Charles Wahl

I recently bought a set of Maillard 700 hubs on eBay. What is there that I should know about these (presumably) cartridge-bearing jobs? I've only had loose-bearing hubs 'til now. They're beautiful, and look to be in almost new condition, with spiffy labels; but I notice that the front hub turns quite a bit more freely than the rear, and both hubs tend to "catch" a bit when rotated on the axle -- intermittently, but once per revolution when it's happening.

Is there an adjustment that should be made on the locknuts, for optimum bearing alignment? If so, what's the procedure?
And, does anyone know what cartridge they take, should the bearings be "troubled"?

Thanks,

PS: rear hub is not Helicomatic, but the sort with thread-on freewheel.

PPS: Ms Littela sez "NEVER MIND . . ." (see below)

Grand Bois

I've never seen or heard of a Maillard 700 with cartridge bearings. Mine are cup and cone, 34 years old and spin better than when they were new.

I've noticed that a lot of the 700's I've seen on eBay have French freewheel threads. That could be a problem.

Charles Wahl

Well I swanee -- you're absolutely right about that. What fooled me is that they have a curious bearing shield -- pressed onto the cone rather than into the hub, and with a hooked edge that fits into a groove on the hub. The shield turns with the axle, not the hub body. Never seen that before, except on a Sturmey-Archer. I'm actually glad they're not cartridge bearings. When I opened one up, a hair came out, so I'll wash everything out of them and relube/adjust before lacing.

I'm pretty sure my rear has French freewheel threading, since that's where they came from. There are quite a few French threaded freewheels on eBay, though; shouldn't present a big problem. It is a Motobecane, after all.

Grand Bois

Could you post a picture? I've never seen anything like you are describing.

Charles Wahl

redneckwes

Ahhh...my favorite hub,

The same basic unit was made as a plain Maillard and also labeled "Atom". The spoke hole spacing matches the Helicomatic hub, so a Helico wheel can be re-laced around one of these hubs. All mine take english thread freewheels.

Weasel9

Those look nice Charles. What rims are you going to put on them?

I've got a wheelset with a Helicomatic on the rear. Don't know anything about them except Sheldon said they're not wonderful inventions. They work alright so far...

Charles Wahl

See CotD thread: Super Champion.
My brother thinks that fascination with French bikes is a kind of weird disease; if he's right, then I'll be looking for some Helicomatics sometime soon.

afilado

These hubs are so beautifully designed. Love that wrap around seal. I had a mint set and traded them with a friend. No regrets but if I run into another pair I'll hang on to them.

They bring Campy type prices on Ebay and a NOS pair recently sold for just under $100.

The only thing I don't like about them is that big old garish decal logo.

Charles Wahl

I'm usually not a fan of garish, but I do like the design of the Maillard label. The Spidel one (I have one of the originals that came on the bike) is not as catchy. Finish on these is super.

miamijim

Those are NOT cartridge bearing hubs. They use a 2-piece lip/seal design dust cap system to 'seal' the bearings. One part is on the cone and the second is pressed into the shell.

Service them like any other hub but DO NOT remove either seal/cap as they bend very easily.

cudak888 

I've seen that before, but typically on cheap department-store hubs. I dare say you might find some other cases of it on oddball, older French and English components.

-Kurt

bassogap

A pair came with a Raleigh RRA I bought in 1974......High flange....But one of the flanges bent in a crash.....That never happened with my Record wheels....

CV-6 

Would that be because you never crashed on your Record wheels the same way you did on your Maillard wheels?

bassogap

It might be,but after three seasons, I did crash a fair amount.....And the Record hubs always came out unscathed.....My bike came with simplex LJs,but at the time Nuevo Record gears were the same price,so I swapped them out....And i do know that the LJs,as nice as they are,are not as robust as Campy...

Grand Bois

They look just like the hubs on my PX10, but mine have the black plastic dust caps and no seals. I imagine that yours are a later model. I built mine to replace the tubular wheels when I bought the bike new. I worked at the shop and it was my first wheel build. I needed a lot of guidance, but they came out great. They're back on the bike after hanging in the rafters for a few years and they're still fairly round.

bassogap

A lot of years PX10s came with Normandy Competition hubs,which were dfferent from the 700s....

Charles Wahl

I wonder if it's more or less effective at keeping dirt/sand out of the bearings. I think that a seal open on the outside perimeter could make better use of centripetal force, as opposed to one with the opening at the cone hole. Of course, it's a place for lubricant to escape, too. But the seal constructed this way can be made labyrinthine (hook in a groove), at the cost of having it be somewhat more vulnerable when being disassembled/reassembled. Another advantage: much easier to clean the grease out of the interior of the hub when it's laced into a wheel and can't be dunked in a can!

kroozer 

Is there any difference in quality between Maillard 700 and Normandy Competition hubs?

CV-6 

Maillard 700 are a major cut above Normandy Competition. Both are nice, Maillard is nicer.

bikemore 

One this one ebay today. Fun to get it into a wheel.

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...EOIBSA:US:1123

divineAndbright

I won a 28 hole rear one this morning.. glad to hear they should use english threading. Got it to potentially use with my 28 hole mavic tubulars.. i'm caught with indecision to use a 7 speed freewheel or build the back wheel to use a 10 speed cassette.
The 7 speed I'd be using bar end shifters which I really wanna do, but the bike is for racing and im worried about the slight disadvantage of not having a STI shifter.. but I really love bar ends, and the 10 speed ones suck on drop bars!

stronglight

Certainly can't beat the winning bid amount

I have a set mounted on one of my French bikes.



I believe they date from the late 1970s and the model was continued well into the 80s. Mine at least are extremely smooth. I had actually thought they might be cartridge bearings, but they were indeed just traditional cup and ball. I think this was an odd and rare occasion when a French manufacturer finally just "got it right".

Other older Maillard (AKA: Normandy Competition) hubs are beautifully finished, but the cones and cups simply could not compare to Campagnolo. Campy cones will wear eventually too, but they seem to have gotten much more finely machined bearing races from the start. Taking apart some of the older Normandy Comp hubs, I was truly appalled to see how pitted or porous the bearing surfaces looked under magnification - and these were NEW!!! It seemed that they had just forged the cones but did not actually turn the surfaces to smooth them out. Campy on the other hand clearly turned their cones to ensure a very smooth contact between cone and balls. When this is neglected, you can think of it as a smooth ball rolling - or rather bouncing - across a surface as irregular as an orange peel... this immediately begins to cause wear. And I noticed that after a reasonable amount of riding the Normandy cones would become quite deeply grooved. Someone had once suggested that perhaps the cones were intentionally made with "softer" steel (always better that the easily replaceable cones wear than the pressed-in cup races) but I think it was just a more cheaply produced product... and they did (like all French components) sell for FAR lower cost than Campagnolo.

Funny to think that for many years those were the ONLY true "high quality" alternative to Campagnolo. No wonder the Japanese companies (which became increasingly distributed worldwide during the 1970s) simply destroyed the French component industries once their simply superior and even cheaper products were discovered.

Take care of the 700 hubs and they should give long reliable service. The cones are no longer available, but I'm pretty certain compatible (and probably better) replacements actually are available... although intended for a Shimano or other Japanese hubs. ~ In fact, I probably should begin a search myself - since I really do have quite a few French hubsets. Unlike classic Campy, the later Maillard axles actually used standard metric threads - just like Japanese axles... so, there is hope!

mandrake

Loose ball and very smooth. Small flange 36 hole mounted on a 27" rim.

Charles Wahl

Enough already! Mod, could I get the thread closed, puleease? These people are going to drive the price of Maillards way up, and I'd like some more!