Originally Posted by
merziac
I would be all about drilling down on this to find out if its old, rare or otherwise. In my way non expert opinion it would be very cool if this was an obscure constructor thing, which I think is possible.
Edit, after quick research it is a constructor thing and endorsed by Jan Heine but seems fairly new to him. Alps and Hirose are in fact a Japanese constructor co. that started in 1918, but closed in 2007.
I haven't figured out who made it yet, but once I took it apart I can see that it might be salvageable. It was just really tightened down hard, and quite dirty inside. I need to look further, but so far I think the bearings and races might be ok. In design its a lot like a Stronglight P3, but with a knurled lower cup. Once its off the bike I'll take some pictures and start a new thread on it...