I would tend to agree that the blades were " squished" or crimped by the builder. I asked similar questions when I acquired my Telavio/Pino Morroni track frame. The fork for that frame has the upper section crimped into a diamond shape, which can sort-of be seen here:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
Brian Baylis confirmed that the blades were crimped during construction.
>From what I know of Morroni, I'm sure he felt that there was some
advantage to doing this, but the reality of that advantage may be
questionable. I also agree that much of the tube shaping was to set
frames apart from the "norm" and draw attention to the frames and the
marque, as much as anything. Still adds a funky, cool element that we
are still talking about here, so it obviously worked as intended. I
have a Paletti Meteor frame that has some of the most extensively
crimped tubes I've seen. Sort-of like Colnago's Gilco treatment, but
even more pronounced.
I have always thought that this was a very interesting segment of classic era, although much of it came in the post 1983 time-frame, when many builders were vying for distinction and recognition. It's seen in the wild paint schemes and other touches and flourishes. Colnago, as usual, was a leader here. The Paletti Meteor I have is interesting in that it seems to embody all of the "tricks". It has the radically crimped tubes, multi-color paint and graphics, and lots of castings/engravings, but all done somewhat differently that the norm. As an example, rather than the traditional top-eye "brand" treatment, the Paletti has what may be plugs of some type, with "Meteor" castings, about a quarter of the way down the seat stays.
It's no secret that I'm a fan of the dreaded C-Record transitional era, and that's when much of this was happening. Unfortunately, I don't have any pix of the Paletti at the moment, but with a little indulgence from our benevolent leader, I'll post a link to some pix as soon as I can get some together.
Wayne Bingham Lovettsville VA USA
<< ...chromed front fork, that was rather peculiar. The upper halves of the fork legs have an octagonal shape, i.e. 8-sided. Presumably for stiffness. Is this a Columbus (rare) specialty, or something done by the framebuilder? >>
I should wait until a more prolific frame builder responds, but I am fairly certainly that these fork blades were "squished" by a builder seeking to make his product special, and that they are not a product regularly made by Columbus. It's like Colnago's "Gilco" tubing and many other builders squeezing and crimping their tubing (mostly in the 1990s) to add unique qualities to their brand..
Functionally, these stylistic affectations are hard to defend; do not believe all the marketing hype! Dale Brown Greensboro, North Carolina USA
Hi everyone,
While visiting the shop of mr. Zieleman in Amsterdam, I picked up a
chromed front fork, that was rather peculiar. The upper halves of the
fork legs have an octagonal shape, i.e. 8-sided. Presumably for
stiffness. Is this a Columbus (rare) specialty, or something done by
the framebuilder? Haven't been able to contact mr. Zieleman
unfortunately, the son-in-law who is running the shop now, doesn't
know. The steer tube doesn't give any info too, so my claim that it's
Columbus, is because of the stickers (!) and the
fork-ends: Columbus, not Campy.
Interesting pictures anyway:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
thanks,
Freek Faro
Rotterdam Netherlands>>>>