The ultimate study on this issue in this is a McClean. Thin lugs with an absolutely crisp definition. No schmeering.
Joe
At 06:16 PM 3/13/01 -0800, Charles Andrews wrote:
>This brings up an interesting point. As we were all standing around before
>the San Diego Vintage ride this weekend, Peter Johnson was showing off his
>latest frame, not yet in paint. It was very lovely, with highly finished
>and thinned lugs practically blending right into the frame.
>
>There seems to be at least two schools of thought on this. Phil Brown was
>admiring the frame, as I recall, and mentioned that he liked more of a
>lug-line on the frames he builds. Someone else (I forget who), noted that
>Eisentraut was famous for his blended lugs, a look I always kinda liked
>actually, but which seems--if not anathema--at least, not desirable, among
>certain builders. I know Chris Kvale does this very nicely--his lugged
>frames remind me of the old 70s Eisentraut custom frames.
>
>On the other hand, Mario Confente seems to have walked a line right down the
>middle, with lugs that were thinned and nicely finished, but had a lot more
>profile than, say, an Eisentraut of the same period.
>
>Seems like that blended-lug look is purely a custom feature: nobody has
>time to do that in a production setting, although, that said, two early
>Colnagos I'm lucky enough to have both have heavily thinned and blended
>lugs, a look that slowly disappeared from Ernesto's production frames as
>time, and volume, marched on.
>
>Then there was Pogliaghi, who appears to have barely touched a file to his
>lugs (they were all stamped and formed lugs, so probably not much filing
>was really needed, except to get rid of the brazing line down the middle..)
>and it's a look I like, at least on a Pogi: sorta macho, ya know? Somehow
>appropriate from a builder of big-time track frames.
>
>I must confess to being slightly taken aback when I got my Rivendell and saw
>how much profile the lugs have. Beautifully finished off, but hardly
>thinned at all. Must be Grant's idea of a correct look. I guess I'll
>always associate thinned and blended lugs with the highest quality...
>
>Charles Andrews
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jerry & Liz Moos [mailto:moos@penn.com]
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 6:02 PM
>> To: Steven L. Sheffield
>> Cc: Classic Rendezvous
>> Subject: Re: [CR]Number 2?
>>
>>
>> Well, Mario may have been worshiped in California, but in my
>> part of the US in
>> the 70's (Ohio in the early 70's, Arkansas in the late 70's)
>> I would say Albert
>> Eisentraut was much better known. In fact, I'd say
>> Eisentraut was probably the
>> first US framebuilder since WWII to become well known among US biking
>> enthusiasts generally, as opposed to among fellow
>> framebuilders. That isn't to
>> say he was necessarily better than Mario, but he certainly
>> was/is no slouch.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Jerry Moos
>>
>> Steven L. Sheffield wrote:
>>
>> > So ... if we are all agreed that Mario Confente was the
>> best builder in the
>> > United States in the 1970s ...
>> >
>> > Who is number 2, and for whom does he work?
>> >
>> > Or are we even agreed that Mario is number 1?
>> >
>> > If you could have a bike built by each of the top three
>> builders, who would
>> > they be? In order?
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > Steven L. Sheffield
>> > stevens at veloworks dot com
>> > veloworks at earthlink dot net
>> > aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash
>> double-you
>> > double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash