Late 60's, I was told by road racer/owner of pro bike shop that lugless frames was the best of light weight frame. It was perfected in all aspect welding/brazing technics and tubing materials. It is stronger and lighter.
According to him, first, lugs were used to connect tubes effeciently, later used as onraments for looks. But if you welded correctly it was not necessary to have them and the frame wil be lighter, and just as strong as lugged frames.
How much truth in this comments?
KEN TODA, Beautiful sunny N.C. in 60's
>>>>during the mid 70s, as the 'investment cast' era was being
> ushered in, bicycles would begin to lose their soul.
under
> the guise of new/improved/better/etc., the frame makers
> sold the bill that cast pieces advanced the quality of
the frame.
> in truth, particularly in that era, all that cast lugs,
one-piece
> brake briges, plug-in dropouts, and other similar parts
did
> was reduce the handwork involved to produce a finely
made
> frame. prior to that, it was a thousand little subconscious
>decisions
> that occured by each framebuilder every single time an
operation
> or a sequence was carried out. intuition. experience.
training. it
> matters not what you call it. it was needed to build
frames then.
> when the little parts started coming from foundries and
casting
> houses, most of the decisions regarding interfernce fits,
>clearances,
> aesthetics, etc., were taken out of the hands of the
framebuilders
> and susequently were made by mold-makers. in time, all
one would
> need to build a frame would be tubing and torches. the
phenomenom
> of learning 'how to make frames' versus 'assembling frames'
would
> spell the end of the classic bike as we CR listmembers
define it.
> it might be easier to state that many feel that pre-fab,
cast
>pieces
> are 'imitaion art'. i believe this is so. anything that
can be
>bought
> by anyone or used by anyone cannot be defined as 'classic'.
> please don't read too much in to this; i'm not comparing
eras
> nor saying 'us versus them'. i'm just answering doland's
question.
> e-RICHIE