An interesting read for me (Huret over Maillard/Maillard).
Fortunately, there isn't much to climb around here, and I don't shift that much.
Bike's sweet spot is 9th, of course. I'm hesitant to change things over having that sweet spot~ so few bikes that come my way seem to have it.
Heard from a few LBS's and others that the Huret wasn't that great a shifter to begin with, anyways. Mine's a dirt and grime magnet. Even clean, there's no snap to shifting like Shimano or Sun Tour. I guess I shouldn't complain too much- it still shifts up and down, without a whole lot of finesse, or accuracy. I usually have to stop and get off the bike and eye-ball the chain and cog-set to get her back to ninth.
Next step is to strip all the non-metals off the d/r, and have at it with brake cleaner. Final step I don't really want to do- tear down, clean and re-assemble.
Been watching here a long time for how others go to a different d/r, and have seen very little. Could be my search parameters- I dunno.

-D.S.