Here's a real stupid question on a subject I know very little:
When did Italian lightweights start to use lightweight steel tubing i.e. Reynolds 531 or Columbus??
I ask because everytime I see a 1940s and 1950s Italian lightweight on eBay (and how often is that?!) the frame material is never specified leading me to conclude, most likely in error, that many of these machines were NOT made of lightweight tubing.
Reynolds 531 was practically an assumption on ALL British-made racing and club bikes from the late 1930s onwards. Even the humblest Lenton Sports had plain-gauge Reynolds main frame.
Also what was the Italian approach to alloy components? Again these were a hallmark of British machines certainly from 1946 onwards: brakes, rims (Conloys dating from 1937-ish), stems and bars, hub gear shells etc. Most of the Italian bikes I see from c. 1946-50s seem to have chromed steel "bits".
Again stupid questions but most of what I read about Italian bikes is SO pre-occupied with personalities, it's hard to get a general developmental feel for the machines especially how they contrasted with foreign bikes. I know what Coppi had for breakfast on 7.11.49, but how was his machine spec'd?
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web.com/