It took two years of development, experimentation, and during that time even the formation of friendships between us and the people from the foundry. The Repete dropouts with a flatmount brake standard have a distinctive shape, the vision of which was to create a smooth connection to the rest of the rear stay, with replaceable inserts and the possibility of routing the bowden cable inside the dropout.
The casting of dropouts is complicated primarily by the cavity in the left dropout, which is there to reduce weight. However, the cavity also means more molds in production and a more complex casting process. Casting achieves production efficiency (perhaps repeatability) while avoiding excess waste, as with milling the same shape, for example.
Casting is like a ritual. The entire process, from the preparation of wax models to the melting of steel and the actual casting, is a process in which everyone has a clearly defined role. The process of melting the steel alloy is akin to a precise ritual, where the individual bulk elements are carefully measured and added to the molten bath.
This creates the resulting steel alloy with the desired material properties. The melted steel at 1,538 degrees, subsequently transformed into the desired shape, is a symbol of technology that we have known for more than 7,000 years.
Thanks to Petr Chytka (IEG) for accompanying us all the way! And also to everyone from the foundry! Because production is of course not a one-person job, but it is a collaborative effort.
