We sold some Crescents during the bike boom and up to 1975 or so.
We focused on the 2-3 high end models - the Pepitas.
1970 Spec Sheet:
1973 Spec Sheet
They made some mid range models with Japanese components - Sugino Mighty Compe cranks, Suntour derailleurs and so on. They came with Suntour dropouts. We had several of the drive side Suntour dropouts break in normal use. The importer didn't stand behind them so we stopped selling Crescents.
We sold several of the "stainless steel" models. They were basically the top Pepita model with the 3 main tubes made of polished straight gauge 304 stainless. The forks and rear triangles were chrome plated Reynolds 531. The lugs were painted black, not gold like in these pictures.
We couldn't tell any difference in the ride between the stainless steel frames and the Reynolds ones.
The workmanship and cosmetics were really cobby on a lot of Crescent frames. I picked up an old Pepita 531 frame cheap a few years ago. I forgot how bad they were - they made bad French frames look good.
By the mid 70's we got in a few bikes with white frames and even fewer in robin's egg blue. Those bikes usually had Super Vitus 971 frames which were the equivalent of Columbus SL which made them lighter than the Reynolds 531 Crescent frames.
Crescents were popular with some racers in the early 70's, probably because they were cheap. Here's John Howard hammering on a Crescent in 1973.
Crescent made so true gas pipe models that were crudely arc welded out of pipe. Oddly, they had Campy rear dropouts and Campy Nuovo Tipo high flange hubs.
Last but not least, here's the REAL Crescent poster from Sweden. We had one of these in our show room and one with the model au naturel hanging in the shop where no one could see it!
verktyg
