tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7738144799027291782024-03-13T05:39:05.010-07:00can't we just get along ?One custom bicycle framebuilder's take on the rights , wrongs and just plain stupids in the tiny world of custom bikes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-79155171458736803882023-12-28T22:45:00.000-08:002023-12-28T22:45:56.258-08:00Where are all my friends ?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAHk3LtLil5a96aKrXeKd7vxCGcEv6QhCjLbYLR4u7-nCbriDYWEFGoAjwokTZ5M2Ytpk9m8mmuK0tTsIM5UYL8CjHcYmT5RcL9I7oBWBc0Dh-TbpbgwzESc6NHdMlz04-k8h8TGi9Q-ZIBH2X_DViWE3cB_S5ahIBJg0ic2fMUTbU9t3KNd0I3rszK__q/s2016/IMG_3685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAHk3LtLil5a96aKrXeKd7vxCGcEv6QhCjLbYLR4u7-nCbriDYWEFGoAjwokTZ5M2Ytpk9m8mmuK0tTsIM5UYL8CjHcYmT5RcL9I7oBWBc0Dh-TbpbgwzESc6NHdMlz04-k8h8TGi9Q-ZIBH2X_DViWE3cB_S5ahIBJg0ic2fMUTbU9t3KNd0I3rszK__q/s320/IMG_3685.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /> 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". <p></p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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 <i>them.</i> 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 <i>were</i> 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........</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-71707762427883453302023-10-15T10:23:00.000-07:002023-10-15T10:23:31.924-07:00Give me the strength to........<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNO84cVxBeiZuDUSNOIlm7yNZSFmeb-MdDIYAQ03J3IM2IZTWpDRlMBbETsnFOgi_53ZMCzf5T_WDOHMbjExwZ8nlEyhRZL5XzWtENzOBBWYiMDbqlOJdfgaWmqFSAeV061BkYw2l4WtKd5lAbRfedmDLYQ5s4gq240vycz1mw6tPqQj7mUI-ZQkY-8r5/s2016/IMG_2163.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNO84cVxBeiZuDUSNOIlm7yNZSFmeb-MdDIYAQ03J3IM2IZTWpDRlMBbETsnFOgi_53ZMCzf5T_WDOHMbjExwZ8nlEyhRZL5XzWtENzOBBWYiMDbqlOJdfgaWmqFSAeV061BkYw2l4WtKd5lAbRfedmDLYQ5s4gq240vycz1mw6tPqQj7mUI-ZQkY-8r5/s320/IMG_2163.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>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. <p></p><p>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.</p><p>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.<br /> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-43681436630340929462023-07-23T08:40:00.001-07:002023-07-23T08:40:56.341-07:00We ain't goin' out like that.....<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOW_VJ7Fr7t76X1pFFp3C96W8nLKYeJgTJE24qAhia800jKk9KmC-ulGblkCr11Vk0iGMSD4YXxN_EgUJvJB1JMGNc7Boi77HhtKCBqd9z0f8bus7vSt5H5JLnlWdhIHvTmDEDsuJGrAa0K4TIvUJcTuP2Ogr1OYPWtwfy8Fw7q4A5H0r54GYVY2Hfrfah/s2016/IMG_4809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOW_VJ7Fr7t76X1pFFp3C96W8nLKYeJgTJE24qAhia800jKk9KmC-ulGblkCr11Vk0iGMSD4YXxN_EgUJvJB1JMGNc7Boi77HhtKCBqd9z0f8bus7vSt5H5JLnlWdhIHvTmDEDsuJGrAa0K4TIvUJcTuP2Ogr1OYPWtwfy8Fw7q4A5H0r54GYVY2Hfrfah/s320/IMG_4809.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>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.<p></p><p>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. </p><p>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. </p><p>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.<br /> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-14190309585714738412023-05-13T18:58:00.000-07:002023-05-13T18:58:19.572-07:00Some ideas are best appreciated in their absence..<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSIPpV0xml4TQINb-Bwdn3zOuynsj16rwxUWxM_F6DVyY8QKuPjwK1Fj2KoRPHAWyPZOfMvx-P2vMgHfwsRd7U2Pu42V14p9p6MPCVYreszc1jQOfV9BnxuQnZZyr3PhxlkWwOropu3-X46R50vOxJ4Ledz4TJAlmEAiC19qRR4TQqtOAZimJAzpCUbw/s2016/IMG_4160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSIPpV0xml4TQINb-Bwdn3zOuynsj16rwxUWxM_F6DVyY8QKuPjwK1Fj2KoRPHAWyPZOfMvx-P2vMgHfwsRd7U2Pu42V14p9p6MPCVYreszc1jQOfV9BnxuQnZZyr3PhxlkWwOropu3-X46R50vOxJ4Ledz4TJAlmEAiC19qRR4TQqtOAZimJAzpCUbw/s320/IMG_4160.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /> 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 <i>don't</i> 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. <p></p><p>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. </p><p>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 .</p><p>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. </p><p>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. </p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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. </p><p>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 ?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-78489489111289194082023-01-27T21:36:00.000-08:002023-01-27T21:36:27.305-08:00R.I.P. Dr. Deltron- Mark Bunten<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BH-xnJcDRA0YbjVrveKZ-niXc_sWOhivWfyTnhdpl0Ahq5a33jyPexHsIhMy44XArePl5t7EIoMubSHgeMtT8hv4qO6X-xX3Wc2CjAb1EbOvhj-uYb0_rJcr_UkSfYC6WeQxLKOOGNhT5DN311Kkh3rpnSWv6foBDTv3Set_6HVrBRCi_d9Nt4Uvxg/s1632/IMG_2131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BH-xnJcDRA0YbjVrveKZ-niXc_sWOhivWfyTnhdpl0Ahq5a33jyPexHsIhMy44XArePl5t7EIoMubSHgeMtT8hv4qO6X-xX3Wc2CjAb1EbOvhj-uYb0_rJcr_UkSfYC6WeQxLKOOGNhT5DN311Kkh3rpnSWv6foBDTv3Set_6HVrBRCi_d9Nt4Uvxg/s320/IMG_2131.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>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. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiA2G6M9PV4IquWo9ObbnfNbjFT7K6UvhSqPIL6Zay28EwOEI86USMZVwO5CYgrWUbK7dIXLIzxJ2Rv9CW1s_GzlKWBgDsmVdFROsEYLff82GAI7o5eSFyK9a4hqbDA6iQmIvsiY0PlAaMMyLq2hoX2PPU89N-9q9L2k_2-xRceNuv-xocTjCD9LwpDg/s2016/IMG_9063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiA2G6M9PV4IquWo9ObbnfNbjFT7K6UvhSqPIL6Zay28EwOEI86USMZVwO5CYgrWUbK7dIXLIzxJ2Rv9CW1s_GzlKWBgDsmVdFROsEYLff82GAI7o5eSFyK9a4hqbDA6iQmIvsiY0PlAaMMyLq2hoX2PPU89N-9q9L2k_2-xRceNuv-xocTjCD9LwpDg/s320/IMG_9063.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>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.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_eWhYVZwUONblWTqGsLVtYAXK5-RBJ8WFOerGQHOd2QtjcVjAjxNct0jD-sVPaglFkBxAutmBbrD5Dj1IM-xPmPq7YR-MMN2HIs08hqJzf3xHiBuCzmt8uNIJx4oHv-psk6c-QBu1MZha55sgcVgN1f1jA1jRNgVTXQPNhhvIdp8NbBNgEy6fMl1lg/s2016/IMG_9062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_eWhYVZwUONblWTqGsLVtYAXK5-RBJ8WFOerGQHOd2QtjcVjAjxNct0jD-sVPaglFkBxAutmBbrD5Dj1IM-xPmPq7YR-MMN2HIs08hqJzf3xHiBuCzmt8uNIJx4oHv-psk6c-QBu1MZha55sgcVgN1f1jA1jRNgVTXQPNhhvIdp8NbBNgEy6fMl1lg/s320/IMG_9062.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>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. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2JBfnYIVRCKVC0APwG7q9l9Wwk911TM-nGJjMVxMkmioMEuP_TtM40WWBcGscsK-tT4i2UlBDWPl8A2M7rDOhWKgJqMuNCvyFSG8Mn2ExXYxHq_XFRiPEVrUQf4M5EOO_vNqew1OSvRcORNx-vm4hj_meS3I-2Ch1SzH2aflaEaJWaeoSdDd13CkFUQ/s1280/IMG_0412.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="1280" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2JBfnYIVRCKVC0APwG7q9l9Wwk911TM-nGJjMVxMkmioMEuP_TtM40WWBcGscsK-tT4i2UlBDWPl8A2M7rDOhWKgJqMuNCvyFSG8Mn2ExXYxHq_XFRiPEVrUQf4M5EOO_vNqew1OSvRcORNx-vm4hj_meS3I-2Ch1SzH2aflaEaJWaeoSdDd13CkFUQ/s320/IMG_0412.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>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.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCOu49jq3pSmc6NBuHwuDlkEyW44DGpVv6VjD4qQH1Eh82CoW8Zy-zvqWx2SvrOC9WZFGG78x6tUnldy_OKwEk0eSRhd7e_d1smqmAwo1gcRu-emIovCa4SX9j60vMlOj6sQLbZyzsinHn7ztAEukV53nCauxJS56pYbFKsSGbQl3VKQNY_oc6hh3IlA/s1280/IMG_0413.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="1280" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCOu49jq3pSmc6NBuHwuDlkEyW44DGpVv6VjD4qQH1Eh82CoW8Zy-zvqWx2SvrOC9WZFGG78x6tUnldy_OKwEk0eSRhd7e_d1smqmAwo1gcRu-emIovCa4SX9j60vMlOj6sQLbZyzsinHn7ztAEukV53nCauxJS56pYbFKsSGbQl3VKQNY_oc6hh3IlA/s320/IMG_0413.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>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. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvZn11_cGRVRZbfkW21CCKHaYf52tPr0BwDnA-S-tnBYU8QCDtkUlN5cg6FcxNwRiEUlUr1vY55Hk8HzglqenK7Iv-CpbUo_kavghtq277GifslNvv8aIFmi4urjNPc0dEeWkWdRrLubfWZjJjwoheUqOdBRIRuIqYynMSQ5pOycaLWWE_qjFeEpJrQ/s1280/IMG_0415.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="1280" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvZn11_cGRVRZbfkW21CCKHaYf52tPr0BwDnA-S-tnBYU8QCDtkUlN5cg6FcxNwRiEUlUr1vY55Hk8HzglqenK7Iv-CpbUo_kavghtq277GifslNvv8aIFmi4urjNPc0dEeWkWdRrLubfWZjJjwoheUqOdBRIRuIqYynMSQ5pOycaLWWE_qjFeEpJrQ/s320/IMG_0415.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>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.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQLkG9hIBL0ilzJLrFHjXBBbgKaw9H08BXs_8QRyIjKbHyVc_k_gTU0ChXJDNq4ZcYC3L7o3-_c1-Eni103AiihBHpQwbrfdppWCngkoSCtYPds-YvdWsx-5hsmS3bGO_KHFk2rkBEWpzEq1wBF4HUgEq1Ak1VktkwDnhsLIa2TJJ36-g_1C3QzAONA/s2016/IMG_1384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQLkG9hIBL0ilzJLrFHjXBBbgKaw9H08BXs_8QRyIjKbHyVc_k_gTU0ChXJDNq4ZcYC3L7o3-_c1-Eni103AiihBHpQwbrfdppWCngkoSCtYPds-YvdWsx-5hsmS3bGO_KHFk2rkBEWpzEq1wBF4HUgEq1Ak1VktkwDnhsLIa2TJJ36-g_1C3QzAONA/s320/IMG_1384.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>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. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qLAt1DLgUY6phhRiGzJtfqWGiylWQDLFA3_deQKFA_PSNucnvpM1T-Cz24y-w8pdaplluIECI5oMCC0Dt2bS8QeshR5HCS2Pl6MGSAM81G6zO7sT6dpE596dXlkePaceYjWvkgvvFDV-HxBCd3xhgy8OHIipDA8ywr3y79T65FH01XVdlIrk1NcMVw/s2016/IMG_1386.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qLAt1DLgUY6phhRiGzJtfqWGiylWQDLFA3_deQKFA_PSNucnvpM1T-Cz24y-w8pdaplluIECI5oMCC0Dt2bS8QeshR5HCS2Pl6MGSAM81G6zO7sT6dpE596dXlkePaceYjWvkgvvFDV-HxBCd3xhgy8OHIipDA8ywr3y79T65FH01XVdlIrk1NcMVw/s320/IMG_1386.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>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. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ6xDYoOh46Uz7OLm0dz059LYgryzTXAHUZ9dDJtKiVy9bCGDV7zaC4KPxZYYbDt0mGQRfNcLYV4pfclYVVJRQIhhjKD5vlzSKYy_5ct72lG7qJjTyY9z1RSri94o7WMshvLmAWva9KCtc18vAFt8vBYApgFyplSXaZo2lRR_NpFJyg6yjOGvb7g3R9Q/s2016/IMG_1385.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ6xDYoOh46Uz7OLm0dz059LYgryzTXAHUZ9dDJtKiVy9bCGDV7zaC4KPxZYYbDt0mGQRfNcLYV4pfclYVVJRQIhhjKD5vlzSKYy_5ct72lG7qJjTyY9z1RSri94o7WMshvLmAWva9KCtc18vAFt8vBYApgFyplSXaZo2lRR_NpFJyg6yjOGvb7g3R9Q/s320/IMG_1385.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>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. <br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-27556247435420382912022-12-31T16:42:00.000-08:002022-12-31T16:42:01.046-08:00Rat turds and rare metals-another frame builder garage sale<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_Aod7qu4Iq9gA-FCFI-6wPdcMh8PcqMyMmQSgGIyYq1JemQMsyeY781UrpgWMgR4HNkjvf8FmvOQv26vqHbPAYfc1SmTZUry-qTvkqH7xWII0bC61QlaUMOoZGzKT-vMHE7Ue0sp8vAUKKmw-P4dqmcA2MHePnPmTGcbz9h9RiQZlz2VN5Zq8M6AMg/s2016/IMG_1218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_Aod7qu4Iq9gA-FCFI-6wPdcMh8PcqMyMmQSgGIyYq1JemQMsyeY781UrpgWMgR4HNkjvf8FmvOQv26vqHbPAYfc1SmTZUry-qTvkqH7xWII0bC61QlaUMOoZGzKT-vMHE7Ue0sp8vAUKKmw-P4dqmcA2MHePnPmTGcbz9h9RiQZlz2VN5Zq8M6AMg/s320/IMG_1218.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> Back in 1961 a guy named Hugh Enochs decided with a partner to start building bicycle frames. The brand name was 'Paragon'- a good name that is now used by a bike industry machine shop that supplies parts to.......you guessed it- frame builders. The two operations as far as I know had nothing to do with each other as the Paragon frame operation was shut long before the machine shop started business. Paragon was no more, but that was not the end of Hugh Enoch's foray into frame building and the bicycle business. What I know about him was that he had a small distributing company called "Jevelot" that serviced retail shops. He offered a selection of small parts and also did frame building, repair and re-painting. He was good at what he did but the bike business back in the '70's was not a good place to try to make a living. Hugh did side gigs working in bay area bicycle shops such as Velo Sport in Berkeley and the Bicycle Outfitter in Los Altos. Hugh was very familiar with tandem bicycles and all the specialized parts and services that they required. <p></p><p>Jevelot had a run in the '70's and '80's selling stuff like toe clip straps that Hugh made in his shop. He got synthetic strap material and buckles and a rivet machine so that he could produce them himself, thus not having to order from overseas and dealing with the frequent delays and shortages of parts. Dock strikes use to really throw a wrench in the bike business supply chain regularly and Hugh's proprietary goods were a great option for small shops, provided they knew that his small company existed. I remember working at a couple of shops and ordering a few items from Hugh. He was not overly friendly on the phone , but he was very professional and one got the feeling that he knew what he was talking about .</p><p>A number of years ago Hugh's health started failing . At this time he is in a care facility with Parkinson's and is unable to conduct business any more.His wife has had the job of disposing of all his accumulation of tools and leftover inventory from his Jevelot days and all his decades in the bicycle business. A customer of mine was enlisted to oversee the sale of all his stuff and I got a call asking if I wanted anything out of all the inventory of frame building materials and tools. I was not that keen to get more stuff and further clutter my own shop but I felt that buying at least something would help out Hugh's wife who was elderly and clearly overwhelmed with the task of dealing with all the stuff, literally two small garages packed to the roof with clutter. Some of the stuff was useful but a lot of it was pretty dated and likely to be just thrown out. </p><p>On a rainy Tuesday afternoon I drove the one hour drive to the small town of La Honda where Hugh and his wife had called home for 50+ years. I met my customer and Hugh's wife there and when the garage door opened I saw a familiar sight- lots of boxes of bike parts , tubing and tools.....just like a number of garages of frame builders who have either died or just quit. I have no doubt that my shop will be the same scene when the inevitable end of the line comes for me. An associate who also builds frames was with me and he was much more enthusiastic about climbing over boxes and workbenches to look into each and every box to see what was there. No doubt , other people had come earlier and scooped up valuable and vintage European bicycle parts but we were there for the tubing, lugs and maybe some tools. The garages smelled like rodent cages and there was rat feces everywhere. I felt myself kind of getting ill while I was there but looking through the stuff was compelling. The tubing was mostly Reynolds from the '70's and '80's- very much what I was looking for. Was it something I needed ? Not really- I only used tubing like that for repairing old frames ( Which I no longer do ) or for a series of novelty retro frames ( which I don't sell ) so for me this was all about helping Hugh's wife and taking a look at the dregs of his life in the bike business that likely started before I was out of nursery school.</p><p>I made a small pile of tubing and welding rod and was preparing to make a cash offer. My associate had another idea- he took about nine boxes of tubing , a fork jig and a box of old prepping tools and added to my pile. Now we had a full truck load to take back. I made an offer to Hugh's wife and she accepted immediately. I got the feeling that she just wanted everything out of there regardless of how much money she got for it. I wound up barely making a dent in the huge amount of stuff but at least I did my part. I'm going back up there as my associate has his eye on a tool cabinet and there's the whole "Did we miss anything?" impulse that happens after one leaves such an unusual garage sale that only happens when someone's career is over, and Hugh's career was long enough to span generations-from the time of toe clips and wool shorts to the time of E-mountain bikes , Zwift , power meters and Strava. I'm not what you would call young but looking at the stuff in the garage I realized that I was the next generation after Hugh and things turned out quite differently for me than they did for him. In the end, I am sure it will be a similar scene- people looking at all the stuff in my shop and saying : " What was he thinking when he got 50 of these ?"Of course the next sentence would be : " Who the hell would want this stuff ? ". I don't pretend to be any different in that regard. Every time I think that I am shrinking my immense accumulation of bicycle stuff, another load comes in- either just dropped off by a well meaning friend or as in this case , my own weakness for going out in the field and filling my truck. </p><p>The upside to this is just that Hugh's wife will be rid of some of his stuff without having to hire a truck to dispose of it and also, the hope that the unfinished work of Hugh might not wind up in the landfill. I have already built a frame and fork out of tubing from Hugh's garage and I have plans to build more , but only after I build a lot more customer's frames out of more modern materials. I used to set aside the time between Christmas and New Years for building lugged frames , maybe one or two- not for customers but just to keep my hand in that style of building and more importantly, to use the tubes that have slept decades in boxes - waiting to be used. There's little chance that I'll use all the stuff I got from Hugh but I'll no doubt hand off the remaining tubes to someone who expresses interest in carrying on the craft, even if it is just a hobby. I feel lucky to have been one of the few builders who eeked out a living ( I still do ) at a very fickle profession. I know that Hugh was not able to sustain himself merely building frames but his impact on bay area cycling history is notable- he knew a lot of people and was well connected with the best shops back in the day. I would hope that he would approve of the spirit of how I have gone about taking his dregs and giving them life. I can't do it all , but I will do what I can. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-86654573415142248582022-01-20T07:06:00.000-08:002022-01-20T07:06:46.108-08:00Peter Johnson<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgE4y8hF-p_oeIEVm_jb-RulX2IOdr6Tots9Nv3poerzYhRJOQhLcEfbjLveg7jGwgy_0tEZ1HviULakor63wKCCqON2gzLkuKkyERXBjoSm7rh_ebRAmDDNLg_WYi8-1yE01LrSGkUufho2rbOjJIb4rNn-tzv7NeP2-O0NZJttfIPgp97DhxAmt157g=s2016" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgE4y8hF-p_oeIEVm_jb-RulX2IOdr6Tots9Nv3poerzYhRJOQhLcEfbjLveg7jGwgy_0tEZ1HviULakor63wKCCqON2gzLkuKkyERXBjoSm7rh_ebRAmDDNLg_WYi8-1yE01LrSGkUufho2rbOjJIb4rNn-tzv7NeP2-O0NZJttfIPgp97DhxAmt157g=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /> No, this is not an example of Peter Johnson's work- frankly I don't have any photos of him or his frames. I did know him and I have seen his work. Back when I was working at the Bicycle Center in Santa Cruz as a wrench I got the chance to meet Peter in 1978 and see one of his frames. I was really blown away at the delicate detail- the thinned and beautifully finished lugs were as good or better than any I had seen....and I had seen many beautiful frames at that point. The Bicycle Center had quite a collection of high end frames from Europe and the USA and many well heeled customers would show up with the finest bikes for service or to join on shop rides. In a sea of quality bike frames, Peter Johnson's frame stood out as maybe a step further in terms of meticulous detail and finish. Peter himself did not talk up his work and billed himself as a hobby builder who dabbled in the craft. He said that the amount of time it took for him to build a frame made it impossible for the task to be financially rewarding. He just built frames as an expression without the thought of ever going full time with it. <p></p><p>One day many years later I was in San Diego for a bike show and was staying at Bryan Baylis' house. He showed me his workshop and pulled out a frame that he was going to paint for a client. I looked at the frame and noticed that it was put together with lugs brazed with brass. Unlike most frames done this way, this frame was immaculate , almost delicate in its construction. Bryan asked me if I knew who the builder was by looking at the frame. I told him that I didn't have a clue. He told me that it was built by Peter Johnson and that the brazing was beyond what he , Bryan Baylis was capable of........that was shocking to hear as Bryan was one of the foremost builders in the world. He was one-upped by a dabbler- Peter Johnson, a machinist in Nor-Cal who only built a couple of frames a year, if that. </p><p>Peter knew who all the older builders were and he would go to their shops when they were selling off old building supplies. I also went to a couple of these builders, Art Stump for one. I was hoping to score some old UK made blank lugs from the '50's. Art told me that I was too late-Peter had already cleaned him out. This happened on more than one occasion. I am sure that his collection of old bicycle parts was unrivaled in the state. Peter had a real reverence for the craft and all the old ways, even if he himself was not that involved. Even with his limited track record of frames, he still commanded the respect of the best in the business-something not generally afforded to anyone other than full time builders- that's how good he was but of course, he himself would never tell you that. </p><p>I didn't get to talk to him much but maybe 4-5 years ago he showed up at my shop. He was engaging, funny and insightful. I really enjoyed the visit- it was a nice surprise. I was hoping that our paths would cross again but they sadly didn't. Now, hearing of his passing I am reminded of the '70's and things that I saw in bicycle shops that impressed me. I will never forget that first Peter Johnson frame, or any of the other few that I saw over the last 40-odd years. RIP, mr. Johnson.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-50460578237635918402021-05-25T18:59:00.005-07:002021-05-25T21:55:37.532-07:00If I were writing a book on frame building......<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUeAuUqUeIMNf6vYpAsoFOH26xJqm9AutvWP6iu7DcTNuyAWpDE53YUz_s5nOPloiUzIj_8sQWygX8gclVS4JWyQtDhsGjMy9oHh_Jjra7iWR8tx33J2uxE26IoNLB_HCsamOvduJK_53/s1632/IMG_4315.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUeAuUqUeIMNf6vYpAsoFOH26xJqm9AutvWP6iu7DcTNuyAWpDE53YUz_s5nOPloiUzIj_8sQWygX8gclVS4JWyQtDhsGjMy9oHh_Jjra7iWR8tx33J2uxE26IoNLB_HCsamOvduJK_53/s320/IMG_4315.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>So.....what qualifications do I have to instruct anyone in the craft of bicycle frame building ? -Look it up. I have been an instructor on occasion, although not that often , but often enough to maybe think that I have something to offer the poor folks who want to try out what I do- if not for a living than maybe for an experience of sorts. This experience can lead to fulfillment but it can also lead to some pretty serious disappointment. This feeling of disappointment can manifest itself in several ways- it can re-enforce the self loathing that effects myself and many of my brethren of the torch. It can serve to whittle down the self love that some of my other brethren cultivate. Either way, it is a real slap in the face when things don't go your way in the shop. The thing that separates the career guys from the dabblers is how they deal with problems in the shop. I feel that little has been written about this subject in frame building so if per chance I use some of my later years to write a volume on bicycle frame building I have a title for the chapter:<p></p><p>Getting even with inanimate objects. </p><p>Yes- this is real truth as I see it. One might think : " Why risk destroying a valuable tool or portion of a semi-completed frame when one can just take a few deep breaths and carry on ? " I'll tell you why. These materials and tools are things that you bought. You are the boss in your shop and these tools need to know that. There's no reason you can't give a good swift kick to that bike stand that hit you in the head when you were least expecting it. You don't have to take that crap - if you don't dispense with a little discipline you might have the same thing happen again. Is that shop vac getting in the way ? Carry it to a far corner of the shop and give it a good toss- maybe it won't care but that's not important. What is important is that you are showing these tools who is the real boss......you picked out these tools, you spent the money, you gave them shelter......the least they can do is to stay the fuck out of the way and not make your day even more miserable than normal.</p><p>There are some that might say : "By beating on these tools you are only hurting yourself ." I call bullshit on that - anyway, maybe I <i>do</i> want to hurt myself a little- but I really want to hurt that sonofabitch bench vise, too. Why the hell don't you hold the work tightly like I want you too ? You think I didn't tighten you enough ? Is that all you have to say ? Well , take this ball peen hammer blow and think about it again , you useless hunk of iron . Besides, a well disciplined shop takes on a nice patina......or maybe better to call it a 'distressed' look. A visitor can venture into the shop and immediately be impressed with a well disciplined shop floor where the concrete has had some nice chips taken out - not that the story of the chips need be told - that story is not really relevant anyway . Just a look at that floor will be a silent story of whatever took place that will not be discussed. </p><p>So maybe you think that one has to be insane to think that showing an inanimate object who's the boss is a good thing to do. I urge you to talk to just about anyone in any craft- not just bicycle frame building - and let them tell you what actions they had to take against an uncaring array of fine toolery. It does not seem to matter how much money you forked over for that magnificent hacksaw- that piece of shit will happily cut the crap out of you any old day and send you to the emergency room. I feel that it is fitting that you might have the urge to send that saw across the shop with the one good hand you have left- just make sure that you don't throw it at an innocent rubber mallet that meant you no harm, even backed you up the last time you really needed to beat on something but didn't necessarily want to leave marks. While I don't discourage getting even with the occasional inanimate object in the shop it is important to remember that there are tools that will be needed to complete the task at hand- so......don't go destroying everything in the shop- save your rage only for the worst offenders. You know who they are ............<br /> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-42442911168647416492021-05-20T08:16:00.004-07:002021-05-20T08:24:47.592-07:00You know who I was but you don't know me- Lawrence Malone<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR07ikMZjrSOukCdT0gdapnGPJPZ66hyphenhyphenJWqRzajOCp-SjU9KsNe-Hrsr3aOatggjKaCNPBdgglfuwcp5awyd6dwTshOazbz1EDV9pBy7ZuSn670XuKnu2iArawg-nBiVWNJV1N5x9vKOx6/s2016/IMG_5916.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR07ikMZjrSOukCdT0gdapnGPJPZ66hyphenhyphenJWqRzajOCp-SjU9KsNe-Hrsr3aOatggjKaCNPBdgglfuwcp5awyd6dwTshOazbz1EDV9pBy7ZuSn670XuKnu2iArawg-nBiVWNJV1N5x9vKOx6/s320/IMG_5916.JPG" /></a></div><br /> While I didn't know him as well as a lot of other people I do have some Lawrence Malone stories. He died in an automobile accident this week - the true cause of it a mystery much like the life of the man himself. He was a bike racer of the first order but I don't think that he wanted that to be his total identity. His racing spanned a number of years and included no less than five national cyclocross titles but he was not much like those who he competed against. He raced at a time when American bike racers were very poor financially but none were poorer than Lawrence. He borrowed bikes , bummed food and rides to get to races-most of which he would win but the prizes seldom included much if any cash. He lived on almost nothing on a good day and less the rest of the time.<p></p><p>My first exposure to Lawrence was the cover of Velo News magazine. The cover photo was of Lawrence jumping a barrier on his bike at a cyclocross race. As far as I know, he was the first racer to do this and while he was in Europe racing he really made a name for himself by airing the barriers when nobody else had thought about riding that way- he was an original thinker. Seeing this made me , a lousy Cat. 4 beginner go out on my bike and jump every chuck hole in the county on my training rides. On one particular jump I came down ungracefully and broke a very expensive 3TTT saddle. It was at that point I realized how much skill that I didn't have and would never have- and I also realized how skilled Lawrence must be to be able to jump barriers that were more than a foot tall. </p><p>The first time I saw Lawrence in person was in 1978. I was on a ride with my bike shop boss on a popular route up Hwy. 1 north to Swanton road. When we were about 45 min. into the ride we were passed by a rider going very fast, followed by a pack of what must have been about 20-25 riders. My boss said that this group was the 'Friday ride" - a pack of most of the fastest cyclists in the county. The guy in front that they were chasing ? -Lawrence. My boss said that if I wanted to try my hand at that ride I would have to train as people like Lawrence ( even though he really was in a class by himself ) were going to leave me behind in short order if I didn't put in the miles. To see all those top riders working so hard to catch Lawrence impressed me- how could one guy hold off a whole pack ? </p><p>The next time I saw Lawrence it was a bit of a surprise. I was in my apartment with my girlfriend at the time on a Friday or Saturday night- not sure what night it was, actually. About 8:00-9:00 PM there was aloud and frantic knock at the door. I opened the door and in walked Lawrence with his bike. He closed the door and sat down on the living room floor and opened up a pack that he was carrying. Out of the pack came a gallon bottle of cheap Red Mountain wine- he offered us a swig , which we declined. He shrugged and took a drink. I'm not sure how he knew where I lived but my apartment was just what he needed that night for about 15 minutes or so. After a bit of conversation and a few drinks, Lawrence got up and took a peak out the front door. He looked up and down the street - after this he thanked us for our hospitality and got on his bike and went on his way. Before he left I asked him what was up- he just smiled and said that he needed to hide for a few minutes and now that the coast was clear he could continue on his way. I never fully found out who Lawrence was hiding from but knowing that would not make the story any better- it might even ruin it. It was just Lawrence being Lawrence.</p><p>Years would go by - Lawrence was no longer racing but he was still a bicycle rider, scrounger and always cobbing various old bikes into transportation. He came by my shop in the early '90's with an Italian frame with a broken chain stay. He asked me how much it would cost to fix it . I told him around $ 40. He said OK and left the frame. I would not see him again for maybe two years. I had fixed the frame but after two years I figured that Lawrence was not coming back for it- $ 40 was big money to Lawrence and perhaps he had forgotten about the frame or maybe had decided not to pick it up. I had the frame painted, assembled it into a complete bike and sold it. A few weeks after I sold the bike Lawrence came by. He asked me if I still had the frame and if it had been repaired. I told him that I had repaired it two years ago and that I thought that he had abandoned or forgotten about it. When I told him that I had sold it he didn't get angry- he didn't ask me for money or anything really- he just looked disappointed and shook his head a little. I apologized but said that anything left in my shop that long is subject to getting sold or disposed of. He seemed to understand and left.</p><p>The next time I saw Lawrence was in my back yard about a year later. Some how word had gotten out that I had a big pile of bike parts that I wanted to get rid of and they were in my back yard. Lawrence called up and asked if he could look through the pile. I told him yes and he drove up later in his Carmen Ghia and proceeded to rifle through the pile of frames and parts. I told him to just make a pile of what he wanted and we would come up with a price. He must have worked for about an hour looking carefully through all the bike stuff and eventually had a pretty large pile of what he wanted. He asked me how much for the pile, to which I said : How about $ 200.00 ? Lawrence looked at me blankly for a second and they broke into a bit of a smile. I think he was pretty happy with the price- he opened his wallet and produced 10 twenty dollar bills- I was in shock- this was Lawrence Malone buying $ 200 worth of bike parts in cash. While I knew that the parts were worth far more than what he was paying, I was still amazed that Lawrence was carrying that amount of cash for any reason. He carryed the parts to his car and whatever frames he got that would not fit inside the car he bungie corded them to a rickety rack on the back of the Carmen Ghia . After that he bid goodby and thanked me for giving him the good deal. I thanked him and watched him drive off.</p><p>The last time I saw Lawrence was over a decade later. I was at a cyclocross race here in Santa Cruz watching the elite race. A friend pointed to a taller older man standing with a road bike near the side of the course. He asked me :" Is that Lawrence ?" I really had to look for awhile- it didn't look quite like the same guy who had driven away with the load of bike parts- if it really was Lawrence, he looked much older . He had moved to New Mexico years earlier and I had pretty foggy memories of what he looked like. It turned out that it was Lawrence indeed - in town for a visit and taking in a cyclocross race as a spectator. I didn't talk to him- I just felt like maybe he might just want to watch the race and not have a bunch of people talking to him as a distraction. Maybe I just didn't feel that I was someone he would remember or want to talk to. I regret not talking to him- I really regret not fully giving him credit for the fact that not only did he remember about that frame he left for me to repair- he remembered people, places, events- he was outwardly a spaced-out seeming character but in reality he was very present. I am sad that I didn't know him better , that I never got to build him a frame and get his opinion on how it rode. Most of all I am sad that I underestimated his capacity for observing and remembering the people he came into contact with. </p><p>As I said in the beginning, I didn't know Lawrence that well and I can't really talk about his life other than the few times that I saw him. There are all sorts of Lawrence stories out there- not all of them happy. He didn't always leave people with a smile and his past is a mixture of all sorts of varying accounts- I'll have to leave it at that and suggest that other people will be able to fill in the vast spaces that I left open in this story. In Lawrence's memory I tried to stick to what I recalled the best and not pass judgement . It is ironic and quite sad that such a bicycle guy would have his life end in an automobile accident . I think that Lawrence had a lot more to give to this life if he had had the chance , but with the chance he was given he did make an impact on cycling history , even if the identity that people gave him for his racing exploits only tell a fraction of what he really was all about. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-54391750526802078702021-05-02T19:24:00.002-07:002021-05-02T19:24:45.170-07:00New shop at last.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtH1NLJUvhHJzKMOuOdX6qsMlgmHIv_gbDxYV40f3GlGYi3zP2afcCnb0Zz0YgaUlRgw4pHVD21zCDKNQgFaVbzX_n7d2iCd-vYUHtel17gjdzgw_wCOHz9hOAceKlge6DBQ2wEC6KQ3oc/s2016/IMG_9207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtH1NLJUvhHJzKMOuOdX6qsMlgmHIv_gbDxYV40f3GlGYi3zP2afcCnb0Zz0YgaUlRgw4pHVD21zCDKNQgFaVbzX_n7d2iCd-vYUHtel17gjdzgw_wCOHz9hOAceKlge6DBQ2wEC6KQ3oc/s320/IMG_9207.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0fykt0b08wz33NyuNT-CSf6tVGJyqB1HUgPJPRbbeGcPvoOXU56HsvrvYQsqS48WzBqADQxJYAubGFeT0fw-Y4AcRgMkknnXNEABAUSgaKn8vXpoghmU14d7IdGtLv98AieLTCh7GFEz/s2016/IMG_9205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0fykt0b08wz33NyuNT-CSf6tVGJyqB1HUgPJPRbbeGcPvoOXU56HsvrvYQsqS48WzBqADQxJYAubGFeT0fw-Y4AcRgMkknnXNEABAUSgaKn8vXpoghmU14d7IdGtLv98AieLTCh7GFEz/s320/IMG_9205.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /> April was a heck of a month- EKG, stress test, angiogram, internal bleeding and a hematoma, three days of bed rest followed by 16 straight days of moving. I'm still alive and very close to recovered from my procedure at the hospital......living the dream. OK- now for the good news-I'm now in the best workspace I have ever had. I had to wait decades for it but at least I am there now. I have enough room to have a nice open floor and there's some natural light and more ventilation. The other bonus is that it is less rent than the last building I was in - more room, less rent ? In California ? -Yes.......does not seem possible but that's how it is now. I have no idea how long I'll be able to enjoy this spot but I'll be here as long as I can. Affordable industrial space is mostly extinct here in Santa Cruz. Small manufacturers like myself are being displaced by brew pubs , wine tasting rooms and cannabis distributors. Those are the businesses that have the money to pay for the high west side rents. There's a thriving economy in intoxication.....kind of funny but hey- I don't make the rules around here. <p></p><p>So- I have a 'destination shop' but with Covid, I can't have a bunch of people coming by and I can't have a grand opening party. That's OK with me.....I have a major ton of work to do , delayed by my hospitalization and subsequent bed rest and also by the 2+ weeks of the move. I'm ready to re-start tomorrow. Wish me luck- I have to get this place up and running and there's a bunch of tools that are going to be hard to find at first.It will be a challenge but this year has been all about challenges for everybody. I'm glad that mine aren't that monumental.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-85905151251111377092021-04-04T18:28:00.000-07:002021-04-04T18:28:01.057-07:00What could possibly go wrong ?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdT6tNmFXvGblOnGzL2B3zX9mmXHYk4ceTXzKpnjIjtvu3r0f0oIA7lOq38sjIWbZRNQhSFIZSW7nJjyzpiRJ0lLBdhaeYK0LtmUgZR5lHny1adxtw5x_Jg8mWDGUJ7vrWZEAeXCdN0MNX/s2016/IMG_3686.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdT6tNmFXvGblOnGzL2B3zX9mmXHYk4ceTXzKpnjIjtvu3r0f0oIA7lOq38sjIWbZRNQhSFIZSW7nJjyzpiRJ0lLBdhaeYK0LtmUgZR5lHny1adxtw5x_Jg8mWDGUJ7vrWZEAeXCdN0MNX/s320/IMG_3686.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>So.....yes, I am moving my shop. I have been saying this since about this time last year but as of a few days ago I have signed the rental agreement and have paid the first month's rent. Do I have a key yet ? -no. Has the place I'm moving into been fully vacated ? -That's a no as well. Long story- the previous renter is very old and has been moving very slowly-if at all to get his 40-odd year's of accumulation out of the space. He asked for a few more days to clear out what he wanted to keep and I said that as long as they have not changed the lock he can get his stuff out-until today. He asked for three days and I gave him three days. I'll have to do many dump and recycling runs to get the place empty enough for me to move into. The landlord let me slide on the security deposit if I do all the dump runs myself and take the place as-is. <p></p><p>Now this would be a full enough plate just by itself as I also have decades of accumulation in my shop to move. Fortunately , my last move in 2018 resulted in 4 truckloads of stuff getting donated , recycled or taken to the landfill so I won't have that to worry about. The thing that makes this move a bit daunting are the many more bicycles and boxes of parts that have come my way since I started renting the present shop. Also, a new huge free-standing loft was constructed for this shop and it will have to be dismantled and moved and re-built. </p><p>But the real wild card is this: On the last two hard bike rides I have done I have experienced some new chest pain- not really horrible, but new. It only happened when I was doing a threshold effort up a long steep climb. I talked to a doctor and he said "Stop riding hard and get a stress test ." This I have done , along with other tests. The result is that I now go in on the 12th for an angiogram to see if I have blocked arteries and need a stent or two. The good news is that this is a very quick procedure and I'm likely to bounce back in a few days. The wild card is not knowing the extent of the problem, or even if there is any real problem as I have no other symptoms. I can still ride comfortably , although I have definitely slowed down to avoid giving myself a coronary. At 65 , I'm not alone in having a health issue like this. Plenty of people half my age have gotten a stent. The timing of this issue though could not be more poorly timed. I'll have one week to do dump runs and then, without even starting my move I'll be going into the cardiac unit for the procedure. It has to be done but hell......WTF ? </p><p>So..........I should have a pretty good crew to help me with the move, although I might miss some days. This happened last year when I fell off a ladder and got a concussion and missed 4 days of the final part of the shop move. Will I pull this move off successfully ? I hope so.....I just hope that the doctors pull off their job successfully and that they don't have much of a job to do. Of course, if I die on the table there's a good chance that your frame will be delayed significantly.......</p><p><br /></p><p>hope to see you all on the other side of this one- it could be way worse-I caught this issue ver early I think. <br /> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-75660969519174315972021-03-01T08:31:00.005-08:002021-03-01T08:31:51.340-08:00Again ??<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZOw_CPpKb8mXS3M033gbTauOWuWqWVWE8vFjcdkgDOyjQce1R7228M8O1ejai4UkvHSsLBdB6u6Ufe-fCxSnp7Fe-8Org4vNjKRWzBY1_AKu5qjmaPrCmqoJGfCqjzYZZNYZ4sNySoAR/s1632/IMG_5541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZOw_CPpKb8mXS3M033gbTauOWuWqWVWE8vFjcdkgDOyjQce1R7228M8O1ejai4UkvHSsLBdB6u6Ufe-fCxSnp7Fe-8Org4vNjKRWzBY1_AKu5qjmaPrCmqoJGfCqjzYZZNYZ4sNySoAR/s320/IMG_5541.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>With a build list longer than ever, a pandemic and a crazy busy time in the bike business, what could be more unwelcome than another shop move ? Yes, after less than three years I am moving the shop down the road, not very far- back to the same building I was in before. Crazy ? -Yes.....but this actually might turn out to be a good thing. As luck would have it, a place in my old building that has about 40% more room and about 40% less rent is opening up. The person with whom I'm sharing my current shop with has decided to move out so I must leave as well. The current land lords have given us the green light to leave even before the lease is up. Less rent, more room ........why would I complain ?- Let me count the ways.....<p></p><p>Upon moving into the current shop I had pared down my junk and extra bits to a nice level and created a pretty good working space. Never mind that it had no natural light, poor ventilation and was very much a depressing concrete crypt that cost much more than any shop I had ever rented- I managed to make it work. Now that it has been a couple of years in this space I am somewhat used to it but winters in this cold unheated bunker are not something that warms the heart, the feet or anything. I am now 65 and thought of this time in my life to be the point where I take on less work and try to slow down a bit. This is definitely not the case in 2021. I had my busiest year even in 2020 and 2021 looks to outpace it already. I should be grateful for all the work that is coming my way-and I am, believe me-but during this surge of activity it must all grind to a halt while I transport my garbage heap a couple of blocks away. I have not even seen the new shop yet- there's real promise that it might be the best space ever and that the new lower rent will help me in my quest to get to a less busy week but really, with the added pressure of losing weeks of productive time during the move and also the prospect of having more room and a better work flow means that the temptation to buckle down and bust ass in these times of plenty is a compulsion I might have trouble shutting down. There are over 60 frames on my list right now- slowing down and smelling the flowers will not get these frames built.</p><p>So there it is- the September years workathon-shop disembowelment tour 2021. I'll try not to fall off a ladder this time and I'll do what I can to make a real nice place to work out of the next space. I never did have a grand opening of the last shop- I doubt that I'll have a grand closing of it, either. There won't be a grand opening of this shop- Covid makes that pretty much a non-starter. So......just like most of the big events in my so-called career, this one will take place with little or no fanfare, no press releases, no parties, just a few more dump runs and donations to the various bike charities around town. Wish me luck- this move will probably be the last big one-but that's what I said about the last one. It is just that this time I really feel that I do not have a decade of full time work left in me......all things come to an end at one point or another and even though I am still going full-tilt in 2021 I know that I am already feeling my limits physically and mentally. I have now too much stuff to keep track of and a capacity to do so that is shrinking steadily. I promise to do my best ...........again.<br /> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-72276474650777912442020-11-28T18:09:00.000-08:002020-11-28T18:09:43.596-08:00Out of the attic and onto the road<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-sXO2Vb81AitqQKhpshGvWT5OS0H4X6MfbgLiMMj3aj7M-9rJhT1EQQr_sYKk5-8ZR9pJydGTWGf5kWeqTFmS_4wv0YbCFOhAch4aNOXbCbi-mIEbiRrulq3AVfqkcYgmussw0ryabh2/s2016/IMG_8086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-sXO2Vb81AitqQKhpshGvWT5OS0H4X6MfbgLiMMj3aj7M-9rJhT1EQQr_sYKk5-8ZR9pJydGTWGf5kWeqTFmS_4wv0YbCFOhAch4aNOXbCbi-mIEbiRrulq3AVfqkcYgmussw0ryabh2/s320/IMG_8086.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Right about the time I was building my first frame I bought a used Bianchi frame , supposedly from the late '50's. The idea to search for one was spurred on by Ross, the guy who taught me how to light a torch and then gave me some guidance when I was building my first two frames. Ross told me how he had one of these old Bianchis and that it was the greatest bike ever. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSfFWA6-Ge2abz6bEfz-BLF3VvCz5DNqYgWFb_2n7HrsNROzpEMPw7iSlf48JAUel59Qo0yAhAsVoyVx8XvFEGaz60OvIZaKmPzZMeAC0Gwi2rBVoBq2CX6EsgZGL7hnU1bTuZ1PlCkwj/s2016/IMG_8087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoSfFWA6-Ge2abz6bEfz-BLF3VvCz5DNqYgWFb_2n7HrsNROzpEMPw7iSlf48JAUel59Qo0yAhAsVoyVx8XvFEGaz60OvIZaKmPzZMeAC0Gwi2rBVoBq2CX6EsgZGL7hnU1bTuZ1PlCkwj/s320/IMG_8087.JPG" /></a></div>If I remember the story right, Ross was on a ride on the Bianchi and crashed really hard. He was next to a small river so he went to the water to clean himself up and was out his wounds. When he got back up to the road his Bianchi was gone. He told me that he really missed the bike and the experience of losing it that way was really traumatic. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqezTvUS-ifQDUZqbBKPZnGJnih8bSX7FBcfBVKumlbvC1OuSxWDuB8n6sOtrZUUvndGCj6qZmLG57m0pIgEGk-jHoysGPg9UYimH5i9vW8aa8JF-9e96kHLg3kSv0gpynR1AvqN6XaGsc/s2016/IMG_8088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqezTvUS-ifQDUZqbBKPZnGJnih8bSX7FBcfBVKumlbvC1OuSxWDuB8n6sOtrZUUvndGCj6qZmLG57m0pIgEGk-jHoysGPg9UYimH5i9vW8aa8JF-9e96kHLg3kSv0gpynR1AvqN6XaGsc/s320/IMG_8088.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>After Ross told me how magical his old bike was, I made it my mission to find one. Luckily, someone working in the shop where I worked knew of one somewhere near Fresno that was sitting in a garage of an old retired frame builder. I was told that I could buy it for $ 75 but that it didn't have a fork. I had my friend pick it up for me and then began the search for a fork. Fortunately, I worked in a bike shop-a really busy one and I asked everyone if they knew of a fork that was proper for this bike. After about a year I was able to buy one for $ 40. It wasn't totally straight and it did have a dent in one of the blades but I knew that finding another one would be nearly impossible.<p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPj0BNZomGWehNygk3x1BCa91NFTsSspasMm2KUDMx1kDcjDaqQErbfmpVKOu7W3EhxiSVv3qsy3XZ13VwmqCFOseqRhGGeS7coJ68yJihf7bOI7y54AwuUdD7xV4sR55GVXrr_x-Nv_HN/s2016/IMG_8090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPj0BNZomGWehNygk3x1BCa91NFTsSspasMm2KUDMx1kDcjDaqQErbfmpVKOu7W3EhxiSVv3qsy3XZ13VwmqCFOseqRhGGeS7coJ68yJihf7bOI7y54AwuUdD7xV4sR55GVXrr_x-Nv_HN/s320/IMG_8090.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Next, I had to find the illusive Bianchi Headset that was exclusive to that brand and was no longer in production. I would up finding a low-end Bianchi that had been crashed but still had its special headset. This crashed frame was free as it was pretty worthless , except of course for the headset. Now all I had to do was to strip the parts from my other bike and build up this Bianchi and ride it. Ride it , I did......many miles. I put a Campagnolo triple on it and made it into a touring bike and rode from Denver , Co. to Calispell, Mt. , crossing the continental divide about 11 times. It remains the longest bike tour I have ever done and the bike never failed me- no flat tires or mechanicals I even had my tent fall off the front rack at high speed- I ran over it but didn't crash .......the bike was very stable .<p></p><p>About 1985 I lent the bike to my girlfriend for a few years as she really liked the way it rode, even with the crooked fork. She gave it back to me when I gave her another bike that I had built. When I got the Bianchi back I raided some parts from it and it would up hanging from a hook up until last September. I decided that this Covid time would be good for fixing up all the old project bikes in the shop. This bike is the one I have had the longest and might be the pick of the litter. I finally did fix the dent in the fork and aligned it- the bike is about a straight as it will ever be and riding it with no hands is no longer a death defying feat. Instead of putting on the hodgepodge of parts that came off it from the first time I built it , I went up into the loft of my shop and took out all the parts that were relatively correct for a bike of this time period. I didn't want to just get it rolling again- I wanted to honor it by making it what it originally was, a late '50's racing bike for 20-year old amphetamine-jacked professional European bicycle racers. While I was not able to preserve the chrome on the frame and fork, I was able to get the correct decals and took photos of the bike before the paint was stripped so that I could place the right decals in the right places.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizhFgxb6f6jWmZQhWA06eZTV_D1ScLM4Gmh2IGokKcEOa3WDb7JYu0J3M0RJ7BpsK7eykIXQDBOO1gHemO49_JyOp0Ka14swSU_wRHqt23jdjAholy12l116K-C0w9ovVD_Oer-IMOLPko/s2016/IMG_6971.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizhFgxb6f6jWmZQhWA06eZTV_D1ScLM4Gmh2IGokKcEOa3WDb7JYu0J3M0RJ7BpsK7eykIXQDBOO1gHemO49_JyOp0Ka14swSU_wRHqt23jdjAholy12l116K-C0w9ovVD_Oer-IMOLPko/s320/IMG_6971.JPG" /></a></div>Here are some of the shots of the bike before the restoration. Just so you all know, I had resisted repainting this bike for decades-I really loved the old patina and original decals. The years have not been that kind to this frame and if I had not done the repaint I think I would have been signing an early death warrant for this old treasure. Purists will probably be insulted by the lack of chrome and the powdercoat finish but hey- the color is correct and it will protect the bike from the elements better than anything else I could have had done. I'm not trying to win first prize at the Eroica bike show-I'm only trying to show some consideration for a half-century old bike that was possibly the best of its day-and as I like to say, "An old bike that was good in its day is still a good bike".<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6b6HNOG-m0n0IcYqkyjXYPD2Ca8SM7VXe-61KCdB9V79KVmEAhsSZsF1U691TGqwsF273Yqa2qBWsYyPxe75iIPudTTSmQDKV5sQFtgBL7-J5uuWvtqxhyphenhyphenlYFlDqOQB0b-OOlBAzfbQ0E/s2016/IMG_6972.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6b6HNOG-m0n0IcYqkyjXYPD2Ca8SM7VXe-61KCdB9V79KVmEAhsSZsF1U691TGqwsF273Yqa2qBWsYyPxe75iIPudTTSmQDKV5sQFtgBL7-J5uuWvtqxhyphenhyphenlYFlDqOQB0b-OOlBAzfbQ0E/s320/IMG_6972.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5fvdxID_rZrgdsb3t4S6cvMgKqjynHY6Hk4WzlF0c47MKy24Cq1L2_xGhdL7brMIGianO1FEXh3H-29XrnErrQZnExJUfPrsjBYTlsas1wOV1IIwFpBsGgWISuzr37EUsY5YLy2FZ9K9/s2016/IMG_6975.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5fvdxID_rZrgdsb3t4S6cvMgKqjynHY6Hk4WzlF0c47MKy24Cq1L2_xGhdL7brMIGianO1FEXh3H-29XrnErrQZnExJUfPrsjBYTlsas1wOV1IIwFpBsGgWISuzr37EUsY5YLy2FZ9K9/s320/IMG_6975.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Zm1PAmpIIjoUq7uDycDqa548ww_vRsnTmco1Q2nlE0hw9-YH-5OaXr02_8jmevt9BnMwWNhMlRB7d10m9gzvKJmH8l2WPN-YoLzaYAjhjN-oMakrskyfFzALPvBtPja17Amtjhs4G5DR/s2016/IMG_6970.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Zm1PAmpIIjoUq7uDycDqa548ww_vRsnTmco1Q2nlE0hw9-YH-5OaXr02_8jmevt9BnMwWNhMlRB7d10m9gzvKJmH8l2WPN-YoLzaYAjhjN-oMakrskyfFzALPvBtPja17Amtjhs4G5DR/s320/IMG_6970.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNW1IO1MdA0-05LODuAIyTlTrdcnh6cl9CZZk-GowFv4IUwUUI7olGsoeE2ZPgYlhWzhhwLeqmYhyphenhyphen05iJXtOWMOHqBoIk0knmnr_F48I-fXWz2ta4V2oqce1PX3FVyzkK4nzYyK3HrYaSC/s2016/IMG_6969.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNW1IO1MdA0-05LODuAIyTlTrdcnh6cl9CZZk-GowFv4IUwUUI7olGsoeE2ZPgYlhWzhhwLeqmYhyphenhyphen05iJXtOWMOHqBoIk0knmnr_F48I-fXWz2ta4V2oqce1PX3FVyzkK4nzYyK3HrYaSC/s320/IMG_6969.JPG" /></a></div><br /><br /> <p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-19765798249187641802020-05-02T13:54:00.000-07:002020-05-02T13:54:17.854-07:00The long wait<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDn1A4BjDN_EQHTUf3jJOVMM5JxP_PU4PDvfXXREnvwf_dJr3Q86GD9QIMVFt4ciCqcqg-qYoJit-epDxuWpmSUv3fKTsfkVZOihhkdIFAMpO6SOuF6v7YA9Uci5A_025-XQwFCrXkexoU/s1600/IMG_6439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDn1A4BjDN_EQHTUf3jJOVMM5JxP_PU4PDvfXXREnvwf_dJr3Q86GD9QIMVFt4ciCqcqg-qYoJit-epDxuWpmSUv3fKTsfkVZOihhkdIFAMpO6SOuF6v7YA9Uci5A_025-XQwFCrXkexoU/s320/IMG_6439.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Back when I had only been in business for a few years a fellow came by on an old bike wearing a white tee shirt and no real cycling clothes. He asked if I could do some non-bicycle related soldering jobs for him. I said yes, and a few days later he showed up with some small pieces of metal to be soldered together. The work was very delicate but I was able to do it to his satisfaction. This began a friendship that lasted a few decades.<br />
Not much later , I moved my shop from my garage to a place across town that was pretty close to my friend's workshop/home. He invited me over to see his fleet of bicycles. When I got to his house I saw a pretty impressive array of bikes from the '30's up to the late '60's. There were bikes hanging from the roof, bikes leaning everywhere and hardly room to walk through the house. This was maybe 1993-things only got more crowded with bike stuff as the years wore on. For some reason , my host told me that he might have a nice older frame that I could restore in my size. He usually looked for stuff that would fit his 6' frame but I guess in a weak moment he bought the carcass of a 1960 55 cm Girardengo bicycle. For those that don't know cycling history, Constante Girardengo was Italy's first big cycling champion-his time was around 1910-1920. After he retired from racing he licensed out his name to a bicycle company and later to a motorcycle company. The bike my friend had was probably from about 1960 and was in pretty sorry shape as the photo shows. I asked how much he wanted for the frame and he said $ 40.00. I said "great, when can I pick it up ?". This is when the long wait began. My friend said that the frame was buried deep in storage and it might take awhile for him to dig it out.<br />
The years went by and in late 1996 I moved my shop back to the west side ,closer to my house. My friend would stop by periodically, some times on an old bike, some times on a mountain bike that I had put together for him out of parts from a warehouse sale. Every time I saw him I reminded him that I was still interested in the Girardengo. Every time he would tell me that it would take time for him to find it. After a number of years I stopped asking-the decades went by.<br />
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A few years ago , my friend got diagnosed with cancer and began a long period of treatment. He went in and out of being able to work and his visits became less frequent. In the fall of last year I got a call from another friend to let me know that my bicycle hoarder friend was in hospice and might not live much longer-if I wanted to see him I had better do it soon. I gave him a call.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRx0uJ9hqbJgfTUpPvElhRzppHRQqaKJZU8GpTV4i-w4HH-nvsDuD7bZKFbNji3QjovSipDItrC2oBYoBpP_vHqmqGwk6IJHPgUrI_mQ-fCuQBxhJ3nZ82z1lH5S4eIALZ2WRfRIBuOpu4/s1600/IMG_6806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRx0uJ9hqbJgfTUpPvElhRzppHRQqaKJZU8GpTV4i-w4HH-nvsDuD7bZKFbNji3QjovSipDItrC2oBYoBpP_vHqmqGwk6IJHPgUrI_mQ-fCuQBxhJ3nZ82z1lH5S4eIALZ2WRfRIBuOpu4/s320/IMG_6806.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
When I showed up to the hospice ( which was very near his home ) I was treated to a great visit and many great stories. We shared memories of a mutual friend , another bicycle history buff who had just passed. It was a great visit. It was at this time my friend said that he had given his bicycle collection away-a friend of his had a big piece of property out of state and was willing to bring a huge truck and take everything away. Even though I was sad to hear that his entire collection was gone, I knew that he had needed someone to deal with it as it would be a monumental amount of work to find all the bikes and get them out of the house.<br />
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A few weeks later I had another visit with my friend, this time I got there just as he was starting dinner. I told him about a restoration I was doing and that I needed a few older parts. My friend told me that he had everything I needed but that it had probably already been hauled away- I told him not to worry-I was in no hurry to complete this restoration- the bike was something I had inherited from yet another old bike enthusiast who had died a couple of years back. I sat and traded stories with my friend for a couple of hours. This would be our last talk.<br />
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About five weeks later I called my friend- there was a strange unfamiliar voice on the voicemail message that said to call another number. I called the number and talked to the person who my friend had instructed to deal with the dispersal of the rest of his worldly goods-He had passed just a couple of weeks after out last visit. The man on the phone told me he had a bike that I should have, my friend's main bike- the one that he used to ride over to my shop. It was too big for me but the man insisted that I have it.<br />
When the bike was delivered to my shop, the man- a very close friend of my departed bike hoarder-looked at my shop, heard about the history of my business and told me that he needed help dealing with all the old stuff at my friend's house. It turned out that there was still a lot of older bike frames and parts there. I agreed to help him and he said that I was welcome to take whatever I wanted out of the massive pile of bike parts.<br />
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The first day of many that I would spend cleaning out my friend's old house we went into two storage sheds that were filled to the roof with all sorts of old bikes, parts and other items. After a couple of hours of digging, I saw a black frame in bad shape that looked about my size. I had already told the man in charge of the estate about the $ 40.00 Girardengo that I had never gotten. As soon as I got the frame in the light I realized that I had in my hands the very frame that my friend had intended to sell me 27 years ago. I asked the man if I could have the frame-he said by all means , so I put it in the back of my truck, along with an assortment of older parts and frames.<br />
I would continue helping with the estate for a few more weeks but always was thinking of what I would do with the Griardengo-I wanted to honor the memory of my friend and the passion he showed for older bikes. His knowledge of bicycles from 1920-1960 was very deep - I wanted to make the Girardengo ride again with all the correct parts.<br />
In the photos you will see the newly restored Girardengo- not having been ridden for probably a half a century. Now it is rolling with everything as it should be with the exception of some modern rims and a fairly modern seat post. I had to align the frame and fork and was fortunate to find some decals on the internet. As of now, I think I have about 40 miles on it. I imagine that if I had not gotten the frame it would be in the landfill by now.<br />
So it turned out to be very true what my departed friend said- " It might take some time for the frame to get dug out of storage ." While I would much rather have my friend still alive , at least I have this bike and our mutual history to remember him by. Every time I go out on a ride on this bike I thank my friend- In life he provided me with some great bicycle history lessons. In death, he unwittingly made good an a promise of a $ 40 frame that he knew would be a good project for me to take on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-71222888099369120632019-06-10T19:07:00.000-07:002019-06-10T19:07:22.037-07:00Gone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This last couple of years has been very difficult for the generation of frame builders who started in the '70's. Brian Bayliss, Dario Pegoretti and Roland Della Santa have all passed away. Brian and Dario didn't make it into their '70's- Roland was 72. Now as of last week my former partner in Schnozola bikes Bruce Gordon has died- this one really hits me hard as I had gotten to know bruce over the last 13 years pretty well. He had a reputation as a fairly abrasive character but that was just how he was on the surface. I got the feeling that he cared about what he and other builders did intensely- he would bristle at the news that another brand name based on an old artisanal name was being re-packaged to sell goods mass-manufactured in the far east.<br />
Bruce's almost militant defense of the small builder and 'people that actually made their own shit' got him many followers but also got him into scraps with some major industry figureheads. Bruce didn't care- he was going to be the standard bearer for handmade goods , even if he alienated people who could have helped his career or lost him customers. Bruce had seen many good builders who late in life after decades of hard work wound up with nothing-no retirement, no way to sell their brand or goodwill that they had worked their lives to create. Frame building was to him an under-valued job that required dedication and laser focus. It made him angry to know that he and his fellow builders would do the job they cared about the most and wind up old, broke and bitter.<br />
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No matter how negative on the outside Bruce may have seemed, he still had a sense of humor about life and the craft he spent his life doing. When things slowed down for Bruce in the last 5-6 years I approached him about a project I was wanting to do. It would be an attempt to build a kosher bike. There's no practical reason for it-it was a schtick-kind of a joke involving two older frame builders crating a brand-"Schnozola". To my surprise , Bruce went along with the plan-I would do most of the building and Bruce would do braze-ons, final alignment, powder coating and frame prep. We made a total of seven of these bikes. My goal with this project was not just to make a funny joke in a world of serious frame crafting but also to get Bruce back in the public eye-he seemed to be getting increasingly isolated in his shop with less and less business coming in.<br />
I'm not sure if the project helped Bruce gain more clientele but he seemed to be having a good time building the bikes and showing them at NAHBS. Bruce didn't have to be Bruce at the show-he could be one of the two-man team of Schnozola. People were not sure what to make of the bikes and the premise they were built on but the result was Bruce going out into the public and being present.<br />
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As of last week I had talked to Bruce on the phone and he was making plans to fly to Chicago to see his 97 year old mother. He talked to his mother on the phone daily, some times more than one call per day. Bruce also told me of his plans to travel to Amsterdam next year-he had been to France the last two years and wanted to try something different. Now it looks as though he will not be making those trips and we will not get to hear the stories he would no doubt tell afterwards. Now it is up to his work and his community to tell his story. I doubt that he will be forgotten by anyone who knew him and his work will live on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-35715186844404705952019-05-12T09:07:00.001-07:002019-05-13T07:15:28.635-07:00A death in the family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been delaying writing this post as the whole idea that Roland Della Santa is gone has been hard to accept. I can't say I was a close friend to Roland but he did show up in the pit at the Nationals and would treat me like a long lost friend - he would tell me stories that had me laughing hard enough to wonder if the UCI officials would kick me out of the pit area. That is the common thing that all of Roland's friends remember about him- his ability to hold court and tell stories about racers and racing that were brutally honest, unbelievably funny and the kind of stuff that would be hard to forget.<br />
This disarming humor hid to a degree the level of excellence as a craftsman that Roland posessed. Most people upon meeting him might find it hard to connect the guy telling the funny stories with the guy who made Greg LeMond's first serious road bikes- the same guy who set the standard in the early '70's for American custom built frames- the same guy who year in and year out was an advocate for talent in American bicycle racing who had a keen eye and a very benevolent approach to nurturing talent when he saw it. He was not just a frame builder- he was behind the scenes a real supporter of the sport of road racing in the US when enthusiasm in the general public for bicycle racing really didn't exist yet.<br />
The first time I met Roland was maybe 1993 at Interbike in Las Vegas. A shop owner who was a dealer for my frames and Roland's as well had set up an early morning ride through the desert surrounding Las Vegas with myself, Roland and George Mount. I didn't know that Roland would be conducting a non-stop monologue during the 90 minute ride.....I knew of his frames but I didn't know the man personally. This introduction was in a way perfect as it was on the road with only a few people- on bicycles riding at a pretty good clip, away from the trade show that we all pretty much hated but needed to participate in. It was one of those little windows of sanity in a weekend of trade show misery. I don't think I'll ever forget it.<br />
The next time I remember talking to Roland was at NAHBS # 2. There was a party in the host hotel bar and I had put together a band to play in the restaurant. While the band was on break I went to the bar and sat down next to Roland. I wanted to ask him how he got started in frame building. I wondered if like most of us in the '70's he had some sort of mentor to teach him the basics. It turns out that Roland pretty much figured it all out by himself. I was amazed- his building style really spoke to his Italian heritage and the level of execution made me think that he had been at Masi or had worked with one of the more prominent Italian frame shops. This was not the case- turns out that Roland might have been the smartest of all of us, having deciphered the way to build at the highest level all on his lonesome out in Nevada.<br />
More recently I would be in the pits at the CX nationals and I would see an older guy walking up to me with the style of cycling hat I had not seen in maybe 40-odd years. It took me a minute or so to realize that this guy talking to me was the same Roland I had seen year earlier. I listened to his stories for a few minutes before I figured out who I was standing in front of- it had been a decade since I had seen him and we had both aged significantly. This was the Reno nationals and I should have put two and two together-I should have known immediately as soon as the stories started flowing- I guess that I was too caught up in my own drama of getting my pit space ready for the upcoming race where I would have to be ready to support the riders on my team.<br />
As soon as I realized that this was Roland I dropped what I was doing and shared some great minutes with him- we had similar duties as frame builders and race team directors ( or in my case , mis-director...) so we definitely shared a few laughs about the things that we had dealt with trackside at events such as the one that weekend. People would come through the pit and immediately recognize Roland- he had a lot of friends there. For someone who's involvement in cyclocross was minimal he nonetheless was a person who many people gravitated toward . I stood aside and watched the parade of notable racers who came into the pit to chat with Roland who was only there to sightsee and connect with a few friends.<br />
Roland was a big part of a generation of frame builders who started their craft in the '70's when really nobody in the US was aware of any domestic custom bicycle frames. It was about as obscure of a job in a sport that hardly anyone cared about. It is obvious that Roland cared about the sport enough to elevate it almost single handedly , building bikes for riders that would become the first Americans to shake up the world cycling scene. It all emerged from his small shop- the bikes, the riders, the culture. He created something much larger than his craft or himself and the impact has lasted many years.<br />
There is unlikely to be another Roland Della Santa and I am very glad to have known him . His works will no doubt live for a very long time and his impact on American bicycle building will endure.<br />
The last time I saw Roland was at the most recent NAHBS, just last March. He was the same old Roland, funny as hell and able with a few sentences assess the entire weekend in a way that was both insightful and hilarious. I was really glad that he was there- I was participating in the show for maybe my last time so connecting with Roland was a real treat. By that time Interbike had folded and the CX nationals would be moving on to another part of the country so I was unlikely to cross paths with Roland again- Learning of his passing hammered home the fact that the generation of frame builders from the '70's were not going to be around much longer- some of them will live on in their works and Roland is great example of that enduring nature of his impact.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-36905314690161855712019-03-20T08:42:00.001-07:002019-03-20T08:42:32.445-07:00The gift that keeps on taking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Another NAHBS is in the books. Yes, I was there- maybe you missed my display. Seems like many people did but that's not really a problem for me. I don't have big expectations for this show as I'm not the kind of builder who fits into the show aesthetic of 'art-bikes'. I have nothing against these bikes but I build 'bikes'.....maybe you might have seen one.<br />
For 2019 I made big plans as this year marked about 40 years since I had built my first frame and 31 years since I went full time with this craft. Notice I say 'craft' rather than 'art'. I know art and what I do isn't art. I did see some art at the show- most notably a bike called 'Dear Susan' from the UK. This was not just a fancy design or paint job- this was a for real artistic statement that rolled. There was a lot of hidden meaning in many of the features of this bike. I'm still thinking about it- I'm not sure that many people got what the builder was trying to express but that isn't the point- the bike was an expression whether anyone gets it or not.<br />
My bikes are not an artistic expression but more of a marker-a few bikes to show where I began and what I am doing now. Just like the art bike, I'm not sure that many people got what I was trying to say but like I said about the Dear Susan bike, that isn't the point. For me the point is what I do is a service, a craft. I have learned how to do my craft ( and continue to learn) so that people who get bikes from me can benefit from all that I have learned over the last four decades. That amounts to probably more than half an average life time.......<br />
Over the years I have had many blunders but triumphs as well. I did win two ribbons at this show, one for a CX bike and one for a gravel tandem I built just because I thought the world needed one. These two bikes were the only ones out of the six in my booth that I bothered entering into any of the competitions. Am I proud of getting an award? Well, maybe more proud than someone who didn't get one but not much. The award is pictured above. Notice that nothing has been written on the award. This is pretty much how all the ribbons I saw looked. There's no indication of what kind of bike , the actual ranking of the bike ( 1st,2nd or 3rd ) and no builder name. This is the award that is supposed to signify that the judges carefully assessed mine and other bikes and made the determination that my bike was one of the top-3. Which one ? Hell if I know- I was not told. I can go onto the NAHBS site and find out but while I was at the show I had no idea what to tell people other than "Hey, I got this ribbon ".<br />
During the show there were periodic announcements over the PA system that nobody could understand. Seemed like the people organizing the show didn't feel the need to have PA speakers anywhere near my booth or any of the booths in half the show. When they called me up for my award I didn't hear it. Luckily, a volunteer came to my booth and told me to get my tandem and go to a holding area where other finalists were waiting. Wait we did- all the while my booth was empty, I had to use the bathroom and was clueless as to what was going on. I was surrounded by people feeling exactly as I did.<br />
After the awards for the tandems I was told it was time for the CX bikes award. They called my name but I had a tandem to roll back to my booth and my CX bike was across the whole expo. I had no idea that I was a finalist in the CX division until that moment. I had to run back to my booth and get the bike. The awards were held up for a few minutes while I did this- it was nice that they were willing to wait. While the CX award was happening , my tandem was supposed to be getting photographed- this was not happening as I was on the award stage listening to a judge tell folks about how great the three bikes on the stage were. This was awkward for me but I rolled with it. Hell, I didn't expect to win anything- I was only at the show to display some stuff that I really wanted people to check out in person rather than just see it in photos on facebook or anywhere else.<br />
After the awards I settled in for the last hour of the second day of the show. I really didn't want to be at the next day but I really had little choice. Being cooped up in a convention center for three days with bad air was making my throat raw. The standing on concrete was starting to really hurt my back- these shows come at not only a financial cost but they are physically hard on you.<br />
The saving grace for me was the social aspect of the show- seeing people who you rarely get to see- other builders, old friends and customers. One guy came all the way from the Manila to see the show and to thank me for some decals I sent for his 1992 olympic track bike that he scored from ebay. I got to spend much of the time with Bruce Gordon, my former builder friend and mentor. I got to see Jeremy Sycip, probably my most significant apprentice who has eclipsed me in many ways. I got to see some former team riders, other people who started building frames because of coming to my shop. That part of the show was really the best part.<br />
Did I get to see much of the show ? Not really....I never do. I get about 15-20 minutes in the morning to try to see bikes and people but I seldom see the folks in their booths as they are trying to do the same thing as me. I can't really say that I saw much of anything. What I did see was a show with less builders and more parts suppliers. This means that the show is changing. I was told by the creator of the show that this is a change brought on as ' The builders do not support the show'. Funny, I thought that the show <i>was for the builders.</i> What hand built bike show would you have without them ? And why are they not supporting the show ? Maybe it is because 1. Many of them cannot afford to be<br />
there . 2. The loss of productivity is crippling to their ability to stay on schedule . 3. Building special bikes for the show can drain the finances and time of an operation that has very little profit margin.<br />
For me this signals a disconnect between the creator of this show and the very builders he wants to have exhibiting. The reason for this disconnect is plain to me- while the show is great, probably the best one of its type, it is not structured or run in a way that benefits the builders. The show has become a way for the boss of the show to make a living, which he deserves for creating and running such a show. What this does however is to take the emphasis away from the show being a service to the very builders it is supposedly promoting. To a large extent it is draining for many of the builders financially and time wise.<br />
I came back from the show on the verge of a cold and with a seriously painful back. I also came back to the reality of a large backlog of work that in no way was a result of the show . Over the weekend I did get three orders - one over the phone and two by email.....none of them had anything to do with the show. Time will tell if anyone who saw my display at the show will place an order . The show touts that media from all over the world will be there- honestly, I did not see the media presence as in years past-even at the very same venue. I know that the show cannot control who shows up and who does not media wise but this might indicate a bit of a lapse in promotion. If the ribbon is an indication , I am probably right. So now I have these two ribbons- possibly the least personal and thoughtful awards of my career-to display.....where ? They say nothing except "Finalist". I guess one could call this a 'participation award '. I guess the lost time and seriously herniated bank balance could also be considered a participation award. "Thanks for displaying, "Finalist ".......be sure and see us again in the future- our future depends on it, even if yours does not".Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-73309765389501906812019-02-09T08:17:00.000-08:002019-02-09T08:17:19.249-08:00State of mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3MUPqcdl6cDB01pPkesZECThiT3t8gH7OAfOCyYaRjsiiuHwBDUEY6uNEju5oHag35ufNiEPwQwF4iq8tPCpdO17DR3Q3SiKP7s_pANSaTUtqFrBJOWI8It-inu_klHtJR5zMz0B1EF6V/s1600/IMG_2546.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3MUPqcdl6cDB01pPkesZECThiT3t8gH7OAfOCyYaRjsiiuHwBDUEY6uNEju5oHag35ufNiEPwQwF4iq8tPCpdO17DR3Q3SiKP7s_pANSaTUtqFrBJOWI8It-inu_klHtJR5zMz0B1EF6V/s320/IMG_2546.JPG" width="240" /></a>last year a very significant frame builder and good friend sold off all the tools and inventory of his shop. This marks possibly the end of one of the more notable careers in the world of American bicycle frame building. While a lot of people will be sad at the closing of this shop, I'm pretty sure that the man inside the shop is very ready to let it all go. Bruce Gordon is nearing 70 years old and has spent more than 40 years in the business-he's probably built about 3,000 frames and has had numerous awards at shows. There is a lot of admiration for what he has done over the years and it is well deserved. Building at Bruce's level is something that most builders never get near-not in terms of longevity, attention to detail or commitment to a very, almost unreasonably high standard.</div>
This road that Bruce took in his career is no guarantee of financial rewards and in the last decade the fashion of bicycles has changed. Even though what Bruce builds is a solid lasting design and a bike that will last perhaps more than a lifetime, the current consumer does not appear to value those aspects of reliability and dependability as much as in times past. This means that the frame jig in the above photo will not see use in Bruce's shop again. It is priced at $ 2,700 and will no doubt find its way into someone else's shop.<br />
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In the shop there are what many career frame builders posses- boxes of materials , lugs, tubes, fittings....some bought new years ago-some bought from other builders who never wound up using the materials before they decided to stop building. You can see materials that are at times half a century old that never found their way into completed frames. I have some of these bits myself and I wonder if I'll ever get the time to use even some of these old parts , many of which I have had for decades.<br />
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Bruce was ambitious and bought big on many materials and there was a time when the demand for his touring bikes justified the accumulation of inventory for hundreds of frames. Now there are boxes of tubes and proprietory dropouts that may or may not find use in the coming years. Ideally, it would have been better if someone bought the entire shop and brand in order to continue building Bruce's bikes and using the materials on hand. This person never materialized and all contained in Bruce's shop have been sold, given away or disposed of. While Bruce will continue selling his tires and other parts from his house after the shop is vacated, the bikes future is uncertain.<br />
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This is the most likely scenario for frame builders-at the end of one's career, the brand that was built up from a life time of manual work will likely disappear. The prospect of an apprentice or another builder taking over the brand is almost certain not to happen.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-76907535792995383252019-01-06T16:03:00.002-08:002019-01-06T16:03:49.355-08:00The things that we do on rainy days.....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back in the '90's I got to know a frame builder of note named Dave Tesch. I had seen his bikes before I actually got to know him personally. Dave's bikes were made to be really nimble- so nimble that many people had a tough time riding them ! The bikes had very short wheelbases and steep angles- not unusual for the times but the bikes were extreme even for the period. Dave made no apologies for his bike design and was happy to tell all about how successful the design was.<br />
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I did see a lot of Dave's bike back in the day- I was still a hobbyist builder in the '80's when Dave was at his most prolific. He was putting out super-twitchy neon-colored fillet-brazed criterium frames by the dozens and they were selling well. To me it seemed like one of the most popular American built frames of the era. While I didn't hear many other US builders heaping praise on Dave or his work he was outdoing most of them in production and sales. There was definitely ( and still is ) a following for his crazy unusually twitchy bikes.<br />
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At one point or another things went south for Dave's company- seems like when a sole proprietorship starts getting to be a mid-sized company there is a danger of becoming too much in debt, too vested in doing big numbers of sales- any number of pitfalls. I don't remember the reason Dave had to shut his doors but I was surprised that such a seemingly successful operation could fail.<br />
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It was about this time that I got to know Dave. He had gotten involved with two guys that had been in a partnership with another well known California frame builder. I was involved a bit as the two partners had decided to part ways with the builder and start their own company. At first the company was based in California but after a number of months the partners decided to move the company to Phoenix Arizona and hire Dave to run it. Not long after Dave got involved with the partners he began calling me with stories about the company- stories that were very dark, funny and revealing about the partners and what sort of train-wreck was in the near future for the whole operation. Dave had no illusions about the mess he was recruited to fix- I had already left the association with the partners as I had heard from the original builder that the partners had stolen all of his shop equipment to create their own operation.<br />
This brings me to this frame that you see in the photos. I was given this frame probably 15 years ago by a shop who had originally looked to having it repaired for a customer. Later on, the customer flaked and the shop gave me the frame as they had no use for a broken frame. All the frame needed was a new down tube and alignment. It hung on a hook in my shop until today. This particularly rainy Sunday I went to the shop with the purpose of finally fixing this frame. It turns out that Dave Tesch after leaving the failing operation with the partners did not live long- he died of cancer at the age of 44 in 2003. This was about the time I got this broken frame. I was never sure when I would fix the frame but remembering Dave and how we were both involved in a comically flawed frame building company with the two questionable partners I felt that I owed this frame a fix- one last chance to honor a guy I considered a friend and kindred spirit of sorts.<br />
So now the repaired and aligned frame and fork will be painted and road ready in the coming weeks. I feel better knowing that there's one less old dusty project in my shop and also that an example of Dave's work will be back on the road. Not everyone appreciated Dave's approach to building but knowing him personally I can state that he was full of insight and humor about what we as builders do. He made me laugh at some stuff that normally I wouldn't laugh at.......he was able to do that without trying- it's just who he was.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-65702512345458279952018-12-23T19:39:00.000-08:002018-12-23T19:39:34.699-08:00The shit flows downstream<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, this is something that took me by surprise - but not completely. My shop is in Santa Cruz, California- population about 60,000. The county has about 275,000 residents. When I first moved here the city population was about 23,000. The city-in spite of growth ordinances and a very restrictive planning commission- has grown quite a bit since I moved here in 1977. This whole time there has been only one welding supply shop in the county. Like many businesses of this type , it has been bought and sold a number of times-each time it is sold, a larger corporation has taken ownership . <div>
Now some of you might be convinced that the free-market system will always sort itself out......that would make sense if large corporations were honorable and honest. This unfortunately is not always the case- the driving force behind most corporate moves is the bottom line- maximizing profits.<div>
Maybe about 5-6 years ago a nationwide corporation that owns countless stores (such as the one in Santa Cruz) purchased the store from another corporation. Month by month the supplies coming to this store started to dwindle. </div>
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I have a friend who has been working at this store for nearly 20 years- through all the buyouts and sellouts he was there- still making a living selling gas, rod and flux. He was very helpful, knew his products and always tried to get me the best deal possible on anything I bought there. The latest owner charged a premium on nearly everything- they used every excuse to raise prices. Much of what they did was unethical - some of it might not have even been legal. That said, I still shopped there as my friend was there and really, this store was the only game in town. The next closer store was in another county about 20-odd miles south.</div>
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A few weeks ago I got the word from my friend that the store would be closing. Even though the corporation had a monopoly and was overcharging for nearly every product, the bean-counters at the corporation decided that the store was not profitable enough. This meant that everyone working there lost their job and welders, builders and the like would have to go somewhere else for their supplies. Much of the stuff can be had online but actual service, like the kind I got from my friend is not something one can get online for the most part. Essentially, the corporation was bailing on service- the very thing that <i>I </i>provide in my business that keeps me busy. I answer questions, provide advice, fix my mistakes-its all part of the job as far as I am concerned- maybe the biggest part of the job. </div>
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This philosophy is not shared by the corporation that shuttered the only welding supply store in the county. </div>
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I may be a one-man shop and very independent -I'll even say that I am resourceful and frugal. Keeping a low overhead, buying local and having relationships in business where I speak regularly with my suppliers is how I run my little shit show- call me crazy. Now, a faceless behemoth corporation that I have no real connection with has cut me off from supplies that I cannot do business without. They don't know me, they don't know the other builders, welders and many businesses that depended on this store. All they know is what their margin of profit was every month.</div>
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Sure, it is not illegal to shut a business if it isn't profitable- and of course I'm not someone who wants to tell another person how to run their business. What I don't understand is how a business with a monopoly , that has been overcharging its customers for years while paying its employees poorly - how is it that this business is not sufficiently profitable ? What would it take to keep in open ? </div>
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I guess I will never know that. My friend who used to work there has been very frugal and managed to save some money for this possibility. He no longer works in the industry and is about a year from getting social security. As for me, I'm going to call up the other supplier one county to the south and set up an account. Who knows- maybe they have reasonable prices- I know that they deliver gas to my part of town ( I have seen the truck over the years ) . But there's always the possibility that another corporation will buy out this store, bleed it dry and then liquidate it- the free market sorting itself out. This works fine unless you are the one getting 'sorted out' as in "out of business". </div>
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Maybe you free-market capitalists will be upset with me being upset- so be it. If people like me get squeezed out because the large corporate world feels that we are expendable , then I guess that's my problem for not choosing another job, right ? If you need the service I provide but can no longer provide it, you'll have to look somewhere else - just like I have to for my welding supplies. Need a frame repaired ? - Too bad.......shop closed- bottom line not sufficient..... You should have taken up another form of exercise - maybe switch to yoga or running. </div>
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All that sarcasm aside, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to figure this out and get my oxygen, acetylene and argon soon. My problems are fixable- the cause of the problems are probably not, at least not until some sort of miracle happens where corporations decide that their customers deserve service and maybe even some basic recognition. I, for one am not holding my breath on that one.....<br /><br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-90169692497492481872018-07-30T08:27:00.001-07:002018-07-30T08:27:52.493-07:00No goodbyes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The move is about 80% done and I'll be at my new location officially August 1st. I might not be open for business for a bit as there's going to be some issues getting a place up and running that just had 22 years of roots ripped out. People might think that the bike frame building lifestyle is idyllic and a real escape from the lock-step workaday world. I can tell you from experience that being creative in your line of work is rewarding but it doesn't mean that at times you are not going to get some sort of beating for your troubles.<br />
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This months beating is the moving of the shop. Lucky for me, there's a great community of people helping me out. If not for these generous folks I would probably not be able to continue with my work or successfully move my shop in the time allotted. That said, the move is not quite done yet and I have already had some bumps and bruises.<br />
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Reality check # 1 was moving stuff in to the new shop and at first wondering why there didn't appear to be room for all my tools and stock, even with jettisoning a good amount if it over the previous weeks. I donated a truckload of bike parts to the local non-profit and several hundred frame tubes to other builders. I also filled a large dumpster twice with odds and ends that really had no place in my new location. Reality check # 2 was how no matter how much stuff I moved out day by day, the old shop did not look much emptier. Reality check # 3 I fell off a ladder , hit my head - got a concussion , twisted my ankle and went to the emergency room. Before that I had planned to have a goodbye party at the old shop on Friday- that plan got crushed pretty much like the right side of my head.<br />
So today the move continues. The doctor said that I needed to rest but rest won't get this crap moved so I'm still at it every day a few hours limping around loading and unloading- I'm always thinking that <i>this</i> load is the last one , only to realize that there's more stuff that I didn't account for lurking in a corner of the old shop. Also, in the new shop I look around and get the feeling that I'll have a place for all my fixtures and tools only to have that idea crushed by the next load from the old shop.<br />
After 22 years there will be no goodbye to the old shop- might not even be a hello to the new one, just another step on the self-made treadmill of shifting metal. Everyone knows that moving is stressful as hell, even in Santa Cruz- I'm really hoping that this move does not kill me or my shop.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-69585786515913673382018-06-16T09:00:00.000-07:002018-06-16T09:00:10.050-07:00Father- yes son- I want to kill you......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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22years.....that's how long I have been in my present shop. 22 years.....nearly 1/4 of a century with a lot of personal and professional history behind me. I have been through a lot of changes at 2533-D Mission st. ext. and I have a shop full of accumulation to prove it- posters, bikes, parts,materials, photos, documents.....tons of stuff. The 22 years is coming to a close in about 6 weeks as I will move my shop down the street next month. This is not a move I planned- it is a move brought on by changes at my building that will make the current location a place that will no longer work for my business. The management of the building decided to close of the place to the general public to avoid having to conform to ADA requirements. Essentially, the management does not want to spend the money to allow disabled people proper access to the many shops in the building. Of course, if the rent was raised this would probably cover the cost for the ADA retrofits but the decision has been made to close off the building to anyone who does not rent there- this means no more customer access , no 'Open Studios', no classes, so school visits......nobody.<br />
Of course, I can't really do business without my customers having access to me so this means that I have had to go look for a new location. I did find one only about a block away. My rent will triple but the new rent is more in line with the current reality in my town- the old shop was a screaming deal and I was lucky to have 22 years there. The low rent did come with some headaches......even though the landlady was a saint and regarded the tenants as family, she hired hard-asses to run the building and they were pretty awful for the most part- abusive and threatening in the worst of times. This made for some close calls over the years with eviction but I survived to this point-battle scarred but still in my shop , working away. Even now I am not being told to leave-it is the new terms of the building access that are forcing my hand, so to speak.<br />
So next month the move happens. In the last two decades I have accumulated a ton of stuff- people come by with all sorts of stuff to give me and I have had a hard time saying 'no'. Much of this stuff will not make the trip to the new shop- the new place is a bit smaller and I don't relish moving a bunch of stuff that I will be unlikely to use. I have been donating bike parts to the local Project Bike Tech and have recycled a bunch of metal. I have bikes for sale and some tubing to give to other builders. I'm not quitting, I'm just lightening my load so that the new shop isn't the same shit show as my current situation.<br />
Apart from the donations and recycling , I did something yesterday that had been on my mind for about two years. In 2016 I had a customer who had contacted me about a frame project- an unusual bike for an unusual guy. The customer was always very chatty and personable....I would say a very nice guy. I spent several hours in consultation with this customer in person on two occasions as well as multiple phone calls and innumerable emails. I didn't mind this as I kind of liked the guy and wanted to make him a bike he would really bond with. There were a few features I drew the line on-stuff that I never do- but at the time the customer seemed good with it.<br />
Once the frame was done and coming back from the painter everything changed. I got an email from the customer that he was canceling the order stating that there was 'no joy in the process'. I was really blind-sided by this....I had not thought for a second that this customer had any misgivings about the frame or me as a builder. I was livid......how could I have not seen the signs of a problem ? Well.....because there <i>were</i> no signs of a problem. The customer probably had done this before with other builders. I found this out by calling up another builder who had been cancelled on <i>twice</i> by the same guy. This of course made me even more upset. I had spent many hours in consultation with the customer and many hours building the frame, only to have it hanging above my bench for two years, un-prepped and unridden. The frame was huge-super tall and super short-odd proportions to fit the unusual build of the customer. I came to the conclusion that it was unlikely that anyone would ever fit or want this frame and fork. The bad memories of the build and subsequent cancellation hovered above my head for two years. Yesterday I decided that this frame and fork would not follow me to the new shop-I decided to do something I thought I would never do-destroy a brand-new unridden frame....hell, I had not even prepped it for assembly !<br />
Like Hendrix at Monterey Pop lighting his guitar on fire stating : " Now I'm going to sacrifice something I really care about for you all.." I set up my chop saw in front of the shop , took the frame off the hook it had been hanging on since 2016 and got ready to cut. Just then, the current building manager drove up in his truck and stopped for a moment. I waved at the truck and proceeded to cut the frame into small chunks while he watched. In about 2 minutes I cut apart something that had taken me the better part of 2 days to construct. The building manager drove off without a word and I walked to the dumpster with the pieces of freshly cut steel and put the pieces and hopefully the bad memories behind me forever.<br />
I know that some of you will find this action I took insane and at the least wasteful. I understand and admit that my flawed personality had something to do with my urge to sacrifice this particular frame. This said, I did feel an amazing sense of relief , though....... a bad memory that was re-kindled every time I looked up and saw the frame on its hook-utterly useless and covered in dust-this will no longer be something I see on a daily basis. I'm looking to have a fresh start and this frame, this memory will not make the trip.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-9341116079065927982018-03-17T13:49:00.000-07:002018-03-17T13:49:47.101-07:00You know me ?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm not sure what the reason is but whatever I do in my career that might be of note is maybe not enough for some people- There's the factual building of frames over the last four decades, the participation and sponsorship of the odd bicycle race and of course my sporadic presence at trade shows. These are all verifiable and in some cases actually documented in writing on the web and every once in awhile in print. I seldom go out of my way to call attention to what I do unless I stumble upon something that resonates with a portion of the cycling community , or in the case of certain ironies that I find really funny. There is evidence of this stuff if you look for it although few people find the need.<br />
There are other stories that do not originate from my own actions or writings that crop up every now and then- I have no idea where they originate from but they are out there and a few of them have gotten back to me personally. These stories usually make me smile and occasionally laugh out loud- the motivation for the creation of these stories is a complete mystery to me. The fact that anyone is talking about what I do at all is flattering, even if it is totally made up.<br />
Story # 1. " Yeah, Paul is making me a titanium mountain bike frame and it should be done really soon." . This story was circulating ( albeit, a very tiny circle) a number of years ago . I do not build titanium frames. I only built one ever and it was over 20 years ago......it was not a super fun experience so I didn't build another. Here is a person who never actually ordered a frame, probably someone I have never met telling a story about a frame I was never building. Pretty funny in my book.<br />
Story # 2. " Rock Lobster ? I heard that Paul got sued for using someone else's design and closed up shop years ago." I was told this at the UPS counter I go to nearly every week to ship out product. I heard the story from three UPS drivers in one day.......I asked about the origin of the story but didn't get a idea where the story originated. The only reason I would use someone else's design would be that said person was directing and paying me to do so. I use my own designs-not that I am God's gift to bicycle design but hey- 40 years of frame building has taught me something. Out of business ? Wow......then why am I still working my ass off ? Sued ? Hey- nobody told me I was being sued.....this story is really a whopper and I wonder why it exists at all. Do I have a fierce enemy out there ? Does someone really want me to go away that much ? - I'm sure I'll never know.<br />
Story # 3. "Hey, are those guys up the street at *************** Bicycle company beating up on you and giving you a hard time ? Really ? I have built frames for at least six people working at this company. In 2000-2001 I built frames for their cyclocross team that were branded by this company. They were pretty much prototypes for a model this company introduced months later. I get my shipping cartons from this company and feel that they are my friends- I'm willing to do any work they ask me to do. Out of all the bicycle companies out there they are my closest ally.<br />
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All I can say is that the folks that came up with these stories are aiming really low.....making stuff up about a one-man operation building a couple frames a week is kind of flattering-that this fiction is newsworthy enough to eventually get back to me is a bit of a nod to my small significance in a big world. I'm not unhappy about these stories , even if they are very far off the mark. I look forward to more of the same- the wilder, the better ! Something like : " Paul moved his shop to the island of Yap and only builds frames built of the native free-range bamboo." Or, " Rock Lobster was bought by a large conglomerate that produces slow-cookers and anti-personell mines." Or, " Paul had to leave the country as he was involved in a huge Bitcoin scandal-he now is in the FBI witness protection program."<br />
Make up your own.....hey, no such thing as bad publicity !Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-85342945103393754922018-02-18T17:04:00.000-08:002018-02-18T17:10:40.838-08:00Eroica California, part 2.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Two years ago I rode the mid-distance route of the Eroica California. I had a really good experience and thought that the organizers of the event were very focused on creating the best experience possible for all the riders. I did not return last year as my plate was very full at the shop-when you are a one man show there's not much time for things like vintage bike rides.<br />
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I will be returning to the Eroica again in April.This time instead of going solo on the ride I am bringing a team of really great riders. I am setting them all up on older frames that have been hanging in my shop, some for decades. All of these frames have been re-conditoned for the ride and will be mechanically ready for the rigorous conditions of steep dirt climbs and varying road surfaces. I am breaking out my entire collection of older parts to outfit all of these bikes and all of the riders will have special jerseys for the day. This team will not directly be associated with my brand-this will literally be rolling performance-art.<br />
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The last time I wrote about the Eroica , my goal was to relate my experience to anyone thinking of riding the event and pointing out things I thought were important to address to make the ride as trouble-free and pleasurable as possible. One reader took great offense to what I wrote and urged me not to return to the Eroica as I did not understand the flavor of the event. Well, I am returning and I am bringing a group of riders that will no doubt make an impression. The Eroica might be a showcase of vintage bicycles and a way for folks to try to simulate the kind of riding done 40-50 years ago. As a person who got his first road bike in 1967 and raced in the '70's, I understand this past world better than most. I did more than one road race where sections of the course were not paved. I had wool gear and clipless pedals and the like were still years away from existing.<br />
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While I do appreciate older bikes and have read extensively about bicycles and racing from its earliest times, the world of bicycle collecting to me is not any different than any other collecting. There is the true appreciation of bicycles but there is also the neurotic need for aquisition and bragging rights about whatever bicycle you might have . While I may have about 37 bikes in my shop and of course some of them are classic old rides, my appreciation for them comes from living through the '60's and 70's when bikes like this were state of the art. I am not that nostalgic about 'the good old days' of friction shifting, lugged steel frames, toe clips, hair nets, wool shorts, etc. My position is that older bikes can be really beautiful and in their day they were the best. They are not the best now-I don't care what anyone anywhere says that the older bikes are better than the latest bikes on the market. I'm sure that one can have just as good of a time riding an older bike but if you consider the ease of shifting,improvements on brakes and wheels-no to mention that newer bikes are much lighter-there really is no comparison as to performance.<br />
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Classic bike fans will say that newer bikes are 'too easy to ride' and that the sport of cycling has been 'dumbed down' in terms of needed skills to ride a road bike. Yes , new bikes of all kinds are easier to shift, have more relaxed riding positions and in many cases more stable geometry. I don't feel that this is a bad thing-it is helping more people get into the sport and out of their cars. Take away all the technological advances in road bikes and the amount of riders would plummet. I remember riding to work in L.A. in 1976 on my way-too-big but nice looking Colnago and not seeing another cyclist for 1 1/2 years on my 12 mile route. Cycling was a fringe sport at best in America in those days.<br />
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So-now I am returning to the Eroica with a team of riders, some decent fitness and a doctor's note so that I can use clipless pedals. ( I checked in with the promoter and he said the note would be all I need-I have arthritic feet, ironically from decades of riding with toe clips and straps.) My goal is to have a splendid time, see some old friends and maybe some nice old bikes. Yes- I have gone on and on about how newer bikes are better but even I like to pedal on an old bike now and then. The difference with me is that the old bike I pedal is one that I made over 30 years ago-not something I scored on ebay or craigslist to satisfy some period-correct fetish.....not that I don't understand wanting a cool old bike. My contention is that one is not <br />
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a better person because you have a flawless collectable period-correct priceless aquisition of enviable status-you can still be a sanctimonious gassbag.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-773814479902729178.post-24082237062643681702017-12-18T08:39:00.001-08:002017-12-18T08:39:36.462-08:00Full circle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As I have written in this blog previously, a significant influence on my questionable path into frame building was Bruce Gordon. While I had some more direct help from the likes of Ross Shafer and Dean Hovey, seeing one of Bruce's frames in 1977 made me aware of the existence of bicycle frame building in America. The frame I saw at the shop I worked in definitely made a lasting impression.<br />
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Being a minimum wage worker back in my bike shop days there was no chance for me to be able to afford one of Bruce's frames, or for that matter any custom frame - unless of course I figured out how to build one myself. With the help of Ross I was able to cob together my first two frames-both of which I still have. As a matter of fact I still have many of the earliest efforts in my shop, although they are not all in riding shape.<br />
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I probably have about 37 rideable bikes in my shop and have owned a few bikes from other builders but the one bike that I wanted all these years was out of my reach-the rarity of Bruce Gordon's lugged frames and the chance of finding one my size made it unlikely that I would ever wind up with one. Well-40 years later I have a Bruce Gordon frame-a 1976 in a salmon-pink. It is my size and Bruce gave me a screaming deal on it as it had no fork and it had been hanging in his shop for a few decades. It has some miles on it for sure but structurally is sound. I had to clean quite a bit of dust and grime off of it and I had to build a fork for it. Fortunately, Bruce had some pre-raked blades with some dropouts already brazed in with his signature scallop so all I had to do was finish up the fork. Luckily, I had the correct Cinelli MC crown , the one that Bruce told me to use.<br />
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I had the paint touched up on the chain stays of the frame and the fork painted to match by Allan Neymark. This was not easy as the paint was over 40 years old and a bit faded. Allan pretty much nailed it as you can see in the photo.<br />
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I looked in all the old boxes of Campagnolo bits in my shop and culled together most of a late-70's early 80's Super Record group and assembled the bike. I built some wheels with some really old Phil Wood hubs and new Mavic Open-Pro rims. I really was not sure how the bike would ride-I was hoping that I would like the ride as much as the wonderful work that Bruce had put into it all those years ago.<br />
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Well, I did ride it-the gearing was not super friendly to my 62 year old legs and the brakes were predictably funky on the downhills but the road feel of the bike proved to be very nice indeed.The Columbus SL frame and fork really soaked up the bumps it the road and I have been commuting to work on the bike several days a week. I might have about 100 miles on it so far and plan to do the 85 mile version of the Eroica California this spring. It has been many years since I have ridden a bike that was not made in my shop-in this case I am doing it gladly and for what I think are very valid reasons. # 1, it rides great. # 2, I feel lucky to finally have it after all these years. # 3, there are things on this frame that I have never figured out how to do and it humbles me. # 4, Bruce has ceased making frames - I'm riding something that is unlikely to be built again. #5, Here is a bike that in my opinion ( along with a number of other US builders efforts ) really shows superior quality to many of the European highly sought after collectable bikes .<br />
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There are other builders who have pushed the quality and attention to detail envelope further-Roland Della Santa, Peter Weigel, Mark Nobliette, Peter Johnson, Mark Dinucci, Richard Sachs- all of these builders and others that followed raised the bar on how cleanly and impeccably a bicycle frame could be constructed. All of these builders distinguished themselves with stellar work. For one reason in my mind, Bruce stands alone. He not only built with stunning quality in terms of finish and ride, he created original distinctive artistic statements in his lug work-it was never overdone and the artistic component never got in the way of the utility of the bike. I am proud to have one of his bikes and feel very lucky to have been able to build a small run of bike frames with him.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3