# Huffy Avocet 10 Speed Any Information?



## Goldenrod (Aug 8, 2020)




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## Goldenrod (Aug 8, 2020)

From  research, I know that  Avocet was a California company that made tires, imported seats from Italy.  This one was sold from a Pennys store.  It has quality Japanese gearing so I spent two days on it.  Was I a sucker?


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## GTs58 (Aug 8, 2020)

Goldenrod said:


> From  research, I know that  Avocet was a California company that made tires, imported seats from Italy.  This one was sold from a Pennys store.  It has quality Japanese gearing so I spent two days on it.  *Was I a sucker?*


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## juvela (Aug 8, 2020)

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The Avocet marque was created about 1976 by the owner of a retail bicycle shop in Palo Alto, California called Palo Alto Bicycles, or P.A.B. for short.

Components such as cranksets, hubs, headsets, pedals and saddle pillars were all rebadgings from a manufacturer in Italy whose products were sold under the OFMEGA name.  The owner of the bicycle shop in California was a part owner of the OFMEGA company in Italy.

The Avocet badged saddles were also manufactured in Italy.  Can recall being told by a friend in the trade who the maker was but can no longer remember the name.  It may have been someone such as Sella Italia.

There were also Avocet badged accessories such as computers, toeclips, toestraps, water bottle and cages.  The badge only seems to have been around for three or four years.

The bicycle shop continued on after the end of Avocet products.  OFMEGA, the manufacturer of the components closed in about 1985.

Hope this helps you a bit.

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Have no knowledge of Huffman products so shall leave that part to the experts.

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## Goldenrod (Aug 8, 2020)

juvela said:


> -----
> 
> The Avocet marque was created about 1976 by the owner of a retail bicycle shop in Palo Alto, California called Palo Alto Bicycles, or P.A.B. for short.
> 
> ...




Wow. This is why I love the CABE.


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## Oilit (Aug 9, 2020)

juvela said:


> -----
> 
> The Avocet marque was created about 1976 by the owner of a retail bicycle shop in Palo Alto, California called Palo Alto Bicycles, or P.A.B. for short.
> 
> ...



Thank you! I've seen Avocet saddles but never knew anything about their history!


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## all riders (Aug 9, 2020)

The Avocet saddles tended towards the casual rider or tourer, but I was quite fond of a racing saddle I had that was Avocet in a nubuck/ suede kind of leather. Ofmega, like Gipiemme, was a maker of high quality, exact copies of Campagnolo stuff, and found on great bikes generally to keep the price point down. I remember getting the Palo Alto catalog like twice a year throughout the 80's --always some good cycling photos.


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## juvela (Aug 9, 2020)

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There is an assortment of Avocet documents covering the period 1976-1985 posted here:



			Avocet
		


Was surprised to learn that some products such as tyres, saddles and computers are still being offered:



			Avocet
		


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## all riders (Aug 9, 2020)

Ah yes, Avocet computers! perhaps the first I ever saw.


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## sykerocker (Sep 19, 2020)

Afraid that bike probably wasn't worth the time you put in on it.  During the Bike Boom of the 70's, Huffy's weren't the bottom of the barrel, but were definitely close to it.  Bought from Penny's?  Sounds about right.  No self-respecting bicycle shop would consider carrying them, and we really gritted our teeth if a customer brought one in for service.  Normal procedure was to demand a deposit down on the job, otherwise we'd get stuck with the bike when the customer refused to pay the final bill.

To it's credit, the bike looks original.  I'll assume 26" wheels (first sign of a cheap 10-speed, the Schwinn's and Columbias as well as the foreign brands all had 27").  Dirty secret: That's the same frame and rims that Huffy used for it's 3-speeds.  In fact, the stem is also off the 3-speed.

Back then, besides the ever-present Schwinn's, Columbia was probably the only brand that did a bicycle-shop quality, although Trek and Ross arrived a bit later, plus you had the high end imported Sears bikes (Puchs).  This had a lot to do with why all the foreign manufacturers got a good foothold in at that time.


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