Serotta Innovation

[dnovo]

In a recent thread, one of Dave Kirk's comments about Ben Serotta's innovative use of the Colorado Concept tubing raised some questions as to just how 'inventive' the CC tubeset really was. I was in the library this morning (i.e., the bathroom), waiting for the sky to lighten for my early morning ride when I was going through an old issue of BICYCLE GUIDE, April 1989. In a road test (yes, they really used to have informative tests, with diagrams, charts, tech data, etc rather than the crap we get today) of a Tesch S-22. The test was very impressed with Dave Tesch's use of oversized steel tubing and -- very astute in retrospect -- concluded: "The future of oversized steel frames looks very bright indeed."

What did Dave Tesch say was the basis for "his" then-revolutionary idea? Let me quote:

"My original idea was to put a unicrown on my 101, but then I went to a [bicycle trade show] and saw what [framebuilder Ben] Serotta was doing with his Colorado, so I said, 'Well, why not make a whole tubeset?' Tesch liked the oversize, flared seat tube on Serotta's Colorado road bike because it gave the bottom bracket more rigidity with no added weight. Building on Serotta's foundation . . . "

We tend to forget that Ben and the "Colorado Concept" tubesets were the foundation for much of what other companies have built on today. It would seem that Dave Kirk's comments were quite accurate.

Dave N.

[Johny]

Dave,

Thanks for sharing the info. I, for one, miss the old BICYCLE GUIDE.

[vaxn8r]

I thought Masi pioneered the concept of oversized tubesets with the Volumetrica. Oversized, internally butted, straight gauge, 0.5 mm wall thickness tubes.

I met Dave Tesch in the 80's. He taught me a lot about frame building of which I remember almost nothing. He did make really cool, fast handling bikes with b...e....a....utiful red and blue finishes. Is he still around? I do remember one thing he told me in regards to many of the pro's frames he made back then: "10,000 miles on a bike is like 100,000 miles on a car." The statement is in response to wear and tear and why pro's needed new framesets every 6-9 months. Comments?

[Tom]

In that case, my CSi's got 70,000 and going for 500,000. Of course there's that little matter that I crank about 1/4 to 1/3 the watts they do. Still, that seems fast. It also depends on the car. My Civic's about to turn 100,000 and the motor's starting to sound a different tone, you can tell it isn't new any more. I have to turn the radio up louder all the time.

[pbbob]

I believe d. tesch died recently, brain tumor or something like that. my lbs has 2 tesch bikes. good looking frames.

[dnovo]

Sad to say Dave did just die of a brain tumor. I just missed out on an S-22 in my size, closed too late here in the midwest, and I was too tired to stay up and keep bidding. Now, I wish I had. Dave N.