John Thompson wrote:
"Zeus made a nice fully sloped internal crown as well. I seem to recall that Raleigh may have used these in the 70's."
The Zeus crown was an internal crown (the fork crown attached to the inside of the fork blades instead of on the outside) but was not as fully sloping as the Cinelli style fork crown. Actually it is more like the so-called semi-sloping crowns. It was investment cast - not sand cast - and had Zeus lettering on the outside. It also had some cavities cast into the underside as well as the front and back to remove some weight. It came out in the time period of the mid 70's when investment cast parts were first becoming popular for framebuilding. Investment castings, as most know. are a more accurate method of making parts.
On the first bike I built for myself at Ellis-Briggs, I used this crown as well as their dropouts - which were a little thinner (and more accurate) then the Campy 1010's. They were also more prone to break. I remember filling in the Zeus lettering on the crown to give a more uniform look.
I have almost never seen these crowns or dropouts on other frames. I think Briggs got them from the wholesaler, Ron Kitching.
I also used this crown on the next bike I built for my girl friend (now wife) and am looking at it as I write. This bike got stolen out of my van while sitting in my driveway late one night in 1985. I mourned it's loss. However a few weeks ago there was a question on some bicycle list asking about the value of an old Doug Fattic bike. (the response was something like "the parts may be worth something but I doubt there is value in an old frame made from a lesser known builder." Okay, reading that I realize my sense of humor could still use some improvement.) As fortune would have it, the present owner (who bought it at a garage sale 10 years later) didn't live far away and a trade was made to get it back. Great. The odd thing was that the nice paint job I had put on it had been spray can painted over with ugly white paint - probably to conceal the theft. However, the thief (or the next owner) went to the trouble of masking the head tube so the decal was still visible. It is my good fortune that he went to this effort so that part of my sentimental history wasn't lost but could make it's journey back home. If only bicycles could talk, I would have a few questions to ask.
Doug Fattic Niles, Michigan
OROBOYZ@aol.com wrote:
> Maybe one of the CR list pro frame builders can tell us who made those
> "Cinelli style" full sloping crowns; Brampton? Haden? Prugnat?
--
-John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org) Appleton WI USA _______________________________________________
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