> Chuck Schmidt wrote:
> I'd question aluminum cranks being "durable" enough for pro use in the
> mid 1930s to the mid 1950s in the big tours of those periods; the TdF,
> GdI or Vuelta.
Chuck,
I'm not sure why you'd question the durability of- especially '50s vintage- Al alloy cranks unless there was a specific design problem. The alloys marketed under such names as Dural and particularly Hiduminium aka RR55, developed by Rolls Royce for their WWII aero engines, available in the '50s were hardly inferior in any way to most modern Al alloys. Marketing hyperbole aside, the metallurgy of Al was pretty well understood by the close of the second world war.
Kurt Sperry
Bellingham WA