skip sinatra wrote:
> Once upon a time, I had a mid-80's Trek 660....and you are right, it
> was heavy. I think it was all the investment casting: seat lug, bb
> shell, fork crown, brake bridge...even the dropouts as I recall. I
> had friends who refered to it as the 'cast-iron" bike.
For at least a couple years in the mid-80s, Trek used a one-piece cast head tube on the lower end bikes. This was done primarily for ease of manufacture -- the casting had a shoulder built in on which the tube would seat -- straight-cut; no miter. The frames were brazed on automated equipment using electromagnetic induction instead of flame. It was a pretty slick process, but those head tubes were boat-anchors.
--
John (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA