The first Lippy I saw was owned by a fellow I rode across the country with in the inaugural year of Bikecentennial, 1976. So I know he started in at least the early 70s. I am pretty sure it had the crossed-over seat stays (Hetchins called these Hellenic, and did them decades ago, so the idea was not new. And GT bikes had them for years in the 80s-90s). That fellow (the owner, not Lippy) unfortunately passed away in the early 80s at a too-young age but I saw the bike enshrined at his parents place in Montana in 1986. Perhaps it is still there. His bike was made in San Diego when Keith Lippy lived there (maybe connected to the Masi/Medici/Tesch/Bayliss/Cunningham crowd? Brian?). Then in 1978 I went out with a young lady for awhile that had a Lippy. Hers came from Bend Oregon where I think he still lives. Later when I had been in the bike business for some time, we started seeing a lot of them, especially tandems. At the Northwest Tandem Rally each year it seemed that every fourth bike was a tandem, and I met him a couple times at the rallies. They were very nicely made. He was a one-man shop as far as I know except for his wife who painted them. Pink and purple fades were very popular with his customers. I hear he has retired as of a few years ago now. He was also a teacher and made frames in his spare time. Knowing how hard it is to make a living making frames (my partner is Bill Davidson) I can see how doing it solo and part time would have been tough. Sorry to lose such a talented builder in the industry. His bikes are still seen at the tandem rallies.
Bob Freeman
Elliott Bay Bicycles
Seattle