At 4:02 PM -0400 10/18/06, StuartMX4@aol.com wrote:
>
>Not really correct to describe the Bugatti bicycle as a 'Moultonesque space
>frame'. It seems simply to replace each tube in a conventional frame with four
> small tubes. It is difficult to see why.
Note that the drawings were made in 1913, long before Bugatti hit his stride. The Reyhand article in the latest Bicycle Quarterly mentions that the twin laterals on most French high-performance tandems until about 1950 came about at the suggestion of Bugatti - and those work very well. Reyhand even advertized at times "triangulation according to E. Bugatti," even though Reiss (the maker of Reyhand) had a patent on the design. The patent, it appears, was not for the idea, but the execution. Reiss protected that patent vigorously, and only after he died in World War II did other makers adopt the technique.
For a photo of a few tandems with that double triangulation, see
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/
--
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com