Re: [CR] Stronglight 49D cotterless cranks timeline-----"Depose" vs. "Marque Depose"

(Example: History:Ted Ernst)

In-Reply-To: <20061004171356.13496.qmail@web32910.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <20061004171356.13496.qmail@web32910.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2006 12:36:03 -0700
To: Peter Jourdain <pjourdain@yahoo.com>
From: "Jan Heine" <heine94@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR] Stronglight 49D cotterless cranks timeline-----"Depose" vs. "Marque Depose"
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

>
>1) When was the Stronglight 49D cotterless introduced,
>and did it initially say simply "STRONGLIGHT" or
>"STRONGLIGHT DEPOSE" on the crankarms ovals?

1933 or 1934. Check your back issues of VBQ. I think that has been covered several times - for sure in Volume 1, No. 4 on the technical trials. I do not know what the stamping was. I have seen one set of pre-war Stronglight cranks, and they looked similar to the post-war ones, just the finish-work was different.
>
>2) If they said simply "STRONGLIGHT" when was "DEPOSE"
>added?

I do not know, either. But by 1945, it appears to have been there.
>
>3) When did Stronglight 49D cranks go from saying
>"STRONGLIGHT DEPOSE" to "STRONGLIGHT MARQUE DEPOSE?"
>I've searched the CR archives and Scott Davis in a
>July 14/15 2002 post spoke to one part of my question
>writing, "I think they added Marquee in mid to late
>50s."

My ca. 1955 Alex Singer has "no marque" stamps, and so does a 1962 Singer featured in our book "The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles." However, the latter bike has many older parts that make it look like a 1952 bike...

I sometimes wonder whether they used both for a while, as I have seen quite a few earlier bikes with the "Marque." It is possible, of course, that cranks were swapped over time when owners had several bikes of different vintages.
>In my particular case I have a set of 175mm 49D
>"Depose" cranks and I am trying to fix their
>approximate date for suitability for a late '40s/
>early '50s French rando project.

I would call them entirely suitable.

--
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com