Donald Gillies wrote:
> We already talked about the resemblance and attempt by Schwinn to
> mimic a cinelli in their 1960-1980 paramount line.
>
> I was looking at my early-mid 80's (borderline OT, but Cinelli OT)
> TREK 500 and I saw that at one point, they went to an IC seat lug with
> integrated binder bolt - almost identical to cinelli in terms of
> shaping and function. Was the frame geometry a copy as well ?? Will
> a Trek bike of this era - in the right 531c tubing - exhibit a ride
> that is somewhat similar to a cinelli ?? Or are both bikes totally
> different.
At that point, Tim Isaac was the frame designer at Trek and as an independent builder he had already settled on a fastback seatstay arrangement as his "trademark" of sorts:
http://www.os2.dhs.org/
When he designed the lugs for Trek, he carried this motif over into the fastback attachment you mention.
That said, Isaac did have a fondness for Italian bikes, and the geometry of the higher end Treks reflected this. I don't know that they were specifically modeled on Cinellis, though.
--
John (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA