Art,
I very much appreciate your comments regarding my framebuilders statement. But I have to take issue in a minor way. Everyones' opinion with regards to what they do or don't like about any given bike, work of art, or what have you is perfectly valid. I'm not trying to dictate what one should or should not appreciate, that's personal and individual. I wouldn't want anyone else telling me what I should or shouldn't like about ANYTHING. In that regard what you have said is true and I agree with you.
My point is not to do with the aesthetic aspects of any frame; it only has to do with the technical aspects of framebuilding. I'll give you an example. Supposing we're looking at a frame and we're examining a beautifully exicuted fastback seatstay treatment. I'm sure that we would both agree on how beautiful the lines are and how "cleanly" it was accomplished. But before your words ever exited your mouth I've already determined that the joint is destines to fail. And it will most likely will if I think so. I know a sound design for such things and you do not. What you see is a beautiful seat stay treatment but my eyes see a joint that will fail in time (anytime before the original owner and framebuilder die is too early, anytime after that is too early also) and therefore my feelings about it are not the same as yours. Beautiful, yes; functional, NO! Which is more important to know? Trust me, if it's your bike and I have to do a repaint and repair then we're both sad. I avoid those situations like the plague. My policy is if I am not 100% convinced that my design will outlive me by hundreds of years I won't do it. The trick to being an "artiste" from my perspective is to accomplish longevity and perfect function while doing it with style and grace. There is absolutely not point whatsoever in building a beautiful frame if it is not functional first and formost. I have said that thousands of times in my life and still I repeat it at every opportunity. A bicycle IS a TOOL long before it is a piece of art. Therefore design and function always comes first, to do it with style and grace is just iceing on the cake. You will pay more for the iceing, but some of us have sweet tooths (or is that teeth?). Now, imagine every jucntion, braze-on, tube selection, coat of paint, etc. being selected using these standards. You have just imagined a Baylis frame, and very few others. You look at a deep glossy exotic coat of paint and say "how beautiful" whereas I see the same paint job and say "so how do you think that paint job looks now that parts of it are strewn all around the frame on the floor as it jumps off in big sheets while you hang parts on that bike". You see my point? I'm telling you; what you see and what I see are quite often very different. Would you prefer the "looks good works like crap" or the "looks fantastic and functions perfectly and will continue to do so for the rest of your life"? I think it's a no brainer; but that comes easy for me since I have no brain. Maybe those with real brains see it differently.
So actually we agree on the aesthetic/opinion part; it's just that we were talking about different things, no?
Brian Baylis La Mesa, CA Can I have my Mojo back now please; I feel naked without it. BTW, what exactly is a Mojo and what does it look like? Do they make good pets?