In a message dated 9/5/03 9:12:51 PM Pacific Daylight Time, rena.cutrufelli@comcast.net writes:
> Now I was with you till you said the GC carried more mystique than the
> 3V. Isn't the 3V both a higher and rarer model with very crush resistant
> tubes? I have a GC but isn't the 3V the top of the line?
>
The 3V was one of the first "modern" bicycle frames, with oversized tubing and lots of little features that cut the amount of work to make a frame. The internally fitting lugs that eliminated the need to miter the tubing being the most obvious, also using the then industry standard brake and chainstay bridges the could not be used with reinforcements.
The first production versions used Excell tubing, IIRC somewhere between .4 and .5mm wall thickness. This was demonstrated at some of the trade shows by squeezing it in a vice, to a point where it LOOKED like it should be permanently deformed, and opening the vice to have the tube spring back to it's original shape. I have a Steelman road bike made with normal size butted Excell, and it is nice tubing! It unfortunately suffered from shipping issues, Brent had an entire batch of bad head tubes, that were not the same material and all cracked at the lower headlug joint. As my frame was silver brazed, the tube was easily replaced without destroying the complicated paint job, and the paint was repaired so that you cannot tell there was ever a problem. A big thank you to Ed Litton for that! I should point out that was 15 years ago when he and Brent were sharing shop space, he doesn't ordinarily do "repairs" of that type because it's usually more work than starting over.
USA production frames soon went on to use at least 2 other kinds of tubing, one of which was (is?) True Temper and each different mfr of tubing required different dimensioned lugs (the internal ones) to accommodate the slight variations in wall thickness. It is my understanding that Italian production versions continued using Excell tubing for a long time.
I have a 3V (unknown year or tubing) and the upper headlug is obviously a shallower angle as cast, than as built. If you look at it from the side, you can see the lug itself is not perfectly in line with the as built angle. It is not detrimental to the ride or structure of the frame, but IS out of place on a premier frame. This type of thing was expected in the old days from "lesser builders" using pressed lugs that usually came in 73 parallel, when you had to use those and tweak them to other angles. When I say "lesser builders", I mean that you would not see an A quality Eisentraut built that way.
GCs were the last gasp of the old way of doing things where the bridges were
hand fitted, mitered and with reinforcements. The trend was to use the flat
type, investment cast brake bridges and the little square-to-round-to-square
chainstay bridges, if one was fitted at all. The point of the trend being to
reduce the amount of work and hand fitting of bits required to complete a frame,
and be easier to file after brazing.
>From a ride standpoint, the 3V was a step forward, from a craftsmanship
standpoint, it was the beginning of the end. This is why it is not as highly
regarded as the GC by the section of the community that values craftsmanship and
collectibility, with the early Carlsbad bikes likely the epitome of the GC.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA