Alvéolé !

. I recently exchanged correspondence and photos with a gentleman on the subject of vintage French bicycle lights, the Luxor brand in particular. Obviously, at this point in both of our lives, we are completely bonkers and pretty damned comfortable in that state. Whereas I have a few old lights, enough to outfit two or three bikes, Aldo has a small museums worth. He has taken upon himself to try to collect every variation available. Well, you say, there can't be that many different vintage French bicycle lights. Oh yeah(?), maybe hundreds..

Most manufacturers, Radios, Cibe, Soubitz, Vitalux, had smooth, polished finishes. Luxor is the only one I'm aware of that had both the smooth and also a hammered honeycomb finish that matches the classic Lefol fenders (mine are the modern Honjo replicas). I was quite fortunate (read:$$) to find the matching honeycomb reflector. Anyway, in the process of all this, I learned that the hammered finish on my Luxor 65s is called "alvéolé". I'm not certain of the direct translation (honeycomb?), but I really don't care. If someone comments on the lights, I will just nonchalantly reply, "Well yes, I have always quite preferred the alvéolé finish.

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And the box they came in!