Nev Shea <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:A Muzi <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:Gary Mishler said:I just returned from a business trip to Mexico City and I noticed that many of the bikes that
the locals were riding around town had two top tubes. One was located in the conventional
location and a second located parallel but a couple of inches below the first.
Has anyone ever heard of this before? Or, know why?
It was offered as a "heavy duty frame" option by Raleigh many years ago on the DL-1 roadster. It
remained popular in some markets for along time, being perceived as "stronger".
When lots of bike manufacturers still offered a Roadster, (and those were almost universally Raleigh-
interchangeable) I noticed that was listed as an option by several. Our Japanese export guy in
the seventies said he sold double top tubes to only one customer- in Guatemala.
Have youever seen buckled top and down tubes from a front crash? I suppose this might be an
overreaction to that.
Perhaps. I also noticed the double top tube bikes in Mexico. Also noticed that people weren't
riding for recreation as they do here in the US -- these bikes were often mounted with racks or
other devices for carrying loads, and I even saw workers walking along the bike while moving
"stuff". I suppose they could get where they are going, dump the load and ride back.
Just my observations with speculation on how these "heavy duty" frames could be used.
NS
Dear Nev,
The Vietnamese used bicycles for heavy military supply transport for decades. I didn't find any
pictures showing how many top tubes were in use, but apparently the Vietnamese used a Peugeot design
for 500-pound loads that would burden our modern tandems, admittedly at a walking pace.
Carl Fogel
from geocities.commilitaryhpvhistory.htmOpen ↗
The Viet Minh used bicycle porters against the French during the early 1950s, and in 1954, they laid
siege to and captured the huge base French base at Dien Bien Phu using supplies brought in almost
entirely by bicycle. Ironically, the primary bicycle they used was a North Vietnamese-produced
version of a French Peugeot bicycle. Although some trucks were used, it was primarily 200,000
bicycles that kept the 50,000 Vietnamese troops supplied.
When loaded, the bicycles were generally pushed rather than ridden. A bamboo pole was tied across
the handlebars to provide a tiller, and the bike would be piled with up to 500 pounds of supplies.
With one hand on the tiller, and one hand on the seat, the bike would be pushed by porters hundreds
of miles down hidden jungle trails to supply insurgent troops. When emptied, the porter could ride
it back for another load. Although not terribly fast, the bikes were inexpensive, quiet, easily
hidden, and nearly invisible from the air.
When the French left, and the country was partitioned, the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese began
fighting the South Vietnamese and the Americans, and bicycle porters were again put to use by the
insurgents. Even with massive American air power, the allies were unable to stop the flow of
supplies bicycled to the south on the so-called Ho Chi Minh Trail. A think tank in the US suggested
that US commandos on bicycles working with South Vietnamese troops were the only way to stop the
flow of materials, but the idea was dismissed by the Pentagon. One American officer ruefully
commented that what they needed was a "bicycle bomb."
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