>>Can ANY CR members name an on-topic catalogue bike that tipped the
>>scales in the 18 lbs range ?? That's an interesting question for the
>>list.
>I can name two. Rene Herse and Alex Singer. During the trials in
>the late 40's and early 50's in France, the constructuers would try
>to build the lightest bike. Some of them weighed under 17 lbs.
Those weren't catalogue bikes. If by catalogue bike, you mean a production bike, then it might be hard - you'll have to look at Alans and such. Caminargents were production bikes, and their claimed weights were very light. However, I never have weighed one that came in under 19 lbs. So the advertising claims have to be treated with some circumspection.
If you just mean a custom bike with production components (rather than modified ones, such as used by the technical trials machines), then you still have quite a few options among the French makers, and probably many others.
Rene Vietto rode a Barra in the 1948 Tour de France that weighed 17.6 lbs. with a steel seatpost, steel-railed saddle and totally stock components. (Blatant ad: The bike is featured in our new book "The Competition Bicycle.") Replace the saddle with an alloy-railed Ideale and alloy seatpost, and you'll get below 17 lbs. And any customer could have bought one like it from Barra.
Jan Heine
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