[CR]Thompson BBs (was:Just for the record: Torpedo and Torpedo)

(Example: Framebuilding:Technology)

Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:02:49 -0700
From: "Michael Toohey" <B50@veloemail.com>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]Thompson BBs (was:Just for the record: Torpedo and Torpedo)

Interesting to finally find out a bit about those German Thompson BBs. Thanks Sheldon and Toni. We get the odd one turning up Downunder, usually in the possession of Dutch or German immigrants. My own German bike is so typical of the type. Cheap lugged steel frame (but with an English BB), Torpedo 3 speed coaster AND two Weinmann calliper brakes, stainless rims, guards, bars, spokes, seat-pin, etc, 47-622 tyres. It was probably made in the late eighties and I can see no reason for it ever wearing out (apart from the cheap-s**t Torpedo trigger which is completely knackered now-give me a SA trigger any day).

But the really interesting thing (to this old spanner-hand anyway) is that the Yong Jiu (Forever) Er Shi Ba (28" Roadster) that I owned in China had a Thompson BB. Unlike the Indians, who make faithful copies of English designs, the Chinese seem to have been a little creative as to where their design inspiration came from!

As a final note on the pervasiveness of English industrial design (or maybe just the marketing power of John Boyd Dunlop), I once had a 'discussion' with a customer who argued that Germans never, ever use inches. I reached up and grabbed a Continental 28 x 1 3/8 x 1 5/8 tyre off the hook; he was gobsmacked!

Michael Toohey in New Zealand.

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