Re: [CR] Allen Bolts- When did they first start making an appearance?

(Example: Framebuilders:Jack Taylor)

Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 16:36:52 -0400
From: Marcus Coles <marcoles@ody.ca>
To: CLASSIC RENDEZVOUS <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <bf9c665a0904081338l68d62dc9p5ee9656a29186bac@mail.gmail.com> <a0623097dc6032109cc7f@[192.168.1.33]>
In-Reply-To:
Subject: Re: [CR] Allen Bolts- When did they first start making an appearance?


Jan Heine wrote:
> 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).
> As you say it really depends how you define things and where you look, I took a glance in my basement pile. :-)

I would say by the end of the '70's the Allen head bolt was pretty much entrenched in all but the cheapest on topic bikes and the big adoption wave was tied to the use of Japanese components made by companies such as Sugino and Sakae Ringyo. Of course these products were heavily inspired by the high end, Allen bolted Italian offerings, but with pricing that made them hard to resist for volume bicycle manufacturers.

Raleigh's Grand Prix made the change at some point in 1976 with the arrival of 1977 models and the adoption of Japanese sourced cranks, stem and derailleurs. Most low to mid range Japanese "10 speeds" Fuji, Nishiki et al had already made the switch to Allen fasteners by then and I don't think the consumer grade French exports were far behind.

Marcus Coles
London, Ontario, Canada