Now this is an interesting question...a what was happening over there before the mid-eighties?
I have to wonder.... -how the standards of excellence might differ -How those differences might have been influenced by traditional culture, colonial engineering&economy, and the later planned economy.
A culture that doesn't reward excellence must have hard time sustaining a tradition of mastery.
But the introduction of a free market economy may have already changed all that.
I've never seen a Chinese rod-brake roadster with cutout lugs. I don't think I've ever seen one with 531 db tubing either.
There are many Asian bikes with enameled jewelry attached. and I've seen a few with clear enameled details on the frame itself. There was a Chinese bike at a spring Ann Arbor swap I wish I'd bought. It had a column of formal, transparent-blue-enamel, clerical characters running down the top tube.
Calvert Guthrie KCMOUSA
In a message dated 11/21/2001 4:59:20 PM Central Standard Time, LouDeeter@aol.com writes:
> With China being the user nation of bicycles, is there a framebuilder there
> that is known for exquisite lugged frames? I wonder whether there are
> those
> attempting to make a living in China as bicycle 'artists'--Taiwan or
> mainland
> China.
> Lou Deeter, "suffering in this terrible weather we are having that you guys
> up north don't even want to know about" Orlando FL