Ordinary Banana

whatever their original function was, the reason they're no longer commonplace is mass production

haha maybe i have no idea

based on my being a Bicycle Historian that's probably it <some detail that used to take 2% of the total time of producing Bicycle> might take 20% of the total time of producing Bicycle, if you become very fast at doing the raw non-detail stuff

but wouldn't these be cast rather than sculpted?

or cut or worked or w/e

actually, the guy i cited above seems to agree w you for the most part, and he's clearly put some thought into this

tldr: the bevels became decorative or disappeared altogether after the introduction of concave cheeks (which serve the same function), and are absent from most cheap contemporary heads

SO YOU ADMIT THAT THEY’RE BEVELS