Re: [CR] End of the line for production lugged steel?

(Example: Production Builders)

Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 09:53:13 -0800
From: "spiney norman" <nevilmanyeah@yahoo.com>
To: <hsachs@alumni.rice.edu>
In-Reply-To: <498584C6.6000104@verizon.net>
Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR] End of the line for production lugged steel?


csi? very nice bike. how does a csi not qualify as kof? because it was a production model? aren't the latter-day italian lugged producition bikes considered kof? even in the mid-90's, most of those csi's had to have been made to order, and many must have been customs to a greater or lesser degree. what's not kof? numbers? i would have thought such a frame would have needed no papal dispensation from the stern-but-caring listmeister. shows how much i know.

besty,

'spiney' norman neville no serotta, but i like the looks of those tubes w/lugs
new haven, ct
usa


--- On Sun, 2/1/09, Harvey Sachs wrote:


> From: Harvey Sachs <hmsachs@verizon.net>

\r?\n> Subject: [CR] End of the line for production lugged steel?

\r?\n> To: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>

\r?\n> Date: Sunday, February 1, 2009, 6:17 AM

\r?\n> I purchased a frameset Saturday that doesn't really

\r?\n> qualify for our list, but I asked Dale for an exception

\r?\n> becuase it is interesting.

\r?\n> It's a Serotta "CSI" from the mid-1990s. It

\r?\n> is perhaps the last time

\r?\n> that a manufacturer invested in dedicated tubing and a

\r?\n> special lug

\r?\n> set for it. The seat tube is tapered and the bb end is

\r?\n> slightly

\r?\n> oval. The top tube is oval at one end, and the down tube is

\r?\n> tapered. The

\r?\n> lugs are really nice, although not thinned in the style of

\r?\n> top custom US

\r?\n> work. Yup, too many were produced to qualify as

\r?\n> "keepers of the flame,"

\r?\n> but there is a lot that is traditional in them: All steel,

\r?\n> fully lugged, one-inch headset and 27.2 seat tube...

\r?\n>

\r?\n> What's it remind me of? Well, think about the best

\r?\n> production bikes of

\r?\n> the 1970s, like the Paramount and the Raleigh Pro. To me,

\r?\n> these Serottas

\r?\n> honor that history: production bikes built and equipped to

\r?\n> a very high standard. But, these late Serottas also remind

\r?\n> me of the painstaking work that builders from Rene Herse to

\r?\n> Bill Boston did to custom-fabricate lugs for non-standard

\r?\n> applications like tandem bottom-bracket tubes.

\r?\n>

\r?\n> It's a side path, and I don't think they detract

\r?\n> from the recent

\r?\n> dedicated lug sets for (slightly) oversized tubes from

\r?\n> Richard (no

\r?\n> relation) Sachs, Pacenti, and others.

\r?\n>

\r?\n> These Serottas aren't particularly rare or expensive,

\r?\n> may be worth

\r?\n> having as the end of the line, and a nice way to play with

\r?\n> other

\r?\n> off-topic "stuff." But, since they are not

\r?\n> customs and are designed for

\r?\n> indexed gear trains, we must not continue this conversation

\r?\n> in Dale's

\r?\n> garage. I'd love to hear off-line from others (and

\r?\n> would share such

\r?\n> posts if asked), and appreciate Dale's courtesy in

\r?\n> allowing this

\r?\n> exception to our usual discipline.

\r?\n>

\r?\n> harvey sachs

\r?\n> mcLean va.