M.A.F.A.C. - III
Steve Griffith
Dating-Levers marked Securite are pre 1948
- Open back levers were made until the late 50’s. The half open ones were made from the mid 50’s. So there was a period when you could get both.
- Drilled levers and plastic body levers date from mid 1970’s
- Early versions (1952/53) of the Dural Forge centre-pulls have a tiny oil hole on the front stirrup above the pivot.
Right: Image of 50's Dural Forge stirrup
- The Competition and 2000k have a month and year of manufacture on the inside of one arm. Some have two letters from the alphabet which represents a date code.
- Brakes stamped Racer with red plastic bushing date from the early 1970’s. There were some transitional stamped Dural Forge but with plastic bushing which are slightly earlier
- Later Racers have ‘451’ etched on the rear of the back plate
- From the late 60’s levers were marked ‘Mafac France’
- Levers and straddle cables for the 50’s are marked M.A.F.A.C. later this became MAFAC
Rarities
The half hoods for the twin cable levers
The brake cable guides.
Top 63 stirrups are the most sought after brake.
The inverted levers to fit on the ends of bars.
Decline
Mafac experienced a short revival in the early 1980’s when their cantilevers became popular on first generation mountain bikes. Cantilevers had always been the favoured means of stopping for cyclo cross and rough stuff riders. However the writing was on the wall, caused primarily by the move to side-pulls a process started by Campagnolo in 1969. Centre-pulls became unfashionable and they lost out on the mountain bike market when the Japanese started developing cantilever brakes specifically designed to work with flat bars. The Mafac cantilever stuck out at 90 degrees this could be a problem and the Japanese models that were angled at 45 degrees soon found favour. Mafac levers did not have the right amount of cable pull to work with the new lower profile cantilevers.
Mafac were more expensive that Weinmann and thus lost out in the OEM market. Mafac introduced a range of side pulls in the late 1970’s of which the LS were the top model. There was an LS2 and the cheaper LC.
With the exception of the Tiger and the Top 63 there was very little product development. The cantilevers were essentially unchanged throughout their production lifespan of nearly 40 years. If a company is to be judged by the number of copies it sired then Mafac rates very high I have seen copies by Galli, Shimano, Olympic, Zeus, Favourit ( Czech), Weinmann and Dia Compe .
Mafac ceased trading in 1983. Writing in the October 1983 CTC magazine review of that years Harrogate show Chris Juden reported:
“I can confirm that Mafac that steadfast arrestor of laden bicycles has gone out of business. “p 284
There was short lived management buy out reference being made to this in the CTC magazine, October 1984:
“The old company who sold their products too cheaply have been revived by a management buyout”
However I have been unable to find any further reference so this may not have lasted beyond 1985. So a sad end to the company who created the first of the modern centre-pulls and developed what for many years was the most powerful braking option the cantilever. I knew one cyclist who before descending a steep hill would mumble under his breath. When asked what he was saying he replied: “A prayer to St Mafac the patron saint of cycle braking”
I shall leave the last word to H H Willis (known as Chater) a frequent writer to the cycling press in the 60’s and 70’s and a former VCC librarian. He wrote in the December 1975 CTC magazine:
“For steep descents you need either iron nerves or first class brakes. The Mafac with brazed pivots appear best and also collect less mud”.
References
From 1955 to 1972 Mafac were featured in Holdsworthy Aids. Evian and Ron Kitching also imported them and his Everything Cycling up to the end of the 1960’s is useful source. Evian used Daniel Rebour drawing to illustrate their adverts, which were a regular feature in Cycling magazine in the early 1970’s. The earliest importer was Fonteyn. The final importer was Elsmer. The only Mafac catalogue I have seen is the one in the VCC library from 1977.
Return to MAFAC I or MAFAC II