Re: [CR]now: Phil BB problems, history

(Example: Racing)

From: <NortonMarg@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 18:37:16 EST
Subject: Re: [CR]now: Phil BB problems, history
To: henox@icycle.net
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

In a message dated 10/27/03 10:14:37 AM Pacific Standard Time, henox@icycle.net writes:
> Sorry Stevan, but your perception of Phil Woods "philosophy" and attitude
> simply couldn't be more wrong.
>

Although I certainly allow the possibility, I specifically asked him about the bb axles that were breaking. I do not think I misunderstood him when he said he was going to use up the last of that material shortly, and that with the better material he was going to use, the problem would be a thing of the past. The conversation, though brief, occurred in his booth at one of the BDS shows in either Reno or Las Vegas in the mid 1980s. I never had a conversation with him about the hubs. I was working in various bike shops in the early 70s, and several collapsed wheels came into a shop (that I at least hung out at) on Fulton street in San Francisco. The shop owner told me there was a "batch" of hubs that were mis-machined. All the collapsed hubs were replaced but there was no recall to attempt to find the defectives before they collapsed. I grant that Phil did all kinds of interesting work on bicycles and wheelchairs, but unless my facts are wrong, there appears to be a disconnect somewhere. If I was making bottom bracket axles and I found I had material that was breaking, even at .0x% of production, and could change to a material that was better, I would do it without using up the old material.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA