At the turn of the last century, the Barnes White Flyer was advertised in a series of weights from 9 lbs up. That always seemed impossible to me, except for display purposes. So as of 1900 or so, the goal for the true weight weenie was already incredibly low, at least on paper.
Joe Bender-Zanoni Great Notch, NJ
Martin Appel wrote:
>i had a discussion with a friend last night about "serious weight
>weenieism" - the hunt for grams.... (in lack of a better word for it).
>in its modern sense.
>
>But what about the history.
>So, this list has "The vintage lightweight racing bike" as title.
>Sure it must have been known even to the founders of our sport back in
>the beginning of the 20th century, that a bike (usually) is faster,
>esp. uphill, when its lighter.
>
>But when started Weight Weenieism? Can there be a date put to it?
>
>i can see a few milestones, like
>
>- first Titanium production frames (~1974)
>- occurrence of "Drillium" (seventies????)
>- ultralight rims by Nisi, Mavic scratch 260g (late 70ies)
>
>what other Milestones can you think of?
>
>but what was earlier, 60ies, 50ies? did everybody just put stock parts
>on his bike and that was it?
>
>Or has even back then existed a group of riders who went shopping with
>lab scales...?
>
>Martin Appel
>Munich, BY