snipped:
>"what r pressed steel lugs?"

Here is a concise explanation...
For the sake of simplicity, the sheet metal lug
is the same as the pressed steel lug. And it is
also the same as the bulged formed lug. As an example,
Nikko made, primarily, bulged formed lugs. Prugnat,
Guinticiclo, (some) Cinelli lugs, etc. were pressed-over-
forms-and-welded lugs.This type of manufacture
predated (the perfection of) the lost wax method
of casting, at least as far as the frame industry is concerned.
The pressed lug type was infinitely cheaper to produce, it was
easier to manipulate, it required skills, the likes of which
were likely passed down from master to understudy as in the guilds
and apprenticeships more common in other trades and 'crafts'.
In the era of the pressed lug, the task of fitting up tube
intersections, discerning tolerances, making beauty...
these were skills which were 'acquired' over time, rather
than 'taught' at a 10 day course!!
In the mid 70s, or so, for many reasons, cycling got
popular, people wanted to work less hard, near-instant
gratification worked it's way into everyday life, and fewer
and fewer wanted to learn at the heels of the 'master'.
All these facts converged at a time when the casting
process was becoming common in the manufacture
of frame parts. Essentially, a lug which at one time
was (lovingly) hand wrought, became produced from
a master pattern using the lost wax process.
...every stinking piece EXACTLY the same as
the piece before it!!! Most in the industry saw this as
progress; more bikes could be made for less money,
by fewer skilled workers...
The era sort of began in Italy. Microfusione Italiana
was THE firm which, initially, did all the casting for
all the frame shops. I have a periodical from MFI from a 1979
trip to Milan and in it's pages are depicted many of the
lugs, crowns, and shells from the famous factories of the day.
Eventually, all finer casting would be done in the Orient.
Hitachi, Everest, Long Chen, and some others
do the majority of the contracts.
Whether or not the process used to make the lug
actually affects the quality of the frame is an arcane
issue at best. At any rate, the cast lug eliminates many
of the skills once needed to make the bicycles as fine as
the ones (from the past) that many on this list still
seem to pine for. And in the wake of this I can not
see any benefits to bicycle industry,
other than some commercial ones,
that came since the investment cast era
was ushered in.
Coffee, No-Doze, ANYONE!!
e-RICHIE