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.
 

Some ideas are best appreciated in their absence..

 Over the course of the last four decades I have had the experience of working with numerous mechanical engineers . These engineers give me drawings and some make me sign non-disclosure agreements. My job is usually to interpret the engineers plans and make them into a rideable prototype. Some times my input is welcome but often it is ignored as many of these engineers are certain that they have beta tested their plans and have worked out every possible bug. This is seldom the case as most of these ideas on paper that I get from the engineers are based in a world of theory and mathematics. I can't claim to have even a small portion of the education needed to be a qualified engineer and I don't pretend to know what they- the engineers know. What I do know is what they don't know- the kind of knowhow that one gets from building stuff for 40+ years. I can look at a blueprint and see pretty quickly if there will be problems with the project-either in the building process or in the actual use of the finished project. To me , these things are obvious-to the engineer these factors lie outside their belief system. Since most of them don't actually build stuff they are disconnected from the building process and are depending on me to handle all of it. I am fully prepared to handle all of it but if the engineer chooses not to listen to my warnings about potential pitfalls of their design , they will be paying me to build something that will not work. 

I'll take you back a little over a decade to a time when I got recruited to be part of a crew designing an early E-bike for a trade show competition. Design firms were paired up with builders such as myself to collaborate on projects. While I usually refuse to get involved in stuff like this I went along with being part of this project as the trade show was being put on by a good friend and I thought that it might be good to show some solidarity. I went into this project with the best intentions and the highest hopes. This was a non-paid job and the reward would be in the experience of working with people at a top-notch design firm. Honestly , I was excited and a bit intimidated as well. 

Upon arriving at the design firm I was introduced to no less than 6-7 people who would all be working on this project. They were all fired up and cheerful at the start and everyone had something in the way of a suggestion of what this new bike project was going to be. The head of the design crew was very motivated and as the weeks went on it became apparent that the shape of this bike was going to be of his design and that all contributions by other people on the team (myself included) would bear his scrutiny. Ay first I didn't pick up on how driven this lead designer was but as time went on and people started to bail from the project I got a very clear picture. In the last few weeks leading up to the show the crew was less than half the original number-I never heard why people left, I only knew that the meetings were getting smaller .

When all the designing was done and the building of the actual bike was about to start I noticed a major problem with the design. I had a very simple solution to fix this problem- this was key , for if this problem was not fixed , the whole electric system of the bike could not have been hooked up and functional. Again, I'm just a bike builder and not an engineer but I know that if wires have to go from here to there, you sure as shit have to have a path for them that does not get in the way of other moving parts. I told the head designer of my idea-he dismissed it and fought to have some other solution......but there was none. His reason for not adopting my solution was the same reason he did not take many good suggestions- he did not want the physical appearance of the bike changed from his original design. 

Here's my view on the original design of the bike: Problem # 1. This bike was designed by a 5'11" guy and he made it so anyone shorter than 5'11" would not fit properly on the bike. This eliminated about 60% of his potential customers. # 2. The sleek design of the bike did not allow for the kind of battery needed for longer cruising range , making this bike-although prettier-not as practical as other Ebikes .# 3. The bike had front wheel drive- while this might work fine in a car , the bike can become unstable if someone turns and accelerates. For an experienced rider this might not be an issue but for someone just getting into cycling this could be a real problem. These are three fundamental issues that made this bike, in spite of it's cool looks a product likely to fail. 

The head designer was so taken with his design, despite the flaws that he decided to go commercial with it and create a company to build and sell the bikes. I wound up making three prototypes but I stopped working with the designer as he found that he would have to source the bikes from overseas in order to get the quantity and low price that he needed to make the bike attractive to consumers. At some point I no longer had any dealings with the project. I did own a piece of it though- part of the original agreement was that if this design was to become a product , I would retain a share as part of my design credit......even if the bulk of my design ideas were ignored. This would become an issue for the head designer a but later.

After a couple of years trying to be a bike company the head designer got an offer from a major company to buy his design and in effect, the company he had spent the last few years building. My guess is that his finances were running out and selling the company was the way for him to monetize all of his hard work. One thing stood in the way of the selling of the company - me. The head designer called me and asked if I would be willing to sell my share of the design. I was happy to do this so he relayed the information to the company who was the buyer. They made me a very low offer.....never having been in this position I was not sure what to do. I called a few industry people and they all said the same thing. Counter offer what you want and stick with that- this is a big company and they will pay you as it is a very small amount of money for them . I countered with what I thought was a reasonable amount and the offer was accepted. I finally got paid for a project I had done four year previously and the head designer got his windfall.

One thing that the money did not change, though- the bike still had the same problems. The new owners did what they could in regards to making more sizes for shorter people but the other flaws in the design remained and sales of the bike were very sluggish. After a couple of years the brand and the bike were discontinued and the pipe dream of the head designer would be relegated to the world of a multitude of failed products that wind up in landfills across the country. Things might have turned out different if the 'design co-operative project' really was co-operative and not the product of an inflexible leader . I have no idea what the head designer of the bike is doing today but I'll bet he's making plenty of money and doing just fine. There seems to be lots of money being given to people who have strong ideas, even if their ideas turn out to be bullshit. In my opinion, there is too much of this in the world and it is depressing that it exists in a business such as bicycles that is fragile and always fighting for its life. 

That's my view , anyway- but don't listen to me.......I'm only the guy who puts the shit together.....what do I know ?

R.I.P. Dr. Deltron- Mark Bunten

This guy in the photo striking the goofy pose was the most imaginative and talented bike painter I ever knew. Mark Bunten is not a household name in the bike painting world but if you talk to the best people in the business in the '90's they will not only know his work, they might echo the words I just wrote about how exceptional Mark was when it came to artistry with a bicycle frame as the canvas. 

The photos in this post are of a few of the bikes that Mark painted for me personally but the bulk of his work was for my customers. I estimate that over the years Mark might have painted about 70-100 frames for me. Before powder coating became the norm for bicycle finishes ,catalyzed enamels sprayed wet were what was done. Painters came and went- it seemed like a tough way to make a living . Few painters lasted more than a couple of years in the craft before giving up and moving on to another job.

Mark stuck around longer than most, though he did suffer the long hours and poverty that most bicycle painters endure. To distinguish himself from the other painters, Mark would take on really elaborate paint schemes and show an imagination that was unique and irreverent. Mark's painting days were before the internet so getting publicity and a client base was difficult. He didn't have that many customers but his work spoke for itself. I really wish that I had more photos of the many paint jobs that Mark did for me from about 1990-2005. 

One thing about Mark that made it difficult for him to succeed were his bouts with depression. There usually were times when Mark did not answer his phone and he would drop out of sight for a week or more. There's a good possibility that Mark could have benefitted from anti-depressants but it really is impossible for me or just about anyone to know what could have gotten Mark into the headspace where he could cope with his life and benefit from his amazing talent. Mark would have a run of a few months of knocking out world-class work - then suddenly drop out of sight . This made it difficult to rely on Mark as a reliable person to do business with. That said, he was so likable and so good at what he did . Any chance I had to have him paint for me was a chance I took without hesitation.

After Mark painted the purple frame you see in the first photos he said that he was probably going to close shop and do something else for a living. This was around 2005. He did have a few jobs but never stuck with anything for very long as his imagination and ideas were usually not in synch with his employer's business model. 

It really isn't for me to talk about his personal life- there's not that much that I know-mostly what I know of him was through all the bike collaborations we did over nearly two decades. I don't really remember how I found Mark or how he found me but his paint jobs defined my bikes in the eyes of my customers and in print media. In the era of Mark's painting career there were no limits on what someone could ask for-and receive-in a paint scheme.......those were good days.

This bike was one of four that I built for Paris-Brest-Paris 1995. This is the bike I personally rode in the event. Mark painted all four bikes and if I remember right, he gave me a deal because he wanted to be one of the sponsors. I think he also felt that getting exposure to the long-distance Randonneur crowd would not hurt, either. I wound up riding all over western Europe in this bike in 1995 and 1999. 

Since 1999 this bike has seen very little use, mostly hanging on display. I have newer more modern bikes now that I ride so this one had sat idle until yesterday. I took it down from its high hook, aired up the tires and rode it for about an hour yesterday because I received a phone call from Mark's eldest son that Mark had died in his sleep on April 22nd , just shy of his 62nd birthday. I had not seen Mark in a few years but I knew that he was going through a very acrimonious divorce and did not have a permanent residence . I was aware that he was going through a very difficult time-I even stored a couple of his bikes for about two years while he dealt with not having a place to call home. 

Mark is gone-I don't think there's anyone else to tell his story and my version is not very complete but his work is out there-unmistakeable when you see it. I have kept a couple of the bikes he painted - not so much for how they rode or what sort of job I did building the frame. I kept these bikes because of the work that Mark did to make these bikes exceptional. I know that there are a few truly amazing painters out there doing remarkable stuff currently. These guys are very talented and it shows in their work. That said, there was only one Dr. Deltron and I don't think that anyone will ever eclipse what he did when he was at his most inspired.