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FEATURES: INTERBIKE REPORT, PART 6
Bob Sutton
October 6, 2010
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Way back in the early seventies I saw my first European bicycle in a backpacking/bicycle store in the small college town near Lawrence, Kansas. It was a revelation compared to my old three speed Schwinns of the day. Sure, I wanted those Schwinns badly as a young boy, but as a twenty-something year old in the Seventies, I had become enamored with these new lightweight ten speeds that were finding their way to the mid-west.
There was the Raleigh Grand Prix (above), Peugeots and several models of Motobecanes in that first wave to the Sunflower state. Ah, and the crème de la crème, was the Austro Daimler! It was the most beautiful bike that I’d ever seen! The color of the frame was a soft Café Latte, with beautiful dark brown lugs and gold pin striping. I dreamed of owning one, but there was no way that I could afford one, what with a young wife, a house to pay for and my heavy motocross habit. To finally get the money I needed to afford one of those European masterpieces, I resorted to running the tires on my dirt bike for more than three races in a row and even fired the neighbor kid that had been mowing my lawn. The thought even crossed my mind of asking my wife to take a second job, but in the end, I thought that wouldn’t fly. Budget constraints as they were, I could only afford the Motobecane Grand Touring model, but it proved to be a great bike for me in those days.
So why the sappy story about my distant past? Well, I just got home from Interbike and the broadest array of high tech bicycles imaginable. I walked the isles gaping at all of the coolest products and components imaginable, but then I caught sight of a lugged frame on a steel bike from the past! That did it. I began to roam the Sands
Convention Center on a quest for lugs. To be clear, lugs are still around, just changing with the times.
Here are a few standouts from the big show:
Time's carbon lug fabrication is about as futuristic as you can get.
Milani Cycles has been building bikes with lugs since 1927.
Sylvan bikes use wood tubes to join aluminum lugs.
Artistry lives on with the lugged Alchemy bikes.
Super smooth lug transitions courtesy of Boo Bicycles.
From bamboo to carbon fiber, Craig Calfee knows a thing or two about lugs.
Ernesto Colnago uses lugs to build his C59 dream bike - who can argue?
Serotta is a master of lugs.
Long live lugs!
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