Thanks Neil. If they are to be believed, those weights are pretty impressive. Approaching today's UCI limit. What was the secret? Merely simplicity? Wooden rims (were they very light?)?
On 8/8/06 21:27, "neil foddering" <neilfoddering@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> In their 1930's catalogue, Buckley Brothers of London listed the weight of
> their complete Model C racing cycle, built of either High Manganese or
> Chrome Molybdenum tubing, and fully equipped to catalogue specification, as
> 15 pounds. The Model C exhibited at the first Lighweight Show weighed 13
> pounds, but the equipment on the show model isn't listed.
>
> Their CR road racing model is listed at 18 pounds weight.
>
> The catalogue doesn't mention 531 anywhere, and the frame angles look pretty
> shallow, so the catalogue could pre-date 1935.
>
> Neil Foddering
> Weymouth, Dorset, England
>
>
>
>> From: Simon PJ <simonpj@mac.com>
>> To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>> Subject: [CR]How light was 'lightweight'?
>> Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2006 21:12:57 +0100
>>
>> Having just passed some idle hours wondering about the weight of my bikes
>> and finally figuring out that I could weigh them by holding them whilst I
>> stood on the scales, I would be interested to know what really was
>> 'lightweight' for a racing bicycle in the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's.
>>
>> I was surprised - but probably shouldn't have been - that my most recent
>> bike, an OT Pinarello Vuelta from '98 wearing a mix of Campagnolo C-Record
>> and Chorus from the 80's and 90's was the heaviest at a little over 23
>> pounds - whereas a 1948 Holdsworth Cyclone Deluxe and a 1954 Bates,
>> admittedly both with fixed gear, came in at just under 20 pounds, even with
>> their full complement of period steel cranks, etc.
>>
>> So, what weights were racing cyclists trying, and managing, to get their
>> bikes down to - in the on-topic decades of the last century?
>>
>> Wyndham,
>> Girton, UK