LouDeeter@aol.com wrote:
>Charles Andrews mention of the mid-70s Olmo Sutter brings to mind that the
>mid-to-late 70s was really that period when everyone seemed to be
>drilling, reprofiling, grooving, and otherwise, trying to shave a gram
>here and there. Actually, I was probably grooving in the late 60s as that
>was what we did then!! Was all of that started by the "Mexico" hour
>record or was it just a sign of the competitive times. I suspect that
>lighter alloys and steels and reliability concerns must have been the
>death knell to that sort of after-market lightening treatment. Anybody
>know? Lou Deeter, Orlando FL
I do know that Class B and Class C racing motorcycles in the US were heavily milled and drilled to shave weight as far back as the 1930s. When steel parts, like sprockets and levers, started to be replaced by alloy parts in the 1960s, the practice of drilling was discontinued (too many parts breaking at 90mph). It was still common on cafe racers (street bikes styled to look like race bikes) through the 1970s, because it looked cool.
Knowing what happened on the track with motorcycles always made me shy away from drilled alloy bicycle parts (except for Super Record levers and drilled Stronglight cranks- they were just too cool).
Herb Langston
Evanston, IL