Originally Posted by
Grand Bois
Not everyone shares your opinion that the "honeycomb" Huret dropouts are hideous. People seem to get all worked up over them here whenever a picture is posted here. Personally, I don't find them especially attractive but they're unusual and that's a good thing to my mind. I like the way they have stops for both Huret and Campy-style derailers.
Maybe I should have prefaced that comment with "Back in the day."
In 1974, rear dropouts with integral derailleur hangers were pretty much limited to Campagnolo, Suntour, Zeus (used on some British bikes) plus the proprietary Simplex and Huret models.
An integral derailleur hanger was a measure of a better quality frame. When a bike came in for service, that was one of the first things we looked for to determine who would work on the bike. Eventually bikes of all quality levels started using them.
We found that many customers, even first time buyers were turned off by the appearance of the Huret honeycomb dropouts. They just looked TOO different. Maybe they were prepped by other shops while they were looking at bikes???
Mechanically it's a great idea because you can use all 3 style derailleur mounts: Campagnolo which quickly became the de facto standard when Suntour and Shimano adopted it, proprietary Huret and even Simplex.
I added a 1974 Gitane Tour de France to the collection just to have a bike with those dropouts.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2826722...7623536286985/
BTW, I've seen them used on some mid 70s Velo Solex bikes plus I saw one Dawes bike with those dropouts.
The Huret dropouts were investment cast steel. Someone who worked for Trek back then said that they had a few sets for evaluation.
Chas. verktyg