Ray,
The lugs on the Roberson AND the lugs used by Mario on the Confente fram es are Bocama lugs. Mario just modified them slightly for his bikes. The were also the pattern for the "Medici style" lugs that Mario developed for his use and the use of the Medici company. Mario didn't have to "suf fer any indignity"; both companies were owned by one person who bankroll ed the lug project; which eventually became the source of the breakup be tween Mario and Bill Recht. Mario never got to use the investment cast l ugs because he was fired from the company "Bicycles by Confente", while Mike and Gian were able to continue making Medicis for over 20 years und er the ownership of the same person, Bill Recht. The lug issue was in fa ct central to the differences of opinion. Whatever Marios opinion was, i t was wrong, as history has proven.
As I've said before, I could write a book on all of this stuff. Just don 't want to.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
David,
Very nice bike, beautiful color. I noticed that the head lugs look a lot like the Confente-designed lugs that were used by Medici.
Your lower head lug (BTW, is that an upside down W?):
http://www.wooljersey.com/
The lower head lug on my ex Medici:
http://www.raydobbins.com/
And here is Confente #29 (from Tam Pham's VR7 pics):
http://www.raydobbins.com/
To my not-so-sharp eyes, all three lugs look identical, except for the upside down W on the Roberson lug.
IIRC, Medici had the exclusive rights to these lugs (at least that's h ow I remember the story). If so, I doubt that Confente would have suffe red the indignity of buying them from Medici, so where did he het his fr om? And who did Roberson get them from?
On the Roberson lug, maybe the upside down W is actually an M that sta nds for Mario???
Maybe this question belongs in the framebuilders forum, but I'll throw it out anyway: are these lugs still available?
BTW, apparenly Confente did not use this lug design on his Italian mad e frames. I believe this Italian Confente belongs to John Waner (photo also from Tam's VR7 pics):
http://www.raydobbins.com/
Veddy intedesting.
Ray Dobbins Miami FL USA
"David G. White" <whiteknight@burlingtontelecom.net> wrote: I've just posted photos of my new Rob Roberson. Brian Baylis helped me
buy this bike from the original owner in San Diego. (Thanks Brian!). It
came to me as frame only and I decided to build it with 1st generation
black Dura-Ace. I'm very pleased with the results. To my eye the black
contrasts beautifully with the pearl baby blue frame (original paint,
done by Cyclart).
I spoke with Rob Roberson not long ago and he told me that he made 16
frames under his own name before going to work for Masi. According to
Rob this is the second frame he made after leaving Masi, making it the
18th Roberson. He made it as a custom order in 1981 out of Columbus SP
as a light touring frame. Rob says this may be the largest frame he has
ever built -- seat tube 65cm c/c and top tube 60cm c/c. I'm glad I have
it, as it's my perfect size.
Some features to note: the distinctive chrome "R" on the head tube, the
custom made downtube cable stops that have a tubular form and the
arrowhead lug cutouts.
By the way, Rob told me that having been out of the frame making
business for quite a while, he was very pleased with the feedback he got
regarding his bikes when he attended VR a couple years ago. It
stimulated him to make a few frames since then and he may take a few
custom orders from time to time.
Note to Brian -- you'll see in the photos that I took your suggestion
and removed the poorly done gold lug lining, that was almost certainly
not original to the bike. I agree that it looks much better without it!
And, if you get a chance, some time show these photos to Rob. As you
know he does not have a computer, but he said he'd like to see the
photos of the built up bike.
Cheers!
David
David G. White
Burlington, VT