"Fancy" or curly lugs- think Nervex Pro and probably not Hetchins Magnum Opus- are said to have a small theoretical advantage over plain lugs. One school of thought is that deformation stresses will naturally tend to concentrate on the abrupt section change that lug shorelines represent and that by making that shoreline longer and more discontinuous it will make the frame less apt to crack or fail there. I didn't explain that very well but hopefully it made some sense.
I've no idea whether this argument holds any actual engineering validity, but it sounds at least somewhat plausible.
Kurt Sperry Bellingham, Washington USA
2009/8/3 John Betmanis <johnb@oxford.net>:
> At 11:29 AM 03/08/2009 -0400, crumpy6204@aol.com wrote:
>>Some for looks only, FANCY Lugs, paint,?lining.etc ?Some did not work?
>
> Back when I started serious cycling, I was told by clubmates that fancy
> lugs have a definite purpose, as opposed to cheap ones that were cut off
> straight like pipe fittings. It was to distribute the stresses where they
> went from the tube to the lug. However, people today are still divided in
> their preference as to starkly plain or exquisitely fancy lugs. The plain
> ones are certainly easier and cheaper to use, but give me curly ones every
> time.
>
> John Betmanis
> Woodstock, Ontario
> Canada