1895 Maywood Double Diamond
Duplex tubing and open frame chainwheel design
Cash Buyers’ Union
23.5” Frame. 28″ Wheels with solid tyres
‘Double diamond’ frames, also known as ‘open frames’ or duplex tubes, were in vogue in Britain around 1889 and 1890. Rudge made the best-selling model with this feature. The concept copied the design of tricycles, where chain adjustment was made by means of a bolt-on bottom bracket that could be moved backwards of forwards inside twin tubes. The idea was subsequently picked up by American manufacturers.
While bicycles were built of heavy tubing (ie around 1889/1890), the open frame design provided extra strength. But frame technology developed at a fast rate and as frames became lighter extra tubes fell out of favour. An interesting aspect of this is that by the turn of the century, with frames becoming increasingly lighter in weight, their durability was called into question by the cycling press. So the idea of extra tubes came back into vogue, and duplex tubing formed the basis of some of the cross frame bicycle patents of the early 1900s.
This Maywood Double Diamond from America has duplex tubing on the top tubes, seat tubes and down tubes. I bought it from an old-time collector in the USA and it is now in a museum in Italy.
