Re: [CR]Alan Superleggera - design classic?

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Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 07:05:35 +1200
Subject: Re: [CR]Alan Superleggera - design classic?
From: "Wayne Davidson" <wayne.collect@xtra.co.nz>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <61a83a050705090706t6a988936q14c751ffaa445696@mail.gmail.com>


Hi, I've owned a couple of ALANS, and even have a cracked lug frame in the garage. The stated date looks quite wrong to me, and the comments must have been made by an ex drug smoking hippie. They do make for a nice sunday rider, but they are as flexiable as wet toilet paper.......regards wayne davidson Invers NZ..........

on 10/5/07 2:06 AM, Andrew Conway at ahconway@gmail.com wrote:
> 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/photos/ahconway/491225988/ for a photo of the
> frame naked except for Campy Super Record derailleurs and Victory(?)
> shifters.
>
> 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)