Classic & Vintage - Help, Avocet hub problems

I am refurbishing my old Gitane Tour de France. I had upgrade this bike back in the early 70's. At that time Avocet came out with a sealed cartridge bearing to compete with Phil Wood.

I need to find bearings for it. Front hub measures out right at 1" OD. Rear hub @ 30mm OD. ID would be whatever axel I'll use.

Only place I've found any info was on Sheldon Brown's site. I e-mailed them and got a reply to order off their web site but they don't list the bearings or other parts I need.

Can anyone else out there help me?

Otherwise I may just have to get new wheels.

I'm looking at a lovely old pair right now. An excellent set, smooth and very light - it looks like a pretty standard bearing - take to your local bearing sales and service, and I'll be they can fit you out (I did this earlier this year with bearings from a 1987 Suntour sealed bearing pedal set - they had parts to fit in stock!)

Most cities have either a Kaman bearing outlet or an industrial supply house. Take your bearing in and they should at least be able to point you in the right direction.

The local guys wanted to give me the wrong size then make me bushings to make it fit. They also offered to machine out the hub to fit something. I didn't really like those options.

At least there are some others out there and I'm not the lone wolf. Living in a small town is great untill you need something like this. It may have to wait till I make a trip to a big city.

Luker and Halfspeed are correct. It's too expensive for bicycle companies to manufacture custom bearings. All the ones I've seen use standard bearings and even Avocet's old ads indicate, "standard size which are available at your bicycle dealer or any bearing store". I've had three different brands of hubs/wheels with sealed cartridge bearings and I've always gotten the replacements at the local bearing supply house. There should be a four digit number on the seal that indicates the size. Once you've got that, you can mail order them from a bearing supply house, if the local outlet is giving you grief.

Thanks guys,

You gave me a nudge to check out some other places. A local 2 man electrical motor rewinding shop was the trick. They were able to match it up. It takes 6200's for the rear, and a 629's for the front. They only had the rear but hey now I know what to search for.