stood out for their early, innovative adoption of duralumin: in 1932, Verot et Perrin developed the first light alloy crank arms; in 1934, Haubtmann released a complete crankset; from 1935 on, Duralumin freewheels, derailleurs, pedals, brakes and handlebars were manufactured by several companies. Complete framesets followed quickly, including those manufactured by: Mercier (and Aviac and other licensees) with their popular Meca Dural family of models, the Pelissier brothers and their race-worthy La Perle models, and Nicolas Barra and his exquisite mid-twentieth century “Barralumin” creations. Other names that come up here also included: Pierre Caminade, with his beautiful Caminargent creations and their exotic octagonal tubing, and also Gnome et Rhône, with its deep heritage as an aircraft engine manufacturer that also diversified into motorcycles, velomotors and bicycles after World War Two. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which was prohibited from producing aircraft during the American occupation of Japan, manufactured the “cross” bicycle out of surplus wartime duralumin in 1946. The “cross” was designed by Kiro Honjo, a former aircraft designer responsible for the Mitsubishi G4M. Duralumin use in bicycle manufacturing faded in the 1970s and 1980s. Vitus (bicycle company) nonetheless released the venerable “979” frameset in 1979, a “Duralinox” model that became an instant classic among cyclists. The Vitus 979 was the first production aluminium frameset whose thin-wall 5083/5086 tubing was slip-fit and then glued together using a dry heat-activated epoxy. The result was an extremely lightweight but very durable frameset. Production of the Vitus 979 continued until 1992. References Works cited Further reading David Laughlin, Kazuhiro Hono. Handbook of Aluminum: Vol. 1: Physical Metallurgy and Processes. ISBN: 9780444537713 Aluminum Paperback - Volume 1. 16th edition, Aluminum Verlag, Düsseldorf 2002, pp. 101 f., 114-116, 121, 139-141 Friedrich Ostermann: Aluminum application technology. 3rd edition, Springer, 2014, ISBN 978-3-662-43806-0, pp. 117–124 Aluminium alloys Aluminium–copper alloys