pubcrawl

Hello all,
New to the group.

I have a question, is this the proper forum to discuss Bicycle historical manufacturing techniques and materials used?

What I am trying to determine is:
- Which Company was the first to mass produce a bicycle frame made from aluminum alloy.

- Which Company was the first to mass produce an aluminum alloy bicycle hub.

horatio 

Aluminum bikes were around in the late 1800s. Not sure they were mass produced then. Search the C&V forum for aluminum frames.

pubcrawl

Thanks for the message.
Yes I know aluminum bicycles have been around a while, what I'm trying to determine is what Company was the first to mass produce a welded tube heat treated bicycle frame in quantity enough to be considered mass produced.
I believe that this probably happened in the mid 1970's and I believe that Company was Kawasaki with the production of their 1975 Aluminum BMX Bicycle.

I tried searching the forums and that seems to be a bottomless number of threads.

non-fixie 

Kettler claims to have been the first in 1978 with their Alu-Rad. It was lugged, but definitely a "factory product".

Mine is from around 1980, I think:

iab

Caminade was selling assembled aluminum frames in the 1930s. Barra was selling welded aluminum frames in the 1940s.

FB was selling aluminum and steel hubs by 1935. Siamt was selling all aluminum hubs by 1949.

Couldn't tell you if any of these were first or not.

pubcrawl

Thanks for the reply non-fixie.

Interesting that Kettler claims this.
The Kawasaki BX200 BMX Bicycle was designed, tested and manufactured in the USA by Kawasaki Motors Corp USA and a Company called Triple A Accessories in Gardena, California.
These Kawasaki BMX bicycles were aluminium alloy (6061 I believe) and featured pierced tube joint details at the bottom bracket and head tube TIG welded and then later MIG welded together. They were also heat treated and then ball burnished. By my recollection approximately 17,000 of these were produced between 1975 and 1977 and sold across North America at Kawasaki Dealerships.

pubcrawl

Thanks for the reply.
Interesting information on the Nicholas Barra bikes.
I did find some information on them and they appeared to have been "gas welded" I guess similar to brazed joints.
I wonder what the production quantity was on the Barra bikes?

Great information on the hubs.
I guess that could have been something far easier to manufactured and didn't required any welding.

Thanks!

iab

Gas welding may or may not be like brazing. You can gas weld (weld weld) aluminum with an aluminum rod.

Also, all aluminum hubs were do not need welding.

repechage

Sanshin of Japan made welded aluminum hubs that looked like they were machined. Smart process, the two halves were spin welded (friction welded) together.

dweenk

You may want to post over on the CABE as well. As I recall there were a few aluminum cruisers produced in the post war years.

clubman 

Monark Silver Kings were made in pretty big numbers. Even I've seen 2 of them in Canada. Late 30's?

Kuromori

Not very high, like a lot of small marques back then, his was not a particularly big one. Gas welding is just welding by melting the metal with gas instead of electricity. The aforementioned Carminargent is probably closer to what you think of as a production bike. The thing is, welding was looked upon with suspicion until after WWII (liberty ships) and longer still to be accepted for bicycles.

Kdogbikes

A bit of info on aluminum frame From late 80s. Vari-wall.

pubcrawl

Thanks for the replies everyone.
Sorry I couldn't reply sooner... I was locked out of the Forum because I'm not allowed to post more than 5 posts in a 24 hr period.

I appreciate the comments.
On a technical note I guess I was more focused on what Companies were the first to actually use more modern manufacturing methods like Heliarc welding on aluminum bicycles.
From what I have been able to find Companies like Monark used Lug style frames.

I know Klein was one Company that was a pioneer in modern aluminum frame design but a project I have been working on brought up Kawasaki's effort that started in mid 1974 and lead to their ground breaking manufacturing methods and tubing design.

Thanks again for the information and I appreciate the comments.

3alarmer 

History of Frames made of Aluminum?

^^^you should read this thread. Some of the same information, but some additional memories by people about the '70's bikes.

Here's a photo of one from around the early 1900's: Looks pretty much like all the other turn of the century bikes.

pubcrawl

3alarmer

Thanks for the reply.

I did come across that old post while doing a search through the Forum, some interesting information.
Some of what is posted on there supports my thinking that Kawasaki was the first mass produced heliarc welded aluminum bicycle.
It does pre-date Klein and Cannondale and at approximately 17,000 units would be considered mass produced.