Promise kept

Not sure when I got the idea but I know it must have been a few years ago. This looks like a really clean Masi frame , doesn't it ? Or- maybe a refinished frame ....either way it doesn't have a suspicious look , at least to me. You might wonder why I am putting a frame that someone else built on my blog. Truth is, this is a frame that I built in December of last year. 

The idea I had that I told a few people about was that I wanted to build a fake Masi. I told Bruce Gordon and got a chuckle out of him.....no mean feat. Bruce did see the humor in many things but he also had a lot of sadness from depression- my fake Masi idea was something I knew he would get a laugh out of and maybe it would brighten his day. I also told Ed Litton about the fake Masi project as I was looking for a few old frame building parts to really make the frame and fork as authentic looking as possible. Ed gave me some good leads as to where I might find what I was looking for. 

Unfortunately, both Ed and Bruce died - now my Fake Masi joke is mainly for me but I'm glad that I spent the time to build the frame and fork and to do the best job that I could with what I had and with what time I was able to devote. Really, I had told too many people that I was going to do it so there was no backing out- not only was I committed , I was duty bound to create a really decent fake. In effect, I had made a promise and I wanted to keep that promise. Sure, there's plenty of people who I had told about this project who are still alive but I wanted to keep the promise I made to Bruce and Ed.....not that they really would care- I no longer have any way of knowing that. To me it just felt really important to keep a promise to two people who happen to not be alive any more. Maybe that's my way of making it seem like they are still around, as if we still have a dialog and can still share this joke that I built a fake Masi that likely will be entered in some concours or classic bike show..........what if it wins a ribbon ? What if scores of collectors are carefully looking it over and arguing about what year it was constructed ? What if there's nobody left to be entertained by the irony.......to get the joke. Doesn't matter- I did it anyway-for Bruce, for Ed, for Seth, For Michael, for Roland and all my departed friends who I am sure would laugh if they could. 

 

You can't plan for death- the de-construction of Ed Litton cycles

One day you are working in your shop. You go for a bike ride with your friend and just riding along you have a horrible accident. You are rushed to a hospital where you are given emergency surgery. Then you are transferred to another hospital for further treatment. Then you die.......that is pretty much how it was told to me about the last week of Ed Litton's life.This was a very humble man who had tremendous skills as a bicycle frame builder. Ed did the kind of work that most builders would not take on- restorations and repairs. I no longer do that kind of work except for one week out of the year and it is only on bikes that are part of my own collection.

What you see in the photo above are some of the many frames in Ed's shop that now must find a new home. Ed's work in this shop is over , probably long before he was ready for it to be over. Now , customers who had work in process will just pick up their frames in whatever state they are in and hope to find another Ed Litton- which there isn't. Ed offered the full service- brazing, blasting, painting and assembly-he did it all in this small space. I, and some other folks that either knew or worked with Ed or were his customers came to the shop to buy whatever they can to help Ed's widow and children .

This is the pile that I took away-lots of tubes , some braze on bits, one frame and fork and some bike parts- none of it I needed but I'm next in line. You see, Ed was next in line when Roland Della Santa died. Ed was next in line when Peter Johnson died. Ed was next in line when Bruce Gordon died. Ed did not get the entire contents of the aforementioned departed builders but he did have a quantity of stuff from each of these other builder's shops. I thought that Ed would be next in line for my stuff ....did not work out that way and its me who is next in line for the materials that did not get used , the collection of stuff that comes with decades of being in the craft and the things that come our way because we can't say no to free or cool shit. 

Ed's Mill, one of two that he used will now be sold. Everything in the shop has to go-there's no apprentice or heir to take over the business-it would not exist without Ed-same story for just about every one man shop everywhere. When the old guy dies, it dies too. 

Here's a box of stamped stainless steel lugs. I get the feeling Ed did not like these but for some reason he could not just scrap them-I think I would feel the same....

Cameron Falconer was charged with organizing the same of all things in Ed's shop and having learned the trade while working for Ed he was obviously the most qualified. To do this kind of final liquidation of the shop where you learned what you do for a living you really need to care about the shop, it's history and it's creative force-along with all the contents.
 

Here's a Schwinn Paramount tandem that has probably been hanging up for decades. 

here's the filing cabinet with Ed's collection of restoration decals that he will never apply -I wonder who will wind up with these and what they will do with what they find in all these drawers. Nearly all the contents of the shop were things that Ed had touched, fixed or painted or was about to fix or paint. There were still two fames in his paint booth in process. He left quite a mess when he left this earth , but then he was not planning to leave as soon and as suddenly as he did- it is like many things .......it just happened. When I hear people say "Things happen for a reason " it makes me angry. The only things that happen for a reason are reasons- people try to pin a meaning to a tragic event as if the outcome has some sort of positive aspect. I call complete and total bullshit on that whole notion- Ed's dying was sad, awful and truly unfortunate- there really isn't more to say about it. 

We lost a good one - Edward Litton

 This was a hard week if you are someone who has been part of the Bay Area frame building community for any length of time. I guy who was mostly behind the scenes , never garnering much press but doing the lion's share of the frame restoration and repair work in the SF bay area has died. Ed Litton was someone I had heard of but did not really get to know until about 8 or so years ago. I do know that builder Cameron Falconer had worked with him and that Ed had partnered with the late Bruce Gordon on a good many of Bruces later brazed frames. For Bruce to let anyone else braze his delicate and artistic frames together was something I did not imagine possible. It was not Ed who told me about this but Bruce himself. I was at Bruce's shop visiting and there was a really nice silver frame hanging in his showroom. Bruce told me that he had not brazed a lugged frame in 15 years ,but this was clearly a frame that had been recently constructed. Bruce told me that after he had mitered all the tubes and put them in the jig that Ed had done the brazing. Looking at the frame , I could not see any difference in the quality of the work from Bruce's best efforts. Bruce went on to say that Ed knew more about frame repair and brazing than he did and that Ed was able to do things in the shop that Bruce was unwilling to attempt. This is essentially the guy I looked up to as the foremost west-coast artisan frame builder telling me that there was a guy who eclipsed him in skill level - this led me to want to know who this Ed Litton guy was and what his history was.

Well , the years have gone by and I am sorry to say that I really did not get to know much about Ed as he really didn't talk about himself much. What I did talk about him with was the subject of classic bikes, (of which he was a wealth of information ) other notable builders such as Peter Johnson and of course , Bruce Gordon. I traded some frame building bits with him and often he would send me stuff without charging me. He really didn't seem to care about making a buck-I guess he did ok and was good with that. I can sum up the little I know about Ed with my impression that his focus was on the work, not on talking about his legacy or the remarkable skills that he had with the torch . His willingness to take on frame repairs that most builders would refuse to do set him apart. He became the guy that I would refer people to for jobs that I either # 1, did not feel comfortable attempting or # 2 , just didn't want to do. 

Now he is gone- a result of a horrific bicycle crash. Ed was pretty close to my age and by now had inherited much materials and supplies from Bruce, Peter and other builders who had passed on. Now Ed is gone leaving a pile of stuff that was I'm sure on his list to use up some day. I have a similar pile of stuff that I have accumulated as a builder-all of us from that generation remember when getting frame building supplies was both difficult and expensive so when stuff came to our doors for free, we seldom said 'no'. 

While I did get to see Ed as a bike show or two and at Bruces shop and we did talk on the phone now and then , I never did get to see his shop. This I regret greatly and If there is a chance to go up to Richmond and visit his shop , I know that it will be sad to look around and not hear from Ed himself the stories behind all that I would be seeing. 

Goodbye, Ed- really good to have met you and traded some stories. You were a great ally to Bruce and had his profound respect- something that hardly anyone ever earned. You seemed to have the faith that anything placed in front of you - no matter how damaged - was something you could fix. To maintain that mindset after decades of the kind of work you did was remarkable. There's a lot of people who will miss you-probably many more that you could have eve imagined. 

Made show 2024- my impressions

Yes, I exhibited at the 2024 Made show- mainly because I was prevented from doing so at the 2023 show when I broke my femur on a bike ride and was crippled shortly before I was to leave for the Portland show. This absence allowed me to ask for either a refund on my booth or a booth space at 2024. I opted for the 2024 show .......just seemed like things went that way and I went with it. 

Thursday was load in day- I got to the location, a re-purposed ship yard down by the river in an area that used to be really sketchy. Now it is decidedly more civilized and gentrified, even if very rough and industrial. For people working with metal it seemed like a proper environment to display their craft.

Right after the load-in, assuming that you were done there was a group ride around Portland and up into Forest Park for a little "Gravel" , which I prefer to call "Dirt". The ride was really excellent in many ways- a couple of stops here and there while taking in some iconic Portland city views. The ride started as a slow motion parade but got a bit more spirited as we headed up the hill into Forest Park. This was maybe the highlight of the whole show experience for me- riding through Portland with maybe 100 people , most of whom I had never met , a few I have known for decades. Wish that I had taken more photos.....

The ride ended at the Chris King factory for some food and a band performance- here's where the band was set up. Seeing as the food and the band were not going to happen for awhile I got back on my bike and rode to the next stop- Strawberry Cycles , also known as Torch and File, also known as Terra Nova cycles headed up by the venerable Andy Newlands. Andy has been building frames and supplying Reynolds tubing since before I ever even thought about building a bicycle frame. Not having met him in person, this was a stop I really wanted to make , made even better by the invite that stated that the first 50 people would get some top-tier BBQ. Not counting on the food but definitely wanting to meet Andy and see his shop I rode the 30-odd minutes across town and eventually found the place tucked away in a residential neighborhood.

Unlike the Chris King party where everyone was half my age, this room was filled with people from my decade and even older. The shop looked like a '70's bike frame building shop- the rack of files, the vintage fixtures and old dusty stock hanging overhead-I was super happy to be there.....not that the Chris King factory was not impressive-it really was....it's just that the Strawberry shop party was more my speed and age group. The BBQ was the best I have ever had, too. 

Day one at the show was media day, at least until noon. I sat in my booth waiting but no media came by-there were a lot of exhibitors and I imagined that the media people might be running behind schedule and show up later in the day. At noon the public was finally allowed in and made a modest showing on the first day. I was not very busy but I did sell a surprising amount of the socks I had brought...you never know what people will want at these shows......

Here are my two favorite bikes of the show- not because of the fine attention to detail or artistry-I loved these two bikes as they pretty much were honest expressions of "Hey, lets try this!"- just a couple of wacky ideas that almost poked fun at the whole "show bike" concept- bike #1, a tall bike made from bits of Merlin titanium frames , but done so in a nicely artistic way. Bike # 2....I don't even know if it is rideable- a swing bike covered in disco mirror tiles with custom Anna Schwinn saddle and grip treament- it was adoreable and my tip top favorite. That said, I really did not get a chance to see the show, even if on Friday things were so slow that I got in a 45 min. uninterrupted practice session on my guitar in my booth, waiting to talk to anyone who would stop at my booth..........honestly there were very few on Friday.

Below is my humble booth- maybe people didn't want to stop in such a spartan and understated corner of the show but I did have some pretty decent bikes on display, including the first bike I had ever built from 1978....more on that later. I need to thank Aaron at Modus for the Shimano table shroud-without that the booth would have looked even more pathetic and I would not have a place to hide all the stuff I would be leaving in the booth over the weekend. 

Shimano also gave out generous amounts of coffee beans, which my wife will appreciate.

The guy in the polka-dot kit was everywhere and was pretty crazy on the bike ride, taking reckless chances on the bike without a helmet. I'm amazed that he survived the ride and the show. 

I got in a little visit here and there with a few old salts-this is Joe Bell, the best painter I ever met. I also saw Mark Nobilette , Chris McGovern, Mike DeSalvo, Jeremy Sycip, Curtis Inglis and others. Saw a Rick Hunter bike even if he was not there at the show. Most of the Nor-Cal builders were there and if they weren't , their bikes were ( John Caletti , Todd Ingermason )

Saturday started out just as slow as Friday and I began to wonder about the health of this show until about noon when all of a sudden the people showed up and the entire venue filled to capacity. I was crazy busy at my booth and sold most of the socks I had left and answered questions from anyone willing to ask. The time went by quickly and I remembered what it felt like to be at one of these shows when it was really happening. Whatever didn't happen on Friday happened on Saturday....that was, except for the media-still absent for the most part, at least as far as I could see. Nevertheless, I felt that day #2 had been good enough that the trip felt worthwhile and I would return home satisfied-but there was still one more day left.

Saturday night I took a walk across the river to meet friends for dinner and shot a picture - the sky was gray just like it is most of the year in Portland and it reminded me of my many trips up here for CX races. I really did miss coming to Portland and was getting my fix after a 12 year wait.

On the last day I decided to look around and make note of any international presence at the show. I did see this car and a couple of guys running around in Belgium national team jerseys-never did find out what they were up to but they looked really busy. I also got a visit from two notable Japanese shops- "Circles" and "Blue Lug" along with Simworks who had this really cool display in the photo below. Japanese bicycle culture was on display at the show and I admired this booth more than just about any other. 

another nice visitor to my booth was an old friend who had Rock Lobster # 020 from 1987, a fillet brazed MTB frame that I had just restored for him. I put it in my booth for the latter part of Sunday so that people could see an early MTB effort from my shop that pre-dated my full time entry into the trade.

Frances cycles was showing these custom made spatulas......I really want to get one of these and since Frances is just down the street from me in Santa Cruz I should be able to do that.

So....what is my take on the Made show ? Do I think that it is an improvement over NAHBS ? For many reasons, I'll say yes. The lack of a focus on awards was refreshing. While there was a "People's choice" and "Builders choice" award, I never found out who got what and I didn't make any effort to enter a bike or even place a vote-that isn't why I am at the show. Did the media ever show up ? Yes- on the last day John Watson came by and I told him about my 1978 track bike I had brought- I have to thank him for expressing interest and taking photos , otherwise I don't think anyone would have known that I was even at the show. Gravel Cyclist came by and did a short interview-I could tell that they were really short on time and barely able to keep up with the work load over the three days of the show. I'm grateful that they included me in one of their videos. The Made show did wind up taking some photos of the "Big Ass Cruiser" that I built just for the show- I wish that I had been better about putting the bike in a more visible spot in my booth but hey-I don't do shows like this much and my instinct for display aesthetic is truly lacking. Will I return to this show ? Who the hell knows......it seemed like a show put on by people who really cared that the show was about the builders and not about the people who put on the show-huge plus in my view. The volunteers were helpful, courteous and took care of everything as best as they could in the environment that was at times a bit chaotic. 

While I am sure that there will be a 2025 Made show and that it will stay in Portland (instead of the NAHBS model and travel from city to city ) I am not sure that I will be there. I'm thinking that the show is really a good thing for up and coming builders who need the audience and exposure. I'm not sure why I was there, other than to represent my generation of builders, most of whom have either died or quit. I guess there's value in that, even if it seems like not that many people seem to care. The ones that do, however definetely let me know about it and I found it strange to be attached to titles that I don't feel I have earned -other than perhaps just not quitting . Maybe there will be an award for that some day..........
 

Where are all my friends ?

 Well, time marches on and the bicycle business does as well- some times it's a march to a better place.....some times its a march away from what it is at it's core- a community of people. What has been taking place in the last decade with many bicycle companies has borne some pretty rotten fruit, at least in my view. What transpired in and around the starting of this century has been the gobbling up of companies by larger conglomerates. The companies that have been eaten up were -in the beginning -manifestations of a few people's ideas and passions. I know a lot of these people and their dedication and selfless acts have made the bicycle business and the community at large a lot richer - I'm not talking about money....I'm talking about many forms of "better". 

What has gotten better is trail and land access- that's a win/win as people get to ride places where they couldn't for years , those places remain public parks so that they cannot be subdivided into luxury lots with McMansions protected by tall fences and electric gates. Also what has gotten better are the products- bikes, suspension, helmets, shoes, shifting.....just about everything one can think of bicycle related has improved due to passionate people in companies that reward inspiration and dedication. I think that people in the future might look back on the late '90's and early 2000's as a great time in the bike business.

Things are quite different now. Large holding companies over the last 10-20 years have gobbled up many of the best companies in the bike industry - of course promising to carry on the passion and original direction of the companies faithfully. Pretty much the opposite has been happening. These large holding companies have been taking local California companies and slowly bleeding them of capital and employees. Many of the local companies that started here in the Bay Area have been dismantled and moved elsewhere and the employees who were responsible for making the companies successful were given their walking papers , or given ultimatums such as "move to such and such city across the country or lose your job". To me this makes no sense, but to the holding companies it makes all the sense in the world- cut costs , maximize profit , dismantle underperforming departments and centralize operations. Good corporate strategy but a complete disemboweling of an industry that is not run so much profit as it is run on passion.

Many of my friends worked for the companies that got bought out, run into the ground and gutted, relocated and basically euthanized. It , to me seems such a total waste and a humiliation of the people who have made their life about the betterment of the bike industry and community. I used to see these people at trade shows, riding events or just chance encounters around town- they, like I were part of the local flavor of the bike world. Now, most of them are out looking for work and are likely to leave the bicycle industry for good- not because they want to- it is because the industry left them. It took what they had in ideas, sweat and years and put it all out on the curb to be taken away to the landfill. This really has torn the heart out of much of the community that I have known for more than half of my 68 years-over 40 of those years trying to be as good at what I do as the people I know in the business......or at least they were in the business. Maybe the good days are gone forever- I really hope not. What can bring back the type of companies that created most of what we appreciate about cycling ? Not sure that I have any good ideas but I have a few friends who do........

Give me the strength to........

Living the dream 2023 style. Building bicycle frames for a living is not an easy thing , no matter how you slice it. I have been very fortunate to be able to say that I indeed have a self sustaining shop that is productive in spite of the usual pitfalls. Some of these issues are things that I can fix, some not. This summer has shown me that issues do not need to show up one at a time but can come as a pair, a trio or a whole damn village. 

Here's the village of the fall of 2023: In July I took a corner on my bike and unexpectedly ( that's usually how it is, isn't it ? ) I fell and broke my femur in two places. I am still recovering from that as of this writing which is about three months after the date of my surgery. Next thing was that I got lost in the system and my appointment for my follow up X-ray never got booked- now I have a wait that I did not expect. Also, for some reason , my email with my business stopped working and now customers will have a bit of trouble getting in touch with me. I have spent numerous hours online and on the phone with no success......I'm getting pretty frustrated but at least I have plenty of work to keep me busy for awhile. Doing this work with a gimpy leg is not that easy but I am getting it done. Next issue is my old trusty truck of 22 years has a check engine light that comes on every week- the mechanic does not seem to be able to cure the problem......kind of like my email issue- the experts are stumped for now. Another issue was that I had to quit a band I was in for the last year suddenly- this was tough as the people in the band were very nice and they were puzzled and hurt that I had left-sadly, it was something I had to do and I felt very strongly about the decision- this did not make it any easier.

Yes, these are not life or death issues but still pretty numerous for a semi-crippled frame builder with a semi crippled email, truck and attitude. This brings me to consult the old AA saying : " Lord, give me the strength to fix the things I can fix , accept the things that I can't fix and to know the difference " . I quote that saying now because the line between the things I can fix and the ones I can't is seeming not to be a line any more but a blurry spot of blindness. I can't really see solutions to some of these issues and it makes me pretty discouraged. This lack of clarity about the issues I am facing has made me turn to the shop-some times 7 days a week- it is the one place I can be where I can fix things, build things and find some sort of validity to the space I am taking up on this planet and in this life. Outside the shop my life really is not seeming like the happy place it can be - I can't ride , I'm in pain much of the time, I don't really feel like there's any activity such as going to a movie, going out to eat or really any type of recreation that I feel up to. But.....cutting and welding metal ? I can do that and as soon as I got off this barely functional computer I will go to the shop and see if I can fix or build something and if not, know the damn difference.
 

We ain't goin' out like that.....

A couple of years ago I lost a good friend and a remarkable builder. Bruce was not the happiest guy who ever lived but he still saw humor in a lot of life and had come to grips with retired life ,or it seemed that way. Only a couple of years after he liquidated his shop he was gone- but this is what came first.

When out on one of his weekly rides- a ride he knew well- Bruce took a fall in a corner and broke his leg. It was a freak crash on a path he rode on every week. When Bruce got to the hospital the doctors offered him surgery which Bruce opted not to do. I can't tell you why he decided to avoid surgery on his leg but that was his choice. Bruce's recovery was slow and painful and it didn't seem like he ever fully came back from the injury. He could no longer ride a bike and he was reduced to walking with a cane. I think he was maybe 68 years old and otherwise had been a relatively healthy person. By the time he was 70 he was gone-found in his house, no cause of death that I know of -it didn't matter the cause- he was gone. 

This brings me to current events in my life- I just broke my leg in similar fashion to Bruce, riding on a very familiar trail but landing very hard on some hard ground. I am about to turn 68 in September. When offered surgery at the hospital, I took it. The surgeon said that not having surgery was an option but not a good one as there was no guarantee that my leg would heal properly and that I would be spending months in bed. With the surgery I would be up on a walker the following week and fully weight bearing in six weeks. Seemed like an easy decision for me, if not for Bruce. At the time I didn't think of Bruce when I said yes to the procedure but now I can't help but think that maybe Bruce would still be with us if he had done the same as I. Sure, there's a risk with every surgery and the possibility of infection can scare some people , but the thought of being crippled simply because of opting out of a procedure that is commonly done does not seem rational to me. 

Unlike Bruce, I still have a business that I am actively running and lots of work lined up. Retirement at this time is not an option. Giving up riding is not something I want to do, either- even if now I might dial back the amount of miles I ride. I'm also hoping to be a bit more careful, too. One thing about a broken femur , commonly referred to as a broken hip- in people my age and older the broken hip can be an early indicator of a shortened life ........a death sentence to put it bluntly. By getting this surgery I hope to not wind up another statistic in this regard- I want to keep doing what I was doing for as long as I can. With all respect to my departed friend, I don't want to wind up like him- gone well before his time, at least in my opinion. One cannot choose how long one's life will be but there are decisions that can effect the length of one's life - so.......hardware in the leg ? sign me up. I don't want this bike crash to put me in the dirt if I can help it. Bruce, if you are up there somewhere , please don't get mad if I can't agree with you on this........And I really wish you were still here so we could argue about it. I guess we will never have that conversation.