[CR] Agrati Dropouts Question

(Example: Framebuilders:Rene Herse)

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:19:13 +0000
From: "Hugh Thornton" <hughwthornton@yahoo.co.uk>
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR] Agrati Dropouts Question


Although I have often heard the name of Agrati in connection with dropouts, I have for the first time acquired a mid-1950s bike which has them fitted. What I cannot make out is whether or not it would have originally had an integral gear hanger. A web search shows that there are Agrati dropouts of the period with no gear hanger, some to which a gear hanger has obviously been added and some with a gear hanger where I cannot tell whether it is an addition or integral with the dropout forging.

Question is, does anybody know whether in the mid 1950s these dropouts were available with a gear hanger and, if so, what model gears were they made to accommodate?  - bearing in mind this was the era in which Campagnolo, Simplex, Benelux and probably everybody else, had their own specific designs of gear hanger.

Hugh Thornton
Cheshire, England