Brandon Ives wrote:
>
> On Tuesday, March 04, 2003, at 02:29PM, Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >When I researched the '59 Mercian Superlight for the Rivendell article
> >there was mention that Mercian was one of the earliest users of fast
> >back stays.
>
> I've seen pictures of bikes with fastback and mono-stay setups going back maybe 100 years. Mercian may have been one of the earlier makers to make them standard.
The 1897 Duquesne made in Pittsburg had a wishbone seat stay (mono-stay)... along with oversize thinwall tubing, internal lugs and unicrown fork crown. Looks a lot like a Trek 5500 as a matter of fact.
With the hundredth anniversary of the Wright Bros. Flyer being celebrated this year, could a current plane be mistaken for a 100 year old design?
Chuck Schmidt L.A.
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