cyclotoine

Agreed, but...

Racing bicycle design is driven by racers and the demand of the consumer to have the lightest and fastest bike possible as they try to emulate the racer. At one time unicrowns were a piece of technology that satisfied a number of wants to the consumer (less expensive, lighter and stiffer) the company (less costly to produce, easier to design and manufacturer and better in performance) and the racer (lighter and stiffer). Aesthetics did not play a role in this decision or at least it took a back seat. It was not just about "cheeping out" it was truly superior to the lugged fork for many stakeholders in the mountain bike market from producer to consumer to racer. I recently built a 29er monster cross and as I search for the perfect lugged crown I came to the realization it didn't really exist. I ended up with a pacenti MTB crown even though I have heard how flexible and unsuitable they are for real mountain biking. I realized what everyone was offering was blades for unicrown forks. There is another reason today why a unicrown makes more sense on MTBs too. Disc brakes. Unicrowns can be welded at any angle and alloy you to make them any width for cross of dirt jumper. Plus if you want to use a disc brake a straight blade is better because you must yield the steel to rake it and putting a disc on it puts forces on the blade that want to unrake it. So while you can still do it and people have come up with fancy tabs with long support arms, the fact remains that manufactures of blades are making them for unicrown and lug manufacturers aren't making crowns because they wouldn't be able to sell very many. Hey it ain't the prettiest, but it works and that is the point.

seedsbelize 

Pfffft. I have a bike, my daily rider in fact, that has not only a unicown fork, but also unicrown seat stays. It's the most durable bike I've ever owned, a 1993 Giant Prodigy. My '92 Paramount also has a unicrown fork. They're a whole lot easier to keep clean. I can't wrap my mind around this pedantry about looks. Bikes are for riding. Cars are for driving. Shoes are for walking. Who cares what they look like?

cyclotoine

Agreed. I apologize as it seemed to me you were denigrating the new carbon lightweights. I see your point and I agree they are not for everyone and many (maybe most) of us are served well enough by a steel lugged frame for road cycling.

auchencrow

And I agree that the S5 et al could beat my beauties in a race hands-down, but then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. (That's why I only buy old stuff! )

JohnDThompson 

The Lambert/Viscount aluminum fork was cast as a solid piece.

inkandsilver

luker

Wow. Never thought about it, I guess. Unicrowns are ubiqitous, anymore.

Specialized Roubaix

Mandaric (Easton SLX)

Reynolds Ouzo (woo, a vintage fork by now!)

Trek Madone (almost a "no crown")

1987 Klein Quantum Chorus (the Knesis Fork)

And the ultimate horror. A woundup fork on my tandem...unicrown, legs as big as your wrist, and (gasp!) disk brake only. Works good, though.

I'm just a fork esthetics cretin, I guess.

seedsbelize 

I realize that I should just clam up and let these things pass, being that I am in the miniscule minority here. And I do so a lot. Sometimes, though, I just can't. Forgive me if I've offended you. Or made you throw up in your mouth.

luker

Nah...a good topic. And a good discussion. Can't always be tweaking technical stuff or arguing about when Campy quit putting Titanium bolts in super record derailleurs.

cyclotoine

I found your post refreshing.

Chombi

Unicrown = no crown......
= Unicrown killed/eliminated the fork crown...
So maybe the argument really is more like who misses the fork crown......I do and so do many other C&Vers....
Next thing you know it, we'll be arguing about threaded and threadless headsets...then quill and threadless stems.....It's a slippery slope!....

JohnDThompson 

That's not a unicrown; it's a Tange investment cast crown with internal lugs:

1 Lugnut

I do...! Always have, always will.

frantik

dang bro...

gomango

That's a great ride.

I'd lose the saddle, but that's it.

Fun.

frantik

cheers.. and yeah I need a better saddle, just haven't bothered to find one yet

gomango

Whatcha' need?

I always have extras. Can you ride a Concor for example?

Might look sweet on that bad boy.

Lascauxcaveman 

Whew! So technically speaking, it *is* lugged. For a minute there, i thought I might have to choose between riding an uncool bike or just throwing it away.

Obviously, I kid. Has there ever been an uncool vintage American Trek? I think not.

Say, aren't there Schwinn Paramounts from the 1990'a with unicrowns?

T-Mar

While the Cinelli fully sloping crown was the evolutionary predecessor to the unicrown it was a very slow evolution by technology standards. The fully sloping crowns were available well back into the 1950s on the Cinelli SC and were also used on the boom era Raleigh Professional. However, they were not very popular, with many builders claiming them to be too stiff. Regardless, they predated the advent of the unicrown by at least three decades and there were still literally hundreds of millions of traditional crowns that would be manufactured. That's one incredibly long last hurrah.

photogravity

Yes, there are... It is very unfortunate, too.

aixaix 

Not dead yet!
Bilenky tandem fork crown, circa 2012.

The Golden Boy 

As much as I think the black chrome lugged unicrown fork is pretty freakin' cool- the bi-plane fork is the cat's pajamas.

When I get the stupid amount of money for a stupidly custom built bike- it'll be fillet brazed with a bi-plane fork. And chrome. I promise you.

clubman 

Vintage track Unicrown...very cool. Love to know reason for squared off casting at rear.

Michael Angelo 

Do you think Unibrows and Unicrowns go together??

Chombi

After yet losing another prime sprint in his last criteriuM, Bruno's JUST had enough!

"I NEED UNICROWN....NOW!!!!....ARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!"
BTW, Nice mustache too, Bruno!