1890 - Manufacture d'Articles Vélocipediques Idoux et Chanel (MAVIC). The main product line is bicycle mud guards. Also later, the manufacturing of pedal-cars for children.
1920 - The company is bought by Henri Gormand because of his interest in the innovative mud-flap invented by Mavic. He sets about a diversification - the manufacure of aluminium bicycle rims.
1926 - The first ever aluminum bicycle rim.
1931- Becoming more and more accepted, Mavic rims appear for the first time in the Tour De France.
1964 - The son of Henri, Bruno Gormand takes over the company - the Mavic passion for performance is born from the enthusiasm of Bruno.
1967 - Mavic moves to St. Trivier-Sur-Moignans
1971 - The arrival of the famous blue anodized "SSC Blue" rim reserved for racers and professionals.
1973 - The arrival of "Neutral Support" and the famous yellow cars in the Tour De France.
1975 - The birth of the grey "SSC Paris-Roubaix" (SSC Grey) hard-layer anodized rim. The first time that this treatment has been used on bicycle rims, it would be seen later that no high-end bike would be seriously considered that did not offer this type of rim.
1977 - The perfecting of an innovative hub with cartridge bearings, and the first monobloc bottom bracket. A new factory of 1000m2 adjacent to the original unit making a total of 3500m2. Mavic plays host to the Tour de France where the start of the day's stage is from the Mavic factory.
1978 - Mavic begins to manufacture bottom brackets, handlebars and derailleurs, including the first models which could be easily disassembled.
1979 - A new concept: "Tout Mavic" (All Mavic), a set of equipment that includes rims, derailleurs, hubs, cranksets, etc. Since then this set is fitted to cycles at the very top of the range and especially for racing. This year also bares the fruit of several years' development of an aerodynamic cycle in collaboration with Gitane. This revolutionary cycle is used by the Gitane-Renault team in the 1979 Tour de France.
1980 - The first professional team to be equipped with "Tout Mavic": the Boston-Mavic team.
1983 - Mavic equips 26 professional teams throughout the world.
1984 - Sean Kelly wins Paris-Roubaix on a Mavic-equipped machine. Mavic working with the Aerotechnical Institute in St. Cyr, France, developes the disc wheel for commercial use. A new factory at Chavanod, near Annecy for the machining of components other than rims. The first CNC (Computer Numeric Controlled) machines arrive at Mavic, quickly followed by several others.
1985 - 7th December, a black day for Mavic. A tragic car accident claims the life of Mavic's owner Bruno Gormand. Madame Cécile Gormand is named the new President and leads the Mavic team in the same enthusiastic way.
1986 - The arrival of the first CAD-CAM (Computer Aided Design) system at Mavic.
1988 - A new sport and new products, this time for mountain bikes: cranks and chain rings, head sets, pedals bottom brackets, rims and handle bars.
1989 - Greg Lemond equipped "Tout Mavic" wins the Tour De France and the World Championships.
1990 - On the 30th of November, Madame Gormand agrees to a management buy-out and the company passes into the hands of four key members of staff with the aid of a financial partner, a holding company is formed.
1994 - Mavic joins the Salomon Group (Salomon, Taylor Made, Mavic, Bonfire). French wintersports group Salomon, becomes the 100% owners of Mavic. In an agreement which will permit the Mavic brand to grow and to have sufficient investment to launch a drawer full of new ideas, the rebirth of the company is assured. In the same year, ZMS (Zap) is launched - the world's first electronic shift derailleur.
1995 - Mavic launches the Cosmic wheel, aerodynamic and highly innovative. The decision is taken to focus Mavic's energy on a line of complete wheel sets and rims, thus all other components are withdrawn from sales, including the innovative ZMS.
1998 - The announcement in September that the group "SALOMON WORLWIDE" is joining forces with Adidas to form the No. 2 sporting goods company in the world, "ADIDAS-SALOMON".
I would greatly appreciate any assistance you the reader can offer in updating this timeline as this is the only way the accuracy of this timeline can be improved. --Chuck Schmidt
Feel free to email with any questions; click here.
Vélo-Rétro,
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South Pasadena, CA
91030-4425
Telephone: (323) 256-0815
Email: chuckschmidt@earthlink.net