the marque never caught on.
Many of these Companies have now disappeared altogether, leaving Shimano and Campag in near unassailable control of the field.
0 comments:
Post a Comment