Steven Maasland wrote:
>
> Fred Radnor wrote:
>
> > What is the story with the integral headset cups?
> > That also seems like an unusual feature.
>
> The integral headset cups are very common in Italy. I have owned numerous
> bikes with them. If I am not mistaken, Bianchi used it on all their bikes up
> until the 60's (Chuck will confirm this or correct me!)
Yes, sometime in the 60s Bianchi went to the separate cups and races for the head bearings. Of course their current EV4 has gone back to integral headsets.
Having the bearing races incorported into the head lugs was the normal way of doing things for most bike manufacturers even before 1900! My 1897 Duquesne fixed gear road bike has current state of the art headset technology ;)
Chuck Schmidt
SoPas, SoCal