At 1:38 PM -0700 4/8/09, sean flores wrote:
>When did allen bolts become popular on bicycles? Especially with
>stems. Some of the early 3ttt used them, but just curious when they
>first stated showing up in normal use.
>
>Sean Flores
>San Francisco, CA
"Popular" and "normal use" are hard to define. Even in the 1970s, most bolts on "popular" bikes still had hex heads, yet Campagnolo's derailleurs had Allen screws for the big pivots from the start in 1950. (The smaller bolts like the cable anchor used hex bolts until the 1980s.)
By the 1980s, seatpost binder bolts and water bottle cage bolts on high-end bikes used Allen keys, and so did most stems. By the late 1980s, most other components followed, with crank bolts perhaps being the last.
What about the first? I suspect it varied by country. When Caminade introduced their Caminargent bikes in 1936, it appears that Allen bolts were unknown in France, so he invented his own square ones. I remember seeing a Rebour drawing from the late 1940s/early 1950s of a bike built by Raymond Valance. It was noteworthy that almost all bolts had Allen heads... like on a modern bike.
A CR member has a Valance... does it have Allen bolts?
For mass production, I don't know of any earlier use than Campagnolo's Gran Sport (1952 for the "production" version, I believe).
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
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