Avenir

Avocet

Bontrager

Ofmega

Rolf

Simplex

Miche

Sampson

DiaCompe

Regina

Keith Brontager was a mountain bike pioneer, starting in motorcycle racing, then adapting what he learned from motocross to bike frames and wheels. He eventually spread out to components and did engineering work for Trek on the side. Trek bought out Brontager in '95.

AABORSMSDR? Is that code for something?

Avocet is a shore bird.



DIA-COMPE is hyphenated and usually spelled with all caps as a brand name.

Avocet was, to the mid-70s to early 80s, what Velo-Orange is today.

They were aiming to become a brand name. They sourced components from various manufacturers, Ofmega being an important one. The saddles were, mostly, Italian made and very nice. They courted the touring market. The triple crank set was very nice. Seat posts, sealed bearing hubs, etc.

Not exactly sure when they went under. Someone else can clarify.

I wish they still made the 45tt computer. Anyone have an NOS or mint one that they would sell???

Plastics

Avocet: Maker of comfortable saddles

Regina is Latin for 'Queen.'

Brian May was lead guitarist for Queen.

So a Regina freewheel may not fail on this ride...

Somehow I don't think this is what you're looking for here.

Avenir is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1988, and released by Linotype GmbH, now a subsidiary of Monotype Corporation.

The name Avenir is French for “future,” and takes inspiration from early geometric sans-serif typefaces Erbar (1922) designed by Jakob Erbar, and Futura (1927) designed by Paul Renner. Frutiger intended Avenir to be a more organic, humanist interpretation of these highly geometric types. While similarities can be seen with Futura, the two-story lowercase a is more like Erbar, and also recalls Frutiger’s earlier namesake typeface Frutiger.

Avenir was originally released in 1988 with three weights, each with a roman and oblique version, and used Frutiger’s two-digit weight and width convention for names: 45 (book); 46 (book oblique); 55 (text weight); 56 (text weight oblique); and, 75 (bold) and 76 (bold oblique). The typeface family was later expanded to six weights, each with a roman and oblique version.

And comfortable touring shoes

And crappy pedals. The side plates on their quill pedals bent from normal riding.

DIA-COMPE: this Taiwanese brand has a lengthy history. It is short on bling points for being less than exotic. But, it is interesting to look into their catalog and see what they produce that may be of interest to C&V people when they are straining to bring a build in on budget. And many of us have budgets. The budget need not be a constraint on performance or even in quality. Dia-Compe is a modern, muscular company that must be using modern techniques and metallurgy to stay healthy. I have no evidence to the contrary.

The company encompasses a wide market area, and no one should be discouraged by the lower ranking kit that is intended for the more utilitarian, everyday bike, or more pedestrian recreation machines. In my opinion, the company makes some very nice things.

Recently I described the BR-101 brake-set. It comes in all sorts of lurid anodized colors for the fixie and SS people who like to dress up their mounts. But, it also comes in a highly polished alloy. This is how I became interested in them, and how I was persuaded to look more carefully at this manufacturer:

One afternoon about two years ago, I was driving around the Miyagi seashore with my wife. On the coastal road, since washed over and scoured by the 3/11 tsunami, was a civic center and a large parking lot. There I met and talked to a group of professional keirin racers who had finished doing road work as part of their constant training routine. All their bikes were track machines, but each had one, or in some cases, two brakes mounted on adapters. Each brake was a Dia-Compe BR-101. If it was good enough for these guys ....

I bought a set for my Simplon. They do not give any ground in terms of performance to my Ultegras that I have become aware of. (I don't often do hair-raising descents.) And despite being half the price of the Shimano binders, they are roughly the same weight. They may be a gram or two heavyer than my older Sugino 75's. They are definitely a few more grams than the Dura Ace at hundreds of dollars more. They were a cinch to mount and adjust. So just as an example .....

Cranksets, BB's — I'd consider lots of stuff from Dia-Compe. No bling, but if it looks right on older machines and has the quality, which I think it does, I'm game. I am glad this company is around. I suspect that they provide special orders of specified production for Velo Orange — but don't quote me.

Is this the re-invented DIA COMPE, not the Japanese from the 1930's From Velobase:

DIA-COMPE HISTORY TIME LINE:

1930 : YOSHIGAI Industry was established to manufacturebicycle rim brakes.
1949 : YOSHIGAI KIKAI KINZOKU Co., Ltd. was established.
1963 : DiIA-COMPE combined its technology with WEINMANN SWISS to manufacture aluminum brakes.
1975 : DIA-COMPE USA Inc. was established in North Carolina, USA.
1987 : DIA-COMPE TAIWAN Co., Ltd. was established in Taiwan, R.O.C.
1996 : YOSHIGAI Corporation, a new organization of "DIA-COMPE Japan", was established.
1996 : DIATECH USA Inc. was established in Seattle, USA.
2001 : KUNSHAN DIA-COMPE Co., Ltd. was established in Jiang Su, China.
2005 : YOSHIGAI Corporation's Headquarters was moved to Kadoma city, Osaka, Japan.

Scott

Thanks Scott. Glad you made the point and laid out the details. Sometimes the business of velo manufacturing makes the history of Scotland seem as facile as "Goldilocks and The Three Bears".

Lenton, I'm just glad DC is still around, whatever their form or location. They're producing some nice stuff.

Scott

I don't know much about Sampson but I do have a really nice set of Sampson cranks and the NOS Sampson/Sakae pedals and matching cleats.

He also became known for making the first lightweight but strong MTB rims by cutting down 40-hole Mavic MA-2s to create a 32-hole 26" rim. Bontrager went on designing lightweight rims, manufactured by Weinmann. Several were introduced but never went into high production as the plant suffered a fire. In ~1995 (or '96?), he was bought out by Trek.

He also designed + patented the composite fork crown that was used by RockShox, and his own Switchblade rigid MTB fork. As an aside, those Switchblades were insanely strong. I crashed using one and the wheel was completely taco-ed, and the frame buckled bending the top tube and down tube. The fork was completely straight. The frame was a Tange Prestige Specialized Stumpjumper...

I wear these every ride. They have a steel shank so they don't bend in the sole.



They have no provision for a cleat and are the only shoe I have narrow enough to fit these pedals.



Eric

Avocet's (Japanese-sourced) slick clincher tires were the best on the market for years...people still look for (and ride on) old ones.
the pedals were horrible, but that was Ofmega's fault. Avocet had a strong link to the Palo Alto Bicycle shop, but either was not quite a house brand or soon split off going independent as they grew.
That Sampson crank sure looks suspiciously like a Topline in how the spider mounts...any known connection? Sampson also was one of the early makers of clipless pedals (after Look invented them): I had a pair and swore off clipless for years as a result.

Avocet: r.b.r-legend, wheelbuilding guru and Alps-tourer Jobst Brandt was, i believe, involved in R&D of their bike computers, tires, possibly many other stuff, and their magnificent "Vertech" Altimeter (i still have two of them).

Cane Creek, I believe....The DC BRS-200 is a dead ringer for some Cane Creeks. I believe they're in Asheville, NC. Anyone know?

I have some Sampson clipless pedals. OK for riding, but don't get off the bike.

Sampson had a booth at the last two NAHBS's. They have pedals that look a lot like Look Keo.
They also showed a nice set of Microshift-based brifters and a crankset. I recall the stuff being nice and light.
The booth girl was extremely nice.

Rolf

(1) a form of deep tissue massage, e.g. massaging the back by way of the belly button.

(2) what I do after eating too much German food.

Just mounted this weekend on my 83 Norco Bigfoot. Kevlar and fresh nubbies.

More German content in the SS design in CROSS