In a message dated 12/31/2002 2:30:18 PM Eastern Standard Time, hilary.stone@blueyonder.co.uk writes:
<< It was available in both butted and plain gauge but its attraction to the French frame builders was for the ultra light Touring Trials frames because it was available in an ultra light version with 22/24g walls on the main tubes together with a 24g head tube Not to be recommended for a long life frame as its strength was not as good... >>
That came to mind when reading in the Vintage Bike Quarterly, Jan Heine's interview with Ernest Czuka at Singer. Jan asks him: " ...on the bikes for technical trials. Were they used for several events?"
Mr. Czuka replies: " No, perhaps twice, then they'd break. the tubing was 4/10 mm, because back then, 3/10 wasn't available yet. Before the war we had Reynolds 3/10 mm, after the war it was not available. After the war, the first Reynolds tubing got to France in 47 or 48. Before that, we used Vitus. These bikes were quite special.... They shimmied, they moved. You could not descend fast. You had to squeeze the top tubes between your legs. They weren't stiff."
That comment by Czuka also casts some light on these amazingly light Technical Trails bikes we read about being built by Singer, Herse and Routens, among others... Yes, they were indeed light and no, they didn't last very long!
I thoroughly recommend the Vintage Bike Quarterly for many such insights... We stock the newsletter here at CDO if you are on the road and pop in for a visit... or subscribe ($27 /yr) with Jan Heine c/o Il Vecchio, 140 Lakeside Ave, Seattle WA 98122
Dale Brown
Greensboro, NC