Jan Heine <heine93@earthlink.net> wrote: : Was butted frame tubing commonly used in racing bikes around 1910?
Thanks for the advice.
Jan Heine, Seattle
I doubt it was commonly used on American racing bicycles in 1910 or earler.Butted tubing was after all made in England.That's not to say America didn't have quite a bit of interaction with England---the Mead catalogs before 1917(cutoff year for wheelmen's bicycles) list lots of replacement (upgrades)English parts.But pryor to 1917 America still had a lot of Bicycle parts manufacturing.Most American bikes built before 1917 were intended for Adult use and were designed along those lines---as they used lighter gauge tubes than those built after 1917,two and three piece cranks,fixed gears etc.The English chain as 1/8 was called was common.Three events had a profound effect on American bicyles--the money went to building Autos--man learned to fly---and WW1.All three of these events happened almost at the same time.(it wasn't untill 1909 when the Wrights 20 mile flite over the Hudson that they were beleaved )When the money went to Autos parts manufacturers changed to auto parts--like the Dodge Bro.Consolidated of Ohio,and others.Those left cut cost and standardized the parts that could be had.WW1 also casused companies to go into more profitable areas--like Pierce bicycles was sold to make room at the factory for truck frames needed by the Army.The Air industry was just taking off(pun) and many parts suppliers for bicycles became just a side line the aircraft parts divisions.The top racers of the Day may have had bikes using Butted tubing --they did have bikes built with English fittings(BSA) The Kramer Special was built by Pierce using BSA parts--Other factory teams used coustom built bikes built with Englash parts.But the Common racer in most old photos show bikes that look to be out of the catalog.
Bruce ask:Claims that US framebuilders are the best begs the question, "What were = they doing in the 30s-50s when the French, British and Italians led the = way?" Why weren't they producing bikes to take the world by storm?
Bruce,most storms have a way of blowing you around and leaving you disoranited.What were Americans doing in the 30s-50s,building bikes that took the world by storm!Huffman became the worlds largest bicycle manufacturer--followed by Columbia.The focus just was not on the Adult market--but American bikes built after 1920 untill WW2 still had quality--it was just focused in a new direction.
This brings me to the Texas Handmade Bicycle Show.One bike there has been in the developement stage for over 100 years.The bamboo bicycle first tryed in 1893.Later tryed in the 30s,and now again being tryed.Sometimes you just gotta keep working on a problem to get it right!This time around they are able to size the lugs to the Bamboo insteed of the other way around.Interesting bicycle.
As a side note to the show--I'd like to thank Brian for taking the time to recommend that I try a fixed gear on short workouts--I'm going to try that.
sam lingo,pleasanton tx
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
The all-new My Yahoo! What will yours do?