Byron Morton wrote:
>
> Hello all,
> What's the scoop on Favorit components? When were they made? What quality
> levels were available?
> I recently purchased a Favorit branded bike (mainly for the nice wide
> aluminum fenders) and I was impressed to find all the components were
> Favorit as well. The rear deraileur is stamped steel and looks very much
> like a Campy Gran Sport or steel Simplex model. Unlike most stamped steel
> deraileurs, this one looks very well made and is labeled as "Model PWB". It
> has toothless steel pulleys with adjustable ball bearings - way cool in my
> book!
> I'd appreciate any comments on Favorit - their history/quality/etc.
What I remember: Czechoslovakian made parts (they also made a full line of bicycles) that went back to around the turn of the century.
The derailleur marked "Model PWB"? That's named after the Peace Race, or Course de la Paix. Post WWII annual stage race for amateurs in Iron Curtain contries started in 1948. PWB stood for the three cities the race went through: Prague, Warsaw and Berlin.
Fantastic Peace Race website:
http://www.ros.com.au/
Here's a post about Favorit I found through Google.com search:
i worked as export manager for Campagnolo and one of the best customers we enjoyed was FAVORIT, a sizeable company located not far from Plzen in a nice small town called Rokycany. The compamy was quite big, they produced almost any kind of bicycles+coaster brakes reputed among the best ones in the world, racing bicycles destined mainly to the canadian market and racing bikes of any type for the Czech team. I cannot say that the design was the latest in trend but the quality of the racing bikes was very good, as it was the one of another "communist" company in former DDR, called DIAMANT. I have seen in my carreer FAVORIT bicycles older than 30 year and still working more than well. I have no idea if ther new management after the communist fall has changed the style but if it is the same of before 1989 I would like to say that, at least at racing level the frame is good. --Alex Santini
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, Southern California