My girlfriend had a frame built from Tange aero tubing & fitted with the same seat pillar that Hillary has found. The frame was completly lugless. It was so flexible that it would autoshift when Donna got out of the saddle to sprint,despite being only a 49 or 50cm frame. Despite this unfortunate feature, I thought it was pretty neat. I understood that it was built in Australia, from memory the brand was "Stout", but it bore no resemblance to the US-built Stout frames that I've seen. Eventually someone stole it, and my '50's Holdswoth beater, from the local velodrome. DB
OROBOYZ@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 6/19/01 5:31:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> Hilary.Stone@Tesco.net writes:
>
> << NOS Sugino Aero Mighty aero shaped seatpin marked for Tange tubing. I
> presume this is from the early 1980s but which tubing set. >>
>
> Tange brought out an aero bike tubing set specifically to be in partnership
> with the Shimano Ax components. I am sure that is the tubing intended to
> receive that seat post of yours. (Jerry Moos was looking for something like
> that a few months ago!)
>
> I remember in 1981, Tange sent two sets of this tubing, complete with lugs,
> to select frame builders all around the USA (and beyond?) They requested
> that the builders make bicycles in their own style and present them at the
> New York International bike show. My friend McLean Fonvielle (Silk Hope &
> McLean marques.) received these tube sets, but he didn't like them much (he
> was very conservative!) and never used them. I later inherited them and built
> a time trial bike from one set.. (It, with some small help from a certain Mr.
> Chris Blake, won the NC State TT championship that year!)
>
> The tubing is pretty clunky.. IF it is butted, it must have started as a
> thick gauge! The Onion River /Shimano team of that same era had 14 special
> Tomasinis built with that tubing and I have one of the team bikes today. In
> my Shimano AX page, there is a picture taken by Mike Richardson in 1982 of
> Wayne Stetina and David Ware, riding these aero tubed AX equipped
> Tomasinis... The word was that Irio Tomasini said he would never use that
> tubing again!
>
> Dale Brown
> cycles de ORO, Inc.
> 1406 West Northwood Street
> Greensboro, North Carolina
> USA 27408
> 336-274-5959
> Fax 336-274-6360
> <A HREF="http://www.cyclesdeoro.com">cyclesdeORO.com</A>
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