Brake Levers - 02

BRAKE LEVERS:
MAFAC Professionnel 429 - racing type brake levers - traditional non-aero cable routing - pre 1977 integrated cable adjusters having a metal barrel with rubber "O" ring - pre 1980 standard aluminum alloy bodies - "full style" translucent gum hoods - factory "drilled" Clear anodized aluminum alloy levers / pre 1980 with 34 hole (17 holes per side) lever blades / pre 1980 "narrow" profile lever blades - patented stainless steel mounting clips / pre 1980 solid band marked "Breveté SDGD" - model Course 429 ... [The Professionnel Course 429 or "perforated racing lever" was introduced to market for model year 1975 as a complement as well as yet a further refinement to MAFAC’s long tenured Course 121 dural racing levers having instantly identifiable half hoods and their immediate successor the Course 128 or 2000 racing levers having Black colored full hoods and solid lever blades. In its first incarnation, the Professionnel Course 429 featured an integrated cable adjuster having a metal barrel with fluted top and rubber "O" ring, but this mechanism was replaced during 1977 by a similarly integrated cable adjuster having a "knurled gum hood". Additionally, while the "drillium" lever blades on the Course 429 may have offered a nicely variegated surface for better finger grip, the profile of the original blade was eventually determined to be a bit too narrow at its further points for those riders having larger hands, and therefore, it was widened toward the bottom end coincident to model year 1980 production (...this re-tooling also begot a change in the number of holes stamped into the lever blades themselves - reduced from 34 holes at 17 per side to 30 holes at 15 per side). It was also only after 1979 that the "extra légère" or "lightweight" edition of those Professionnel Course 429 brake levers having Black composite bodies were ever offered - all previous versions were built upon the same standard aluminum alloy bodies that continued to be made available alongside the plastic type from 1980 onward. The specifics of the brake levers seen here are identical to those battle scarred examples which originally came fitted to this particular Peugeot PY-10 CP, and with the singular exception of the cable adjuster mechanisms which could have been either a pre 1977 or post 1976 type, MAFAC Professionnel 429 perforated racing levers such as these would have been de facto standard equipment for all PY-10 models made available for public consumption in 1977. As for Peugeot-Esso-Michelin team bikes campaigned throughout the 1977 season, such as the one which Bernard Thevenet rode to victory in the Tour de France and the one which teammate Jacques Esclassan used to claim the Maillot Vert or Green Jersey as Tour points leader and best sprinter that year, all but one of those were equipped with MAFAC 429 brake levers (...that singular exception being Regis Delepine’s bike as ridden in the Tour that year which was equipped with a host of Gold anodized components in a manner reminiscent of Thevenet when he won his first Tour de France back in 1975, including MAFAC 529 brake levers - which is to say, the Gold anodized version of the 429), but not all of them had post 1976 cable adjusters as one might suspect. In fact, for those who relish such arcane details, Bernard Thevenet himself generally used the later style of cable adjuster having a knurled gum hood over the course of the 1977 Tour, however, there is also evidence of him piloting both his Peugeot PY-10 CP road bike as well as his time trial specific PY-10 CP fitted with the earlier style of cable adjusters having that distinctive rubber "O" ring (...perhaps this had something to do with him experiencing an equipment problem, because at one point during the race Thevenet had his left brake cable adjuster rattle loose and back itself out).]