Fellow Listmembers,
I just came back from the Eurobike in Friedrichhafen, and of course my
main interest was in KOF bikes. I have uploaded a number of pics to my
wooljersey album. Here is the link
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/Drexl/Eurobike08/
In general there seems to be a trend back to KOF steelbikes- Most of the
traditional makers, espcially the italian ones, showed nice lugged
steelframes, many of them also showing Pista or Fixie bikes, the later
ones being frames with horizontal dropouts but drilled forks and
brakebridges for brake mounting.
I asked some of the representatives of the bigger companies about the
origns of those frames and most claimed their frames being made in
Taiwan or Asia in general. Just the italian makers, such as Ciöcc,
Viner, D'Accordi, Casati, Gios, Colnago, Somec seem to make their
steelframes inhouse.
I did not see the Fuji steelbike discussed on this list and the
representative I asked about it concluded it will not be marketed in
Europe at this time. I also did not see the discussed Schwinn Waterford
bike, but a nice steel Schwinn Pista. Almost all if not all makers
showed Pistas.
The probably most interesting approach to a single speed KOF bike was a
Fixie.Inc steel frame from a german compny based in Karlsruhe using a
automotive like ribbed belt instead a chain for transmission. In order
to be able to change the belt, which can not be split, a SS-coupler was
intstalled in the right seatstay. The bike also had a nice wooden
(american-made) bar, a lugged stem (by Tange I guess) and a rust finish,
protected by olive oil, as the rep stated. Also their frames are made in
Asia.
Enjoy he pics.