Not a Framebuilder

Downsize The Fantasy | RICHARD SACHS CYCLES

  Don't know why it took me months to photograph and show anyone this frame. I guess at the heart of it, is that I am not "proud" of my work. Anything that is decent about the craftsmanship is entirely due to Mike's supervision. Only the flaws can I take credit for. 

Working on a step-through frame verrrry slooowly at the Artisan's Asylum. Paul Carson is supervising/helping/babysitting. Something possessed me to try fillet brazing. This was a big mistake. Brazing tiny little bridges is one thing; lugless main joints quite another. Should have bought those new stamped step-through lugs from the UK and stuck with that. But no, I went with fillet brazing. 

I noticed this mixte at Circle A Cycles and asked where they got the lugs. Mixte lugs like these have not been available in some time. Framebuilders have either been getting their hands on NOS sets, or making their own by modifying diamond frame lugs.

Turns out, this is newly available from Ceeway. It's kind of hard to find on their website, but it's here, listed as "Berceau Lug Set." No illustration. There is also a "Ladies Lug Set," for a step-through frame. These are all stamped lugs. I contacted Ceeway and the cost is £10.88/set on both of them. I might get one of each, though I am not sure that I'll use them. 

Saw a couple of Ti bikes when I stumbled upon SCUL's lair at the Artisan's Asylum. A "nerd gang that builds and rides mutant bicycles," SCUL is led by Skunk, a graphic designer (and formerly welder?) at Seven.

I've been trying to put my thoughts on lugs into words for some time, and finally gave it a try. Many Lovely Bicycle readers seem to assume that I came on the scene with this pre-existing lugs/wool type of mentality and then was somehow either "seduced away from it" or "made to see reason" - depending on the reader's perspective. But the truth is, I had no perspective at all in the beginning; I didn't know anything about anything, including that lugs were called lugs. I learned about them and grew to love them in the course of a year. Then the next 3 years allowed me to see things from other points of view, to think more critically, and finally to experience different methods of frame construction for myself.

When designing the frame, I had it in mind to use the Velo Orange randonneur rack with integrated, detachable decalleur (here) on this bike. Once the frame was built, we mocked it up, and discovered there was no way to make it so that the rack's bracket would clear the Paul Racer brakes AND the struts would reach the fork blades. So Mike sawed off the original bracket, and welded on a new one, after shaping it to clear the brakes. 

Bingo. So cool that he can just do something like this in minutes, and can comfortably switch between TIG-welding and brazing. 

An inadvertent side-effect of my time in Mike's shop, is that I am now fantasising about an ANT loop frame. Ideally I'd like to build something very similar myself, but alas I am far from that being feasible. The frame I'd make would have slightly unconventional geometry and I'd want it to look a certain way. But it would still be a welded ANT at heart. Mike understands about step-through city bikes like no other custom builder I know. It's exciting to watch him work on them, to talk about them with him. 

Every time I see one of his new loop frames, I remember the Boston Roadster project. When I first learned about ANT 4 years ago, Mike was selling complete Boston Roadster bikes, men's and ladies', for $2,000. This included everything, I think, even racks and fenders. The components were inexpensive and you didn't get any choice in specs, but for that price you got a handmade city bike, fully equipped for commuting. I remember how I contacted Mike about the bike. This was even before Lovely Bicycle came into existence; I knew very little about anything. I asked him some questions, then got nervous about paying what seemed like sooo much money for a bike that "wasn't even lugged." So I gave up the idea and eventually bought a Pashley Princess, which I sold a year later. Would I have been better off with an ANT? Who knows. The subjective/emotional utility of getting a lugged bike, and an English bike were high for me at the time. Maybe it's best that I learned things in the roundabout way in which I learned them.

The ANT Lady Roadsters were slightly different pre-2010 than they are now. Here is one from that era, and another. Shallower curves. Straight unicrown forks were not uncommon. Threadless stems. A utilitarian/ post-IF look. Understanding its origin, I appreciate the look now more than I did then. In the Fall of 2009 I went to ANT's Open House, back when the shop was in the old location. There I saw Lacey's red-orange Roadster and test rode it very briefly. For the life of me, I cannot remember what that test ride felt like, but I remember being inexplicably attracted to the bike - despite hating the colour, the fork, and the lack of lugwork. There is a funny picture of me clutching the bike as if I don't want to return it. 

The following year we did an indoor photoshoot for Mike and he brought an elegant full-custom loop frame to our old studio in Quincy. This one had a deep curve to the top tube and resembled a Raleigh DL-1 in its proportions. This time I thought the frame and fork looked perfect, but I remember arranging the bike for the photos and thinking about how I'd want this and that completely different if it were mine. Still, something was inherently compelling about it, just the way it was. I took that bike on a short spin around Quincy center, and again cannot remember what the test ride felt like. This is odd, because I have fairly distinct memories of most bikes I've ridden. Maybe this is the city bike version of the purple handlebars/ bike disappears effect. 

I was pleased to find a detailed review of ordering a Bruce Gordon custom roadbike on the paceline forum. While there are lots of writeups of bikes that are built by newer, less experienced builders, you'd be hard pressed to find the likes of a Bruce Gordon, Peter Mooney and JP Weigle reviewed online. Granted, a few of these guys either don't need or want that form of publicity. But more commonly - whether intentionally or not - the older, more experienced builders cultivate customers who do not participate in online forums, don't post pictures on flickr, don't have personal blogs. What does this mean for the older generation of builders? They certainly get less publicity than they deserve compared to the new generation. But marketing has never been about deserving.

My impression from having watched the framebuilding scene expand over the past 4 years, is that the exposure gained from attending bike shows such as NAHBS is secondary to that of social media, and particularly to that of real customers' show-and-tell of their bikes. Customers voluntary sharing images and impressions of their bicycles through websites, blogs, flickr, twitter, various forums - that's where real interest - the kind that translates to sales - is generated. Richard Sachs understand this; I am not sure that many others of his generation and status truly do.