I'm not talking about custom bikes-although nobody caring about them would leave me with a shop full of useless tools and metal. I'm talking about the sport that really put me on the map as a frame building operation in the sustainable sense. Through luck and hard work I established a style and brand that has stayed popular for over 20 years. Since 2003 I have never been short on work , and most of the time pretty much oversold. In the sport of cyclocross I found a community that was very receptive to how I build bikes and my willingness to learn from the people that race- they gave me the suggestions that shaped the bikes over all these years. Some comments were glowing, some were harsh but I learned a bit from all of them, especially the criticism. For the last two decades and more I have ridden the wave of cyclocross and it has been-to use a phrase I really hate- a great ride.
Friday, July 4, 2025
What if nobody cares anymore ?
I'm not talking about custom bikes-although nobody caring about them would leave me with a shop full of useless tools and metal. I'm talking about the sport that really put me on the map as a frame building operation in the sustainable sense. Through luck and hard work I established a style and brand that has stayed popular for over 20 years. Since 2003 I have never been short on work , and most of the time pretty much oversold. In the sport of cyclocross I found a community that was very receptive to how I build bikes and my willingness to learn from the people that race- they gave me the suggestions that shaped the bikes over all these years. Some comments were glowing, some were harsh but I learned a bit from all of them, especially the criticism. For the last two decades and more I have ridden the wave of cyclocross and it has been-to use a phrase I really hate- a great ride.
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Sorry, son.....
So what is the state of the bike industry as of 2025 ? Looks like a lot going on- not much has changed on the surface. There's new people coming up- old folks that either have been relegated to 'brand representative' or maybe they are just somewhere else living out their years in peace - away from the grinding world of bicycle commerce. What is my place in all this ? I'm just passing through , taking time away from what I have been doing for decades- building the bikes. I'm trying to think of anyone else -a frame builder of course- who has had a sustainable shop as long as I have-can't think of anyone who was at the Sea Otter. Sure, there's a few scattered across the country but at this circus , nope. All the old frame builders have quit, died or been co-opted to appear in ads or at events like this - no longer building bikes.....they are building marketing instead. It's a good gig if you can get it.
This brings me to my experience-one that will stick with me , along with all the great chance meetings with old friends. I was introduced to a young man who, upon hearing that I was indeed that aged frame builder from Santa Cruz invited me to come to the booth where he was working - the Marin Bicycle history museum and MTB hall of fame. I have never been to the museum and have been well outside of the crew of folks who are honored there-I just wasn't there when it all began on Mt. Tam....at the time I was a minimum wage bicycle mechanic and hobby frame builder. I got to ride a very early mountain bike and decided that it was not my thing.......guess I was not very open minded at the time. So...when this young nice man said that I should check out the collection at the booth I told him that I had the first MTB (1984) I had ever built and asked if the museum would like to have it for display . The young man was super receptive to the idea and told me that I should talk to the head man ( Really famous guy in MTB history ) and ask him.
After walking around for another hour I had forgotten about the whole exchange and was trying to find the exit from the expo so that I could beat traffic home. One friend of mine showed up and said "Hey-have you been to the MTB hall of fame booth yet ?" I had not so we made our way over. At the booth we found a number of folks crowded around a small tent filled with the most primitive and historically significant MTB's in the whole Sea Otter. The curator, actually someone I had met a few years earlier -a meeting that he did not remember- was ushered over to talk to me about MTB # 1. The curator held out his hand to shake mine as if we were meeting for the first time- I guess that is indicator # 1 of my lack of historical significance . Indicator # 2 was when the curator kindly said to me that there was no room at the museum for my MTB # 1 . To me it was just another case of not being one of the cool kids- "Sorry, son. There isn't room for you ......and who did you say you were , anyway ?" Yes- of course I'm taking this like I normally do- much to personally- but it does feel personal. While these folks who are celebrated in the museum may be historically significant-and they really are- I think that the great bulk of them did their main work many years ago for a short time frame. I'm not asking for an award for my lengthy participation in this line of work but a small nod to my existence for all these decades might be nice. I did start building at a time that few if any were doing it. And those few have not kept at it - I guess I get a bit upset thinking that I have repaired and fixed a lot of these famous people's boo-boos over the decades and that all that I have done is nothing compared to the legacy of a bunch of folks honored at the museum.
Don't get me wrong-I'm not asking for n award-I don't have any illusion about being in any MTB hall of fame-I never belonged there and I know that. But I think that my first mountain bike does belong in the museum as it is one of the very first from Santa Cruz and represents the start of the second wave of MTB design- the period when cross country racing was really getting going and bikes had to steer and be light and lively and not just a copy of a late '40's Schwinn. Call me crazy but Salsa , Bontrager , Hoover and myself were building MTB's that were in our opinion much better suited to the singletrack of our forests than anything coming out of Marin.....just sayin'. Maybe our bikes would be shit on MT. Tam.....didn't matter-we were not riding there.
So....I guess my bike will not be in the museum. Am I writing way too much about this ? Yes....after the exchange at the Marin bike history tent I left the Sea Otter in a pretty bad mood-I had forgotten all of the great meetings I had with old friends and had also stopped being happy about how lucky I was to be in such a great community of people who dedicate their lives to bikes and making people happy with them. I own this weakness and inability not to take offense when I seemingly get dismissed by someone of elevated fame status in the bike world. This is me keeping me down - not able to see things for what they really are. None of this matters and it should not matter to me. What does matter is that I'm doing my job to the best of my ability and that the people who keep me working are happy with what I do. There's no museum for that and there can't be- the display is the world at large. The exhibit is a road, a path, a velodrome.....anywhere the wheels touch the ground. That's the big display where all the hand built bikes reside- and it isn't static-it is in constant motion- as it should be. The bikes keep rolling.......and so should we all.
In closing I really need to urge all to check out the museum-there truly are some great things there and really great stories. The young folks that are helping keep the place alive are motivated and very positive. Without the public's interest something like this collection will wind up going away -it's a slice of bicycle history crowded into a small building that is like no other. Am I bummed not to have my first bike there ? Sure, but it's just one bike out of so many that shaped the sport as it is today. You never know.....I might even go up there to check it out- but not if the trip gets in the way of a good bike ride........
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
One minute you're here- the next minute you're gone..
So now I am the caretaker of these bits from Ed and other departed builders who were people I knew and admired. Most of these guys died at the age I am currently or thereabouts. I am nearing my 70th so my decades ahead might be few if any. I have had to sort through the shops of several builders in just the last few years. This makes me keenly aware of my own mortality and also a bit worried about the mess I will leave behind when I go. Will there be someone to sort through all the stuff I leave behind - find places and people who will make use of all the bits- bits that I will not live to use up ? Am I one of the last of my generation who actually gives a crap about this stuff and has the knowhow to make use of it ? These are questions that I can't answer, just as I have no answer for people who ask me how soon I am going to quit or 'retire' .........I once told the departed Bruce Gordon when he asked me what my retirement plan was.I said the following: " Bruce, it's the same as yours- "Found dead in shop" - but he was found dead in his house as he did actually find a way to retire.
So- tune in next week, next month or next year- I hope to still be here, and maybe if I can empty out these drawers of bits and finish some of the projects left behind..... before all of my unfinished projects are left behind. I'm sure there will be a hell of a garage sale.
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Promise kept

Monday, January 27, 2025
You can't plan for death- the de-construction of Ed Litton cycles

Here's a box of stamped stainless steel lugs. I get the feeling Ed did not like these but for some reason he could not just scrap them-I think I would feel the same....
Cameron Falconer was charged with organizing the same of all things in Ed's shop and having learned the trade while working for Ed he was obviously the most qualified. To do this kind of final liquidation of the shop where you learned what you do for a living you really need to care about the shop, it's history and it's creative force-along with all the contents.

here's the filing cabinet with Ed's collection of restoration decals that he will never apply -I wonder who will wind up with these and what they will do with what they find in all these drawers. Nearly all the contents of the shop were things that Ed had touched, fixed or painted or was about to fix or paint. There were still two fames in his paint booth in process. He left quite a mess when he left this earth , but then he was not planning to leave as soon and as suddenly as he did- it is like many things .......it just happened. When I hear people say "Things happen for a reason " it makes me angry. The only things that happen for a reason are reasons- people try to pin a meaning to a tragic event as if the outcome has some sort of positive aspect. I call complete and total bullshit on that whole notion- Ed's dying was sad, awful and truly unfortunate- there really isn't more to say about it.
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
We lost a good one - Edward Litton
This was a hard week if you are someone who has been part of the Bay Area frame building community for any length of time. I guy who was mostly behind the scenes , never garnering much press but doing the lion's share of the frame restoration and repair work in the SF bay area has died. Ed Litton was someone I had heard of but did not really get to know until about 8 or so years ago. I do know that builder Cameron Falconer had worked with him and that Ed had partnered with the late Bruce Gordon on a good many of Bruces later brazed frames. For Bruce to let anyone else braze his delicate and artistic frames together was something I did not imagine possible. It was not Ed who told me about this but Bruce himself. I was at Bruce's shop visiting and there was a really nice silver frame hanging in his showroom. Bruce told me that he had not brazed a lugged frame in 15 years ,but this was clearly a frame that had been recently constructed. Bruce told me that after he had mitered all the tubes and put them in the jig that Ed had done the brazing. Looking at the frame , I could not see any difference in the quality of the work from Bruce's best efforts. Bruce went on to say that Ed knew more about frame repair and brazing than he did and that Ed was able to do things in the shop that Bruce was unwilling to attempt. This is essentially the guy I looked up to as the foremost west-coast artisan frame builder telling me that there was a guy who eclipsed him in skill level - this led me to want to know who this Ed Litton guy was and what his history was.
Well , the years have gone by and I am sorry to say that I really did not get to know much about Ed as he really didn't talk about himself much. What I did talk about him with was the subject of classic bikes, (of which he was a wealth of information ) other notable builders such as Peter Johnson and of course , Bruce Gordon. I traded some frame building bits with him and often he would send me stuff without charging me. He really didn't seem to care about making a buck-I guess he did ok and was good with that. I can sum up the little I know about Ed with my impression that his focus was on the work, not on talking about his legacy or the remarkable skills that he had with the torch . His willingness to take on frame repairs that most builders would refuse to do set him apart. He became the guy that I would refer people to for jobs that I either # 1, did not feel comfortable attempting or # 2 , just didn't want to do.
Now he is gone- a result of a horrific bicycle crash. Ed was pretty close to my age and by now had inherited much materials and supplies from Bruce, Peter and other builders who had passed on. Now Ed is gone leaving a pile of stuff that was I'm sure on his list to use up some day. I have a similar pile of stuff that I have accumulated as a builder-all of us from that generation remember when getting frame building supplies was both difficult and expensive so when stuff came to our doors for free, we seldom said 'no'.
While I did get to see Ed as a bike show or two and at Bruces shop and we did talk on the phone now and then , I never did get to see his shop. This I regret greatly and If there is a chance to go up to Richmond and visit his shop , I know that it will be sad to look around and not hear from Ed himself the stories behind all that I would be seeing.
Goodbye, Ed- really good to have met you and traded some stories. You were a great ally to Bruce and had his profound respect- something that hardly anyone ever earned. You seemed to have the faith that anything placed in front of you - no matter how damaged - was something you could fix. To maintain that mindset after decades of the kind of work you did was remarkable. There's a lot of people who will miss you-probably many more that you could have eve imagined.
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Made show 2024- my impressions















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