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.