I was thrilled to read this thread on Tesch road bikes. And after reading Brian Baylis Tesch Tandem story I've gotta tell mine.
I always admired Tesch's when I was living, and riding in Long Beach, CA (in the early to late 1980's). I wanted to buy one but I had already talked my wife into a Ron Cooper...and I decided that was the high watermark at the time!
I moved to the East Coast ten years ago. Last year, I saw a Tesch 101 advertised for sale in Lancaster , PA (30 min. from home). After speaking with the owner...a Gen. X'er with no appreciation for road bikes, much less a vintage Tesch (I never knew any Tesch's made it outside CA).I knew it was my duty to rescue this rare and beautiful machine.
But even more incredible the Bike was 20 years old, still in the original shipping box, never built, with the original campy chorus grouppo....in each little campy box. This kid got the whole thing in a trade. We struck a deal on the spot ($350. for the frameset, and $350 for the group), and away I went with a 101 that was as if it was pulled out of a 20 year time capsule.
I built it, and ride it on perfect days, but it is so perfect, I don't even want to get a drop of sweat on it! After I had it for a while I saw another 101 on e-bay which had a comment added after the auction was in progress, and it was a note from the owner, stating that Dave Tesch was correcting his reference to the tubing type (101's were apparently made with SL, and SP chain stays, according to the note).
After I read that note I wrote to the guy selling the Tesch, and asked him for DaveTesch's e-mail, just to let him know how much I admire this piece of rolling art. The guy passed my e-mail address on to Tesch, and a couple days later I got an e-mail from him, wanting to know what I wanted to know about the 101!
I told him everything! But then focused in on things like how many were built, and did his time at MASI influence his build style. An he answered as follows:
500 +/- 101's were built, and 750 +/- S-22's were built, and "no MASI didn't really influence him that much. He was most influenced by Brian Baylis who he referred to as the "Lord of craftsmanship" . Brian for the record he did say the S-22 was named after his Mercury Comet S-22. He also noted that he intends to open a small one man frame shop in the near future, near Milwaukee, Wis.
I thought that was a great complement to Brian Baylis!
Thanks for letting me share my Tesch story. Finding the frame and group in
the original boxes was like finding a ship wreck with a treasure chest of
gold coins!
Joe Casey
Exton, PA