We lost a good one- Charlie Cunningham

Yesterday I went up to Marin County- Fairfax to be exact- the birthplace of the sport of Mountain Biking , at leas according to legend. I went to be present at the memorial for one Charlie Cunningham , one of a handful of folks who are credited as the founding fathers of Mountain biking .The memorial was led by Charlie's wife, Jacque Phelan. The memorial was held at the Marin museum of bicycle history, formerly known as the Mountain Bike hall of fame. This was my first visit to the place and I was surrounded by friends and work associates and fans of Charlie and his work. The crowd barely fit in the small space and it was standing room only for many of the people-they didn't mind a bit as this was a gathering of historic significance as far as the bike world was concerned.
 

I really never got to know Charlie and only had maybe a couple of chances to talk with him. I did get to know him a bit in a round about way-I was one of the folks who Jacque , Charlie's wife (and cycling legend ) had contacted to take stuff out of Charlie's workshop under their house to keep tools and materials from winding up in recycling or the dump. I got to see the inner sanctum of the place where Charlie turned some of his many ideas into workable products such as bicycles and components.

Charlie's interests were not limited to bicycles but for many years he was dedicated to making the most advanced mountain bikes possible for his own use. It was soon after this that other people sought him out for his bicycle frames, forks and components. He made about 180 aluminum frames in all-not a huge number but the few frames that he did make had tremendous significance in that they were unique and that they had features that were years ahead of their time. All this work was confined to this basement shop that was not like any other bike builder's shop-just like Charlie was not like any other bike builder. 

I can't claim to know much about Charlie as a person but I could tell from his shop that he had a lot of ideas and projects going at the same time. His shop was a huge mess but that warmed my heart as my shop was not clean and orderly , at least not until about 5 years ago-and it still isn't really all that clean or orderly. 

Charlie looked at everything with a very critical eye-he was certain that everything he saw could have been improved with some very specific modifications ....he was all about modifying . At a time when most bike builders were trash talking aluminum as a material for bicycle frames, Charlie was convinced that not only was it lighter than steel, it could be made to be as durable -something that was generally not accepted . His opinions in the case of his own frames turned out to be correct-he built around 180 frames and none of them failed in the way that other aluminum bicycle frames had failed -he had figured out a way to tame the material and create bikes that were very light and durable. He also put drop bars on his bikes and it was also not a popular thing to do with mountain bikes until many years layer. He was ahead of the curve most of the time,-either that or he was creating brilliant but wildly impractical tools and parts. 

What I limited things I know about him were learned mostly from looking around his workshop - there were multiples of tools, armies of files, saws and grinders. He had so many tools packed into the small space that it was hard to imagine how he worked in there. But as bike history shows, work he did and the legacy of his active mind will be with us as long as people ride bikes. Charlie even designed tires for Specialized bicycles- this is something I did not know until the memorial. 

I really regret that I did not get to know Charlie better. I get the feeling that in spite of his brilliance , he was a kind soft spoken and engaging person-I have been told as much by everyone I talked to who knew him. The boxes of stuff in my shop-files, fork blades, frame building hardware - they all tell a bit of his story but not nearly enough. He would have to be the one to tell his story and now he is gone ....there is only a small amount of video record of Charlie and it was shown at the memorial. I was very glad to be there and see it. 

From now on in my shop I will have these small bits of evidence of Charlie in my shop and I hope to incorporate some of this metal leftover stash into bikes -maybe these won't be historically significant bikes but at least the leftover bits will find their way onto bikes and onto the roads- one more bike, one less car. 

Another one bites the metal dust-Pargon Machine works.

 Well, you don't know what you got 'till it's gone.......Paragon machine works in Richmond, Calif. has been manufacturing parts in titanium and steel for frame building since the late '80's. Mark Norstad has manned the company since its beginning and had successfully survived economic downturns, the pandemic and of course the often changing and occasionally harsh economic swings of the bike industry. Mark handed off the company to his son, Calvin maybe a year ago. This brings us to yesterday when Calvin sent out an email that Paragon would cease operations immediately and if builders wanted to buy anything, they had better act quickly before the stock ran out. There was no mention of a sale of the business or any kind of continuation of any of their products- this news was particularly harsh as the bike industry is getting hammered by all sorts of adverse economic factors- oversupply of goods, undersupply of customers and tariffs that put small builders in a money squeeze that they are not likely to afford . Yes, I'm getting a little political now- if you really are liking the tariffs then you can stop reading here and curse me and my 'California values' . I don't really care- everyone has to believe in something but what you might believe in is killing my craft and putting some people out of work , some people into the street and in this case, killing a decades-old company that a large number of small builders depended upon. You are reading this blog, correct ? You must have an interest in the subject of small, independent frame builders, correct ?....well, the subject that is literally on life support just got it's oxygen tube yanked out yesterday by factors that were not present a couple of years ago. 

Paragon was not just a supplier, they made products that made the manufacture of bicycle frames more systematic and easier for builders. Paragon as a company responded to the market and periodically updated products and standards to keep small builders current with an industry that has been changing rapidly with no regard for how it effected the frame building community or its customers. Paragon on the other hand really showed a kinship with the small builder. When the bike industry decided to change an axle, brake mount, BB thread or derailleur hanger spec, Paragon was right there within a couple of months offering the new designs to small builders. They kept up with the market in a remarkable way. There are many builders out in the world who came along after Paragon was well established- these builders only know building with Paragon parts and with the closing of the company, these builders will be left out in a big way.

So what does the future hold ? For me, I know that frame building existed before Paragon and it will exist after Paragon , but if someone does not step up and try to keep making the parts - such as Derailleur hangers- there will be a massive blood-letting in the builder community so to speak. Builders who mainly build in titanium will have a really difficult time sourcing parts to complete orders. What am I going to do about it ? Not sure what I can do , other than for now to buy every der. hanger I can find. My hope is that Paragon will sell or release CAD programs and/or drawings so that someone can source parts through a machine shop. I have done this with my 7005 dropouts and flat mounts, courtesy of Mike Ahrens- Mike might play a role in re-launching some of this Paragon stuff. Not sure if Mike wants to re-start his company but he might be the savior in this dilemma to keep bikes with Paragon Der. hangers rolling and make it so builders who exclusively relied upon Paragon parts can continue building. It's a mess-I should not comment on how Paragon got to the decision to close as I do not know the whole story , but having been through nearly 4 decades of this business I can guess that a new owner might not have the experience or confidence to steer a company like Paragon successfully through times like the ones we are in now. Stay tuned....get a spare der. hanger if you need it and wait for the dust to clear. I cannot say that we will all make it through this one- looks like Paragon certainly won't- but if enough of us rally together we might be able to do what Paragon could not manage- we might survive. 

Be careful for what you don't wish for

Every year from Christmas until Jan. 1st I effectively close the shop and work on 'fun' projects. A lot of times these projects start out fun and after awhile turn into something else, maybe not as much fun as anticipated. I can deal with that- building bike frames is a bit of work and building one just for the heck of it feels like even more work, even if it isn't. In the case of this weeks project, it felt like more work and it really was more work. It became so much work that at one point I felt like it was not worth the effort . Let me tell you how this particular frame project went to shit in a new and unanticipated way.

Let me give you the backstory. I am part of a generation of frame builders who started in the '70's. There are not many of us left-seems like building bicycle frames does not make for a long life-most of my similar aged builder brethren are gone , most due to heart failure. I have a theory why this happens but I won't tell it to you because I'm not a doctor and I could totally be wrong. Regardless, I have been to several shop/estate sales because of a builder either quitting or dying. I wind up with a lot of materials-some of it easily identifiable, some of it a total mystery.....but steel is steel, right ? Maybe in most cases but not this week. 

In the '80's a company named 'Excell' started making and marketing what they said was the lightest and strongest steel tubes on the planet. I don't remember what all their engineering data was but what I do remember were all the horror stories from builders I knew who tried using it. Word was that it was nearly impossible to cut and that once you built your frame, good luck aligning it- the tubes would not yield, not even a little bit. The steel was so hard  that it was brittle. I stayed the hell away from Excell tubing for decades- that is until yesterday.

What you see in the photos is a lugged frame I built. I just pulled random tubing out of unmarked boxes and chose the tubes based on the wall thickness and length. I knew that the main tubes were Tange prestige and Columbus but I didn't know what the seat and chain stays were-all I knew was they were very light. The stays had the right specs for the build so I used them. They seemed a bit hard to cut but I was able to do it with little trouble. I finished the frame and was only left with the alignment as the last task. I noticed that the rear stays were out much more than any frame I had built in many years. What I didn't know was that the socket for the seat tube on the BB shell was off-center. Maybe this is why this particular  BB shell had not been used but the hands it had passed through in the last 40-50 years of its existence. So, not knowing this I merrily set about banging on the rear end of the bike with the rubber mallet- standard procedure , at least in my shop. No matter how many times I hit the stays, they would not move. I was dumbfounded-I had never run across this kind of stiffness in a steel tube ever. I decided that I had to swing the mallet harder- and harder....still, the stays would not budge. Finally I gave it a really hard whack and hear a pop'. I knew that something had cracked-it was the seat stay. The chain stay on the same side had a buckle in it as well-I was clueless why this frame was acting in a way I had never encountered. 

Very annoyed, I left the shop and went home for lunch, then I went for a short ride. I really thought that fixing this frame was too much work to be worth the effort-I would have to replace the whole rear triangle. I was not up for that-I returned to the shop later but did no further work on the frame and just hung it up. That night I went to sleep not quite knowing what to do- it was the weekend when I typically avoid going to the shop. I woke up the next morning and decided that It was best to fix this frame and take a good look at the tubing that I was replacing. After a good look I figured out that the stays were Excell- the super-hard, super-stiff , brittle as hell tubing that came and went years ago. I though to myself "Why the hell would anyone keep this crap around when they know how unusable it was ? And the off-center BB shell-why would anyone keep a piece of crap like that around ? Is it the curse of the trade that frame builders can't seem to throw anything away, even if it is totally useless ? 

I know one thing for sure-I'm going to look through the boxes of tubing I have and some of the boxes of BB shells and toss all of it that hints of Excell or out-of-spec. What if this was not a little year end project but a customer's frame ? What if the front tubes were Excell and broke because of their brittle nature and the rider got hurt or worse ? Stuff that is made and marketed that is absolutely no good and a product of bullshit engineering and untruthful marketing pisses me off in a very big way-this weekend was a mess because of some stuff in my shop that other builders had -but didn't use- and they were not around to tell me why they didn't use it. They also were not around to tell me why they had not disposed of it. Well, they might not have disposed of it but you know sure as hell that I will -with pleasure.