>Brandon I didn't say that! I said,
>
>"A thing to remember,The best work from custom work shops is
>commissioned by the buyer, not the builder. I would guess David Bohm
>and Richard Sachs best work came from their
best customer (if you can define that) that was willing and able to
pay for it."
>I might add:
>Building a frame is only as good as the customer sounds odd to me, a little
>elitist.
Sorry to have misread you, but I don't see my comments as elitist at
all. Every great artist and craftsman through time have done their
best work for their best customers. You can look at painting,
sculpture, furniture, architecture, bicycle frame building. Do you
put your best effort into your best customer? I'll bet you do. I
think you're just looking at it from a "practical" point of view,
energy in = energy out + a few bucks.
>I think the weeding out process (of customers) you mention is coming awfully
>early for someone getting started but time is limited for everyone. The
>wingnut and wacko requests are where I feel a good builder will learn his
>best tricks or worst limitations. I suspect a good builder will learn
>something new every day he is at his craft, faster if he's screwing up.
>That's my game, screwing up and I'm good at it.
You seem to think I'm "new" to this. Let's see I've studied framebuilding and design for 20 years, worked as a professional mechanic for 15, and worked for a manufacturer for 2 years. I learn constantly by watching and talking and playing. I don't need to learn mistakes on other's bike I can screwup my own bikes just fine. I can also weed out anyone I like because I'm going to do it because I love it not because I need to make a living with it. I also have a list of people that will buy frame from me right now because they know what I'm capable of. If I actually had money or was a trustfund baby I would have started building years ago. Alas, growing up in and overeducated underfunded family make's it a bit difficult to ask for startup money, but it does teach you to live with less. I'm also not going to be competing with Asia or really anyone else, because what I want to do is something very few people do. I also don't plan to give up my day job until my wife get's tenure. We'll see where things stand in 8 years since that's my timeline. enjoy, Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
PS: This is now becoming personal so if anyone feels they'd like to
comment please do so off list.
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