At 8:52 AM -0700 6/27/02, Dennis wrote:
>With all the frame builders out there turning out beautifully constructed
>lugged frames, what (if anything) are they doing to pass on their trade?
As one of the people who helped build your most un-classic bike (the triple binder is a dead giveaway) I'll chime in. The few builders left that build "classic" lugged frames continue to do so as small shops. This is the way you have to do it to survive. If you look at the people who still build lugged frames 99.9% of them learned in workshop environments just like I did. The difference is they learned to build lugged steel frames and I learned to build steel bikes that go into a suitcase. Add that to the fact that each year more and more bikes are built by fully automated manufacturing, this was really rare even 20 years ago. All this makes it really tough for people like myself to build in the "classic" vein.
On the other hand I have many benefits that the people that learned years ago didn't have. The biggest I believe is the framebuilders listserve where many questions are asked and most are answered. If you have an idea you can post it and odds are someone has tried it. Sure many of the posts are what TIG welder should I buy, or "I'm building a 'bent from garbage bikes" but there have been many great discussions on design and construction of lugged frames. Also the publications and supplies are more easily available then in the past. Lastly, we also have actual framebuilding classes available in a few places around the US. Alas nothing teaches like experience and unless we see more apprenticeships you'll be seeing fewer and fewer custom lugged frames. enjoy, Brandon"monkeyman"Ives Trying to keep the flame alive in Santa Barbara, Calif.