As mentioned before on more than one occasion in this very forum, I have a wee bit of Weyless componentry slated for use on my 1977 Exxon Graftek G-1 "pocket racer" project bike. And in keeping with my proven propensity for ponderous prose, I have taken the liberty of describing each in excruciating detail in association with a series of related photographs currently posted to Velo-Pages. Here then is an excerpted and slightly reconstituted amalgamation of that verbiage for your reading pleasure:
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Weyless hubs were introduced to market midway through the year 1975 in concert with an advertising campaign that boldly proclaimed "Move Over Campy!". Even prior to that point in time, Weyless Industries had managed to achieve a measure of notoriety in the cycling world with their high quality indoor rollers upon which Jackie Simes had set a World Roller Riding Record during the 1975 International Cycle Show held in New York City (...an impressive 681 virtual miles in 24 hours - an average of 36.7 mph after discounting minutes spent sleeping or otherwise not actually riding the rollers during that 24 hour period). Unlike many of its contemporaries in the cycling world, the original Weyless company (...as in the short lived 1970s version - NOT Weyless in its current form, which is nothing more than the house label for SuperGo) was prone to search out component designs and prototypes developed by small entrepreneurs here in the United States and then make arrangements with said individuals for commercial manufacturing and subsequent distribution under a common Weyless name.
With respect to their pedals, Weyless licensed these from what was originally a Bob Reedy design. Generally acknowledged as being one of the most elegant, and most assuredly known to be one of the lightest from this era (...only the East Rochester Tool & Die pedal having the optional titanium spindle weighed nominally less), the Weyless Industries branded version of this pedal was a highly functional and yet esoteric bit of bike jewelry back in 1976 when it was first introduced to market - and it has only become more so with the passing of time (...and for whatever it may be worth, Bob would eventually offer limited numbers of his own titanium spindled version of this very same pedal under the Demco label commencing in 1979 after his relationship with Weyless had run its course). The innovative "X" body ultimately spawned several imitators (...most notably perhaps being the SunTour Superbe Pro of 1980) and was cleverly engineered to accommodate any one of a series of three interchangeable and easily replaceable styles of pedal cages including track, road, and touring specific versions.
In the case of their hubs, seat post, and bottle cage Weyless Industries actually went so far as to hire a talented young man by the name of Bill Shook, an amateur racer from Ohio and all around "bicycle tinkerer", as their in-house designer based upon the strength of those components he was already having produced for sale to locals in very limited numbers courtesy of his grandfather Thurston Shooks company Thurston, Inc. of Columbus, Ohio. While the Weyless branded version of the Bill Shook hub did away with a few of its novelties so as to meet certain production price points, it still boasted several rather innovative features including stainless steel annular sealed cartridge bearings with protective Teflon dust seals, a simple safeguard that prevented over zealous clamping of the hub from causing its bearings to thereafter bind (...a far too common occurrence that ruined many other early sealed bearing units), countersunk spoke holes on the flanges to help minimize spoke breakage, and a truly distinctive quick release mechanism incorporating an ergonomic handle that was incredibly easy to open and close. As the name would imply, a pair of these Weyless hubs tipped the scales at a scant 423 grams - absolutely the lightest production freewheel hubset available at the time weighing over 75 grams less than their Campagnolo model 1034 small flange counterparts.
The Weyless branded bottle cage also made its public debut in 1976 as yet another innovation from the fertile mind of Bill Shook. That aspect which allowed his particular bottle cage to be granted patent protection status by the United States Patent and Trademark Office would be the fact that it is comprised of a single piece of resilient wire bent to form, the otherwise open ends of which are joined by vinyl "weld free" connection which also serves as a less abrasive protective surface for gripping a water bottle.
A couple of years after the demise of the original Weyless company, Bill Shook would go on to found American Classic Equipment, Inc. in 1982. In fact, several aspects of those Weyless hubs were subsequently incorporated into the first American Classic offerings while both the Weyless seat post and bottle cage design were copied outright owing to the fact that Bill had been savvy enough to retain the design patents under the Thurston, Inc. name rather than allowing them to become vested with his by then defunct former employer.
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For anyone interested in viewing photographs of those Weyless components associated with the aforementioned descriptive text, you may do so by using any one or more of the following links.
Weyless hubset:
http://www.velo-pages.com/
Weyless pedals:
http://www.velo-pages.com/
Weyless bottle cage:
http://www.velo-pages.com/
Weyless logo water bottle:
http://www.velo-pages.com/
Weyless brake cable clips:
http://www.velo-pages.com/
Weyless seat post: ...sorry, as of our recent move out here to the West Coast, I have not yet made time to shoot any photographs of this highly modified component which now features an oddball 23.8 mm size shaft apropos an Exxon Graftek (...unfortunately, one cannot simply step-cut or mill a Weyless post down as was done with the original Campy Record two bolt post that was provisioned when you bought a Graftek frameset because the thin wall alloy shaft on the Weyless post is not thick enough to begin with, even on the smallest 25.0 mm version that they produced).
Robert "wacky for Weyless" Broderick ...the "Chronically Cloudy Clime" of Oregon Portland, USA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Jerome & Elizabeth Moos Sent: Friday, September 25, 2009 6:01 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org; Andrew R Stewart Subject: Re: [CR] Weyless pedals--how light?
So was there a connection between Weyless and Bob Reedy? The Speedplay pedal "museum" shows Bob Reedy pedals nearly identical to Weyless. In fact the later Suntour Superbe Pro was extremely similar as well.
I understand one or more Weyless guys moved on the American Classic, which made hubs and seatposts similar to Weyless.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Andrew R Stewart <onetenth@earthlink.net>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] Weyless pedals--how light?
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009, 11:19 PM
\r?\n>
\r?\n> This thread is very interesting to me. I worked in the shop
\r?\n> that built a lot of the wheels that Weyless used during the
\r?\n> "development" process. I started at the shop just as the
\r?\n> company starting getting press and sales. I had a chance to
\r?\n> heard the shop's view of things. After only a few years
\r?\n> Weyless slipped from the market. For a while I paid
\r?\n> attention to Bill Shook's career. My only regret was selling
\r?\n> off my personal set of their great rollers. (On which I rode
\r?\n> a very on topic Frejus track bike, whose hubs are now on my
\r?\n> fixed/road bike).
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Andrew Stewart
\r?\n> Rochester, NY
\r?\n> > ------------------------------
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Message: 12
\r?\n> > Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:12:43 -0700
\r?\n> > From: "R.S. Broderick" <rsb000@hotmail.com>
\r?\n> > Subject: Re: [CR] Weyless pedals--how light?
\r?\n> > To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
\r?\n> > Cc: 'Charlotte Bronte' <j1847e@yahoo.com>
\r?\n> > Message-ID: <BLU0-SMTP1395346B8946D5831DAC6B9CD90@phx.gbl>
\r?\n> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > I have a few pair of Weyless pedals in the "road"
\r?\n> configuration (...as
\r?\n> > opposed to the "touring" or "track" caged variety)
\r?\n> along with some spare
\r?\n> > parts for same. And I would wholeheartedly
\r?\n> concur with David White's
\r?\n> > assessment that they are a superlative piece of
\r?\n> vintage equipment, so long
\r?\n> > as your foot gear can abide their somewhat narrow
\r?\n> width (...not a problem if
\r?\n> > you are using traditional cycling shoes and cleats,
\r?\n> but if you are otherwise
\r?\n> > attempting to ride with "street shoes", you may wish
\r?\n> to consider using the
\r?\n> > wider "touring" style cages).
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > With regard to further background on these fine bits
\r?\n> of American cycling
\r?\n> > ingenuity, I offer for your consideration the
\r?\n> following:
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > A "brand new" album of Weyless wonders only JUST
\r?\n> uploaded to Velo-Pages this
\r?\n> > afternoon in response to your request for more
\r?\n> information regarding their
\r?\n> > fine products. Please note that I have not taken
\r?\n> the time to digitally
\r?\n> > enhance a large majority of this material, so please
\r?\n> accept my apologies in
\r?\n> > advance:
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > http://www.velo-pages.com/
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > An installment review of various different pedal
\r?\n> options available to the
\r?\n> > discriminating cyclist circa 1977 including a write-up
\r?\n> and review of the Bob
\r?\n> > Reedy designed Weyless pedal:
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > http://www.velo-pages.com/
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > A background article on Bob Reedy himself prior to his
\r?\n> rather problematic
\r?\n> > and brief affiliation with Weyless (...includes a nice
\r?\n> photograph of the
\r?\n> > original pre-Weyless Reedy pedal design for
\r?\n> comparative purposes):
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > http://www.velo-pages.com/
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > And finally, those individual component descriptive
\r?\n> write-ups associated
\r?\n> > with the pedals slated for use on my 1977 Exxon
\r?\n> Graftek G-1 (...which is
\r?\n> > destined to have affixed a full complement of Weyless
\r?\n> kit including Weyless
\r?\n> > pedals, Weyless hubs, a modified Weyless seat post,
\r?\n> Weyless bottle cage,
\r?\n> > Weyless logo water bottle, and even Weyless top tube
\r?\n> brake cable clamps):
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > http://www.velo-pages.com/
\r?\n> > http://www.velo-pages.com/
\r?\n> > http://www.velo-pages.com/
\r?\n> > http://www.velo-pages.com/
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Robert "eat right, cycle more, and Weyless" Broderick
\r?\n> > ...the "Chronically Cloudy Clime" of Oregon
\r?\n> > Portland, USA
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > -----Original Message-----
\r?\n> > From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org
\r?\n> > [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org]
\r?\n> On Behalf Of Charlotte
\r?\n> > Bronte
\r?\n> > Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 9:20 AM
\r?\n> > To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> > Subject: [CR] Weyless pedals--how light?
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Anyone have a weight for the Weyless touring pedal??
\r?\n> Or other comments??
\r?\n> > Searched the archives to no avail.
\r?\n> > ?
\r?\n> > Thanks,
\r?\n> > ?
\r?\n> > Robert Aguirre
\r?\n> > Windsor, ON
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> __________________________________________________________________
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