>The crank in my photos must pre-date the introduction of the TA 'cotterless'
>cottered cranks, but it is the only truly cottered alloy crank I have seen.
>Surely there must have been others. If so, who and who is the maker of this
>crank??
>
>Bryant Bainbridge
>Portland, Orygun
Your crank looks somewhat similar to a Duprat Maniplume, but the Maniplume is more slender and more refined as a shape, plus of course engraved "Maniplume" in the center. How do you date the crank to be so early? Could it be a 1960s medium-priced crank - if indeed it is French.
From the reports of the technical trials in 1947, one sees that the Duprat was considered a hot new thing when it was introduced in 1947, so I doubt there were any other alloy cottered cranks available in France before then.
Interesting that Stronglight came onto the market as a total newcomer to cranks (and any other bike products), and introduced steel and aluminum cranks at the same time. The steel cranks were a lot more slender than current (or later) steel cranks from other makers, and promised significant weight savings as well. The announcements in 1932 say that this incredible new aluminum crank has been developed, that it seems to hold up well, and that it will be marketed soon under the name " Stronglight."
Amazing, too, that the design of these cranks remained basically unchanged until the 1980s - in 1982 they still were being spec'd on René Herse randonneurs. And considering that the TA to a large extent is a copy, they continue to be available today. Around here, the TAs are a popular choice for people wanting useful gears on their Campy Record Carbon equipped bike (like 48-32 chainrings). (Amazing, too, that no other crank seems to allow this useful combination. 110 mm BCD only goes down to 34 for a double, and compact mtb cranks only go up to a 46.)
But back to the old days: Duprat was famous for their hollow steel cranks in the 1930s. I don't know what happened to them after 1947. I have seen a 1950 bike with Maniplume cranks, but it appears they did not survive much longer. Does anybody know?
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Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/