Andy Newlands patent is on the top tube integral clamp arrangement rather than the wishbone seat stays- See U.S. Pat. 4,120,512 at uspto.gov. That patent is now expired so feel free to study away and build your own version.
As to no patent for the stays: the Duquesne and others would be prior art and a casting is an obvious variant.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Great Notch, NJ
> Curt Goodrich wrote:
> >
> (cut)
> > I think the casting that's used on the Strawberry is often referred to
as
> > the Strawberry wishbone. I'm not positive but I think it's their own
> > casting and they've been using it for a long time. I'm not suggesting
they
> > did it first because there are very few confirmed firsts in the bike
biz.
> > It's just that the wishbone has been a signature look for Strawberry
for a
> > long time.
>
> Richard M Sachs wrote:
> >
> (cut)
> > andy got the patent on this style of lugged wishbone
> > attachment in the early 80s and the was subsequently
> > copied by the big boys. that what i remember.
>
> Brandon Ives wrote:
> >
> (cut)
> > Well as we saw a couple weeks back BSA was building with them in the
> > late 'teens in the thirties.
>
> Bob Hovey wrote:
> >
> (cut)
> > A lot of folks have already mentioned that they just don't like the
look...
> > And that's natural since the wishbone's a pretty big break with
established
> > tradition.
>
> At the 2001 Velo Rendezvous event there was an exhibit that featured two
> bikes with wishbone seatstays:
>
> An 1897 Duquesne (Pittsburgh, Penn.) fixed gear road racing bike
> (freewheels hadn't been invented yet). It was in Bicycling magazine a
> few years ago in The Way Back Machine column that Jim Langley did.
> Constructed of oversize, thin wall tubing (intro'd in 1897) with
> internal lugs (tubes brazed over outside, instead of inside of lugs),
> unicrown aero fork, wishbone seat stay, steel aero crank with spider
> made of five thin, aero sectioned spokes (fifth bolt is in back of crank
arm).
>
> A 1995 Trek (Waterloo, Iowa) 5200 OCLV carbon road bike. Oversize thin
> wall tubing with internal lugs (tubes bonded over outside, instead of
> inside lugs), unicrown aero fork, wishbone seat stay, alloy aero crank
> with spider made of five thick, aero sectioned spokes (fifth bolt is in
> back of crank arm).
>
> Here's a photo:
> http://www.velo-retro.com/
>
> Notice the elegant seat post binder on the Duquesne; a nut that
> surrounds the seat post. Also the bars (Kelly) are adjustable from full
> drop to full upright position.
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> L.A.
>
> .