Hi -
Metropolis magazine (see http://www.metropolismag.com) is a very good magazine about "Architecture, Culture, and Design" - it's well written and accessible to a layman such as myself, though I could do without so many ad pages dedicated to carpet squares.
In any case, this issue showcases "Things that Matter" and one
contributor has highlighted his Alan Superleggera frame, writing: "The
Alan Superleggera bicycle is useful and absolutely beautiful. It gets
easier to ride every day you use it! The bike has proven to be the
most efficient form of forward movement, and the frame was one of the
first experiments in bonded aluminum." See
http://www.flickr.com/
So I'm a little dubious about some of his claims and thought this group might weigh in:
1. Useful (sure, but not in its pictured state)
2. Absolutely beautiful (subjective, but I disagree, particularly considering some of the lugged steel contemporaries of this frame)
3. Easier to ride every time (I doubt it, unless early aluminum has properties I'm unaware of)
4. Bicycling the most efficient form of forward movement (nice if true, but it seems this would require lots of basic assumptions)
5. One of the first experiments in bonded aluminum (maybe in cycling, but surely there were aerospace applications long before)