Philip Easton wrote:
>Hi All, Thank you Sheldon and Ted for pointing out a conflict in my
>request for 26" Dunlop rims. What I was trying to say was that the
>ones I want are stamped "Dunlop Special Lightweight", with no
>mention of EA1 on them. The Dunlop rims stamped EA1 are the
>standard wider rims that they made from at least the early twenties,
>and probably before. My understanding is that the Dunlop Special
>Lightweight rims were introduced in 1935 for use with their high
>pressure tires that were introduced at the same time, and which
>where similar in appearance and size to tubular tire.
Well, they're similar in appearance and size to a modern clincher tire. They were called "HPRR" (High Pressur Road Racing." Actually, the famous Schwinn "Puff" tires were a knockoff of those, though heavier and slower, they had the identical tread pattern.
I rode these for several years in the early '60s...they were unquestionably the best clinchers available, nothing else came close. When Dunlop got out of the bike tire business in the '60s, many of us got very good at booting tires because our booted, damaged Dunlop HPRRs were still better than _any_ tire we could buy new.
A couple of years later the Japanese learned to make even better
tires, ending the crisis.
>The ones I am looking for are a the narrow ones stamped "Special
>Lightweight" with no mention of EA1.
The "Special Lightweight" rims are narrower than the more common Endrick rims, and also have distinctive bulges around the spoke holes. The spoke holes are 4-way aimed to make the nipples point in the correct direction both laterally and rotationally.
These were, beyond doubt, the finest steel rims ever made.
Sheldon "HPRR" Brown
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