Jerry wrote: Don't know why this particular PX-10 should offend anyone's sense of aesthetics.
Tom replies: Of course this particular PX-10 would offend the sense of asthetics of anyone who cares about standards of finish. Of course it would, just look at it. That said, nicely formed lugs don't make a bike perform better, and they simpy are not what that PX-10 is about. But surely you can understand why some people would turn their nose up at that bike. They have different priorities from yours.
Jerry wrote: Neither Peugeot nor most of the high volume French manufacturers spent a lot of time finishing lug edges and Raleigh wasn't much different. It's nice to see lugs filed to super thin edges, and one rather expects it on a $2500 to $3000 KOF frame, but this PX-10 originally sold for about $250 complete.
Tom Replies: A bargain bike indeed, but let's not gloss over the fact that $250 in 1974 is the equivalent of $1040 on 2005. Serious money for a bike, by most people's standards. I won't bother getting into the amazing stuff that $1000 buys today. By $2500 KOF frame I can only assume you're talking about today's dollars, since no frame, or even complete bike, cost that much in 1974. We're talking about more than ten grand adjusted for inflation. $2500 in 2005 was $600 in 1974, but is still a lot more than really nice frames cost at the time. Even if you are careful to consider the huge effects of inflation, it is really hard to compare things between eras. The equivalent of a botique $2500 custom frame didn't really exist in 1974. That is arguably a uniquely American phenomenon that arose more recently, and is also quite arguably a frivilous approach to framebuilding, though many of us appreciate it.
Jerry wrote: That was a hell of a bargain, and I've never seen any evidence that failure to file the lugs made the joint any less strong.
Tom Replies: That is probably true, though I have heard arguments that careful tapering helps to distribute stress away from the joint. Perhaps it's just folklore. For certain, careless brazing can weaken a joint, and lugs like that don't exactly scream "careful fabrication." But you never know, maybe they put all their effort into careful brazing instead of finish.
Jerry wrote: I guess if you are obsessive about lug finishing, you just don't collect French bikes (exept Herse and Singer) or Raleighs.
Tom Replies: Herse and Singers are not obsessively finished, from what I've seen. Beautifully built, but not obsessive. Moreover, they are not the only makes of that genre. But as a Francophile, I'm sure you are familliar with all the various make of exceptionally fine French bikes, such as all those amazing bikes in Jan's book.
Jerry wrote: This is rather like abusing early 50's British sports cars for their Solex carburetors and Lucas electrics. Sure, this stuff was crap compared to Bosch and Weber, but affordable British sports cars made a much bigger social impact than the more elegant Ferraris and Maseratis. And PX-10 a much bigger impact than Masi.
Bigger social impact? How exactly do you quantify the unquantifiable? More people owned 50's British sports cars than Ferraris, and more owned PX-10s than Masis, but does this necessarily constitute "bigger impact"? If so, a UO-8 had a bigger impact still, but so what? Besides, we're talking other-than-mainstream goods in all cases here ('cept the UO-8).
Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA
One Raleigh, one faux Masi, and no Peugeots (there are a few I wouldn't turn my nose up though).
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