Re: [CR] Cinelli Sloping Fork Crown Origins??

(Example: History)

From: "Emilio Bozzi" <emiliobozzi@hotmail.com>
To: <gillies@ece.ubc.ca>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 15:24:29 -0700
In-Reply-To: <20090602213739.B3CF419D8D@ug6.ece.ubc.ca>
References: <20090602213739.B3CF419D8D@ug6.ece.ubc.ca>
Cc: richardsachs@juno.com
Subject: Re: [CR] Cinelli Sloping Fork Crown Origins??


Ah-ha.... I just read the Mark Petry article and got a lot of interesting information.

It does not surprise me that the various other sloping crowns I have seen were not always Cinelli.

Back to Mark's article for a moment, i was glad to see his discussion of the Cinelli crown mated to the tear-drop cross section fork blade.....an obvious piece of practical engineering meets artful design. The nicest steel fork I think i have ever seen.

I am one of those who have dismissed the geometry so loved by true Cinelli fanatics the world over.

Rest assured however, I am sincerely impressed by the fast back seat stays, said fork design and introduction of clipless pedals.....which by the way,how come they never caught on?

I still have to reach down and release my toestrpas every time I come to a light (still haven't perfected a track stand!). I figure I could easily reach down and release a pedal as well.....but haven't tried it yet.

Again, Thanks for the info. Nels Cone

Seattle WA
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR] Cinelli Sloping Fork Crown Origins??
> CC: brianbaylis@juno.com; emiliobozzi@hotmail.com; richardsachs@juno.com
> Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 14:37:39 -0700
> From: gillies@ece.ubc.ca
>
> According to Richard Sachs, the sloping crowns on Raleigh Pro and Team
> Pro bikes were made by Davis (which also made the 1967 Raleigh
> competition fork crowns and a superlight 706 gram fork.) If you look
> at the Davis sloping crown from the top, it has a rectangular
> squared-off profile. If you look at it from the side, it has an
> inverted "V" profile with the edges of the "V" squared off nicely.
> This is how you can recognize the Davis/Raleigh-Pro crowns. These
> crowns are very different from a Cinelli crown.
>
> http://www.bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Raleigh74/03Pro.jpg
>
> In 1976 Raleigh started using these crowns on the competition. I have
> a 1976 competition with a fork that appears original, however it has
> Suntour Dropouts on the front and Campagnolo dropouts on the rear. My
> crown is MUCH (5mm) taller than a raleigh Pro crown at the crown race,
> and this plus the eyelets add almost 90 grams to the weight of the
> fork !! (908 vs. about 816 grams for my SB310 Ilkeston crown) :
>
> http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/raleigh/weights.txt
>
> I imagine that the Pro crown was either specially made, or Carlton
> intentionally machined-away about 5mm of these Davis crowns to make
> them lighter (The SB310 crown shows spiral marks of machining atop the
> races.)
>
> From about 1971-1975, Raleigh used a different sloping crown on their
> competition models. That fork crown has an 'O' shape when you look at
> it from the top, and from the side it tapers to a thin point, fore and
> aft, rather than being squared-off box-section profile. This is also
> a heavy crown - much chunkier than a Cinelli crown. No online pix is
> available, please email me for pictures and I will take one tonight.
>
> I wonder if Richard Sachs or another framebuilder knows the maker of
> this crown? Forks with this crown weigh about 868 grams (see my table
> of weights above.) It might also have been made by Davis? Or,
> perhaps it was made by Brampton or Haden?
>
> A 4th type of sloping crown was made by Zeus. These looked more
> triangular from the front, and had ~3mm raised edges around the
> triangle, and they said ZEUS (I think on the backside where the brake
> nut is mounted.)
>
> So there really were a lot of Cinelli knockoff crowns in the late
> 1960's and early 1970's.
>
> - Don Gillies
> San Diego, CA, USA