In a message dated 2/28/2002 10:14:16 AM Eastern Standard Time, mowalsh@erols.com writes:
<< Blue Wheel Bicycle Shop in Charlottesville,Va. is still in business as far as I know....I met a club rider recently riding a custom made frameset that he said came from "The Blue Wheel" in Charlottesville.It was a classic built lugged steel bicycle,it looked GOOD!.....If I recall correctly he said the owner of the shop did a small number of frames. >>
Scott Paisley is a fine builder...
He studied frame making in the UK as an apprentice, (I think at Holdsworth too, as did McLean Fonvielle) He told me stories about those days including visiting the pre-Bob Jackson Hetchins shop still presided over at that time by Jack Denny... Before he became a partner in The Blue Wheel, he worked on his own as a full time builder, first in Ohio and then moved to Virginia and eventually gave it up as a solo builder and went to work at Blue Wheel. That shop is tiny little shop, down a funky alley near Univ. of Va., in which they have to move bunches of bikes outside each day to be able to enter the store... Very old school!
I sold his frames through CDO in the early 1990s ..
Back then Scot also briefly (1-2 years) made Gary Fisher's high end steel MTB frames under contract; he is an awesome filet brazer..
Scott's talents included his ability to do really amazing lug cut outs.. He used a fine saw blade-a jeweler's saw or similar-and did very, very detailed work. We had a custom job done for a local furniture designer which included a running man (stick figure sort of) in one lug, a guitar on another lug and the customer's initials on the third lug!! We then had the frame brass plated and lacquered, and used all black components.... Wild!
He also used a distinctive seat stay cluster design unlike I have seen on any other frames. I have a personal frame made by Scott I need to publish pics of on the CR site... Very nice looking!
Dale Brown
Greensboro, NC