BlueDevil63 

Oh me likey chrome lugs. It is kind of a defining theme for my collection. Pic dump incoming.

BlueDevil63 

More.

steelbikeguy

I was looking through my photos from the 2015 NAHBS, 'cause I think I've seen carbon lugs somewhere, when I came across this Cherubim frame. I think it's a "production" Cherubim frame, but it's got a chromed seat lug too. Very cool! I'm afraid to ask what it costs, though.









...back to looking for carbon lugs...

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

hasn't Colnago done carbon lugs?
a quick search pulls up the Colnago C40...
https://cycling-obsession.com/colnag...ltimate-guide/

Quote:

Clever Design of the C40: Carbon Lugs.

but I did find pics of some Calfee's at NAHBS with "lugs". I suspect they are wrapped around the tubes after joining, rather than created first, but they definitely mimic the look of lugs.









Steve in Peoria

Fahrenheit531 

^^ And suddenly I have zero problem with the lugs that bothered me before.

bamboobike4

Two articles said there was enough for 50 bikes. But, they were on the internet. I do know they are only available by ordering from Colnago, with a very active resell market.

I’ll never ride one, but my 2003 Master Extra Light thrills me, still. My 1985, not so much.

bamboobike4

Definitely, Carbon lugs are out there, and on Colnagos, but they haven’t done them up in “chrome,” yet.
There are serious Colnago fans in Asia; it’s just a matter of time. Those guys are over the top. And great.

droppedandlost 

Have a look at the Ottante5. It was part of the build inspiration for my Arabesque. Actual lugs vs. painted.

droppedandlost 

I think it started that way, but someone had $$ in the eyes and continued production based on the current Master. The most obvious bits are the seat lug and RD cable routing at the dropout. The reintroduction photos from 2015 are clearly not the same as what they offer now. My 2017 is identical to the Master except for the flourish on the lugs.

mech986 

Here’s a few recent photos from the Velo-Retro ride thread of chrome lugged frames, the Italvega (produced by Torpado) is mine.

El Chaba

I am a sometime fan…..

TugaDude

Some things just weren't meant to be I'm afraid. Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder, but come on?

BlueDevil63 

A couple more:

botty kayer

I've got a few, the only Merckx I have with chrome lugs only has chrome lugs on the head tube.

In fact now I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen a Merckx that also had chromed lugs at the seat post cluster and bottom bracket lugs, was this not an option?

The Italians in the 80's and 90's seemed to use chromed lugs. I've got a Bottecchia and Tommasini with chrome head tube lugs.

While we couldn't really describe chrome lugs as common, it appears by far the most common option was to just have chromed lugs on the head tube. It appears to be rarer to also have chromed lugs at the top of the seat tube where the seat post goes in. My Tommasini does not have a chromed seat post lug, but my Bottecchia does.

But neither has chrome bottom bracket lugs.


My Columbus Max Nikor also has chrome lugs on the head tube, and an extra chunky seat post one for the fat tubes.


And it seems rarer still to have chromed bottom bracket lugs, alas I don't have any of those. I can't always tell from the pics, that Cherubim for example might have, but there's not an angle I can see for sure, and not even the Columbine's I've seen or that extravagant Waterford upthread had chrome bottom bracket lugs. In fact from a quick scan through this whole thread, the only bike I can see that had chrome lugs on head tube, seat tube and bottom bracket, was that Hetchins, so the full set of chromed lugs seems very rare indeed.

I admit this seems a bit strange to me, surely if you're going to the trouble of having chrome lugs on the head tube, its not going to be that much more cost/weight/inconvenience to get the other ones done too? I did wonder maybe if chromed bottom bracket lugs were rarer as that area of the bike gets exposed to the most crud, and unless you live in California or Arizona they could end up looking tatty and tarnished much quicker than chromed head tube ones. Any other thoughts or reasons why the chromed bottom bracket lugs are so rare?

Personally I love chrome, on lugs and stays, it just adds a bit of extra dazzle on the rare days the sun decides to shine here in the UK

merziac

That's the thing with chrome, especially now days, especially lugs, if you have to ask....

merziac

I can appreciate the conviction of his vision but not my vision of his conviction.

smd4

And Cinelli’s only had half the seat lug chromed!

steelbikeguy

what was the reason for that??
Too much trouble to properly polish around the seat stays? Getting into the little spaces between the stays would be tough with a polisher. This same issue can be seen at the bottom bracket of fully chromed frames.

Just to illustrate the issue, here are a few shots of vintage Cinelli's displayed at two Classic Rendezvous events...

a 1949 Cinelli Pista:



a 1963 Cinelli SC with chromed seat stays.... Interesting that the seat stays are chromed, but the back half of the seat lug is still painted, despite there being no question that there is chrome under the paint. Is it that the chrome wasn't easy to polish, or did the half-chromed lug become a signature feature of Cinelli?



a 1960 Pinarello SC built by Cinelli (I have no idea what the history of this bike is, but I do find it interesting that Cinelli was building frames for Pinarello):



Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

The Waterford was relatively modern, and all of the shiny bits are stainless steel. Less nasty for the environment, no chance of developing rust, and still a lot of work to polish!

I looked over my other Cherubim photos, and I don't think any had a chromed bottom bracket. Here are a couple of shots of a track frame that was on display. Very flashy, with chromed (or maybe stainless??) head and seat lugs, but painted bottom bracket.
Practically speaking, the bottom bracket is not very visible, so there's not much reward for the money and effort spent to polish it (for either chrome or stainless).






Schwinn used to offer the Paramount in full chrome, as well as one or two other models. I suppose it saves the trouble of masking off the lugs and going through the painting process, but there's a lot more surface that has to be polished. I seem to recall that the polishing was never that good in the tight spaces around the bottom bracket, presumably because it's hard to get into that area, as well as the fact that few people look there. I've got a few shots of a chromed Paramount, but nothing showing the bottom bracket in particular.





Steve in Peoria

oneclick 

I think the latter - have a pair of Model B from about the same time and both had that; kept it on the re-paints; have a pic of one of them (the decals are original, took a bit of time masking):



The box is how I shipped it several times, both post and air-travel.

El Chaba

I love that box…..

El Chaba

Gios….