French plastic - was Re: Plastic seatpost - was Re: [CR]Simplex Skewer question

(Example: Framebuilders:Norman Taylor)

Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 10:09:29 -0500
From: "Leonard Bulger" <bulger@erim-int.com>
Subject: French plastic - was Re: Plastic seatpost - was Re: [CR]Simplex Skewer question
To: RaleighPro531@aol.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
References: <181.10b0294.29526eae@aol.com>


No I won't be bidding on that post. I'm partial to steel and wood components myself. And the thought of what would happen if the post failed is unpleasant.

I don't dispute that some of the plastic equipment worked well when new, the problem is that the plastic deteriorates when exposed to ultraviolet light from the sun. Then it can fail without warning.

The French really embraced plastic and put in in a lot of places where it wasn't really appropriate. Citroen tried it for car door handles in the fifties. They gave that up, but didn't learn their lesson and went on to make a jeep with an ABS plastic body. The body cracked into thousands of pieces after the car was out in the sun for a few years. A couple of Jacques Tati's movies are rabidly anti-plastic too. Plastic is a part of French culture, but it's not necessary to embrace all of French culture. (I don't want chocolate covered ants either.)

Leonard Bulger Ann Arbor, MI
> In a message dated 12/19/2001 2:26:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> bulger@erim-int.com writes:
>
>
> > There's a French engineering principal that states "never use just one part
> > when you can do it with ten". Take a look at a Citroen DS21 sometime for a
> > good example. As for the Simplex lever, I don't know why they did it. The
> > plastic wing nut is prone to breakage like all the other plastic Simplex and
> > Mafac parts.
>
> Maybe you won't be bidding on this plastic ATAX post then?
> http://ebay.com/<blah>
>
> Says it has a sleeve in it but still!
>
>
> Pete Geurds
> Douglassville, PA