Re: [CR] Alloy Frame 650B A.MAGNE-MECA DURALL

(Example: Framebuilders:Bernard Carré)

In-Reply-To: <4981B6D9.4070706@blueyonder.co.uk>
References: <4981B48D.2030701@lexairinc.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:38:21 -0800
To: Hilary Stone <hilary.stone@blueyonder.co.uk>, George Allen <jgallen@lexairinc.com>
From: "Jan Heine" <heine94@earthlink.net>
Cc: CR Mailing List <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Re: [CR] Alloy Frame 650B A.MAGNE-MECA DURALL


At 2:02 PM +0000 1/29/09, Hilary Stone wrote:
>These Meca-Dural frames wre sold under a number of names and were
>produced in quite large quantities - they were not considered
>anything terribly special and I think unlikely to have been ridden
>in the technical trials. Even in the UK they turn up quite regularly
>thouggh they were not sold here originally.

The bike on e-bay would not have complied with the rules of the technical trials, which did not allow clamp-on derailleurs and such. As Hilary pointed out, aluminum was the popular material of the 1930s and 1940s, so a lot of mass producers jumped on the bandwagon.

The history of the technical trials was documented in detail in Bicycle Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 4 (pre-war) and Vol. 2, No. 1 (1940s). Only a handful of large companies took part, as their bikes could not compete with the custom-built machines from the small constructeurs. The only aluminum bikes that participated (from memory, I may forget somebody in there) were Barra, Brans (with a Caminargent frame ridden by Jo Routens) and Hurtu. Pitard entered an aluminum bike with a frame made by Barra in 1948. I think that is all. I don't think an aluminum bike ever won the "prototype" (superlight) category, but Brans won the "series" category (for bikes available for purchase) with the Caminargent-framed bike in 1938.

It is interesting to note that the "constructeur" was not always the framebuilder. To some degree, the frame was considered a part of the bike like many others, and the person who integrated all the parts into a bike of their design was the constructeur, whose name was applied to the down tube.

In the end, that is not very different from makers who use contract builders to make their frames (like Cinelli or Rivendell), or those who employ framebuilders in-house (like Masi California). What matters most is who designed the bike, and not who held the torch (if the torch-bearer was competent).

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