Re: [CR]Was: Parting out bikes, greed, capitalism... Now: Repro Herse Bits

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2004)

In-Reply-To: <75d04b480707161258v463e1b49u2618ae2937ffdc7@mail.gmail.com>
References: <ca0.161af9b6.33cd2539@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:18:50 -0700
To: haxixe@gmail.com, "Philcycles@aol.com" <Philcycles@aol.com>
From: "Jan Heine" <heine94@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Was: Parting out bikes, greed, capitalism... Now: Repro Herse Bits
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

At 12:58 PM -0700 7/16/07, Kurt Sperry wrote:
>I think Sugino is probably too invested in the forged blank production
>methodology that makes it cost prohibitive to make small batches on spec. I
>think they'd have to invest in super expensive dies, so they'd need to
>pre-sell a ton of them for the project to be economically viable. The
>CAD/CAM route means small batches can be relatively easily done without the
>per-unit cost being astronomical.

Many early mountain bike cranks were CAD/CAM machined. They all broke. The few companies that remain in business either have their cranks forged or make super-sturdy pieces with so much material that failure is unlikely.

Considering that Herse parts were optimized for light weight - from what I remember, an (on-topic) Herse crank weighs less than a (off-topic) Campy Record carbon - I don't think you can machine from billet without beefing up the part in a way that makes it a caricature of the original.

Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com