sbarner 

That MAFAC GT is the sweetest centerpull I've ever seen. It's so pretty that it doesn't matter if it works or not. I wrenched at a Schwinn/Raleigh/Motobecane dealer in the 1970s and only saw MAFACs on repairs and a few Motobecanes as Bike Boom substitutions. Everything else came with Weinmann or Dia Compe for centerpulls. When I did get a MAFAC on the stand I hated it as there were just too many degrees of freedom in those brake shoe mounts, and they always seemed to squeal like a banshee. I had Weinmanns on a Motobecane and my first Paramount and thought they worked just fine, only later realizing that the MAFACs stopped better than the long reach Weinmann 750s. The MAFAC Racer had such a cheesy look to it that it was a mighty hard part to love. The Competition has a much nicer aesthetic--like it was a bicycle part and not an alternator bracket on a car engine. Personally, I think a little gold can be fine, but when one gets carried away with gold everything it starts looking gauche, like the lobby of a Trump hotel.