In a message dated 10/19/2003 7:38:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time, dvancleve@cox.net writes:
<< Dale (or anybody in the know),
What/who exactly are the Keepers of the Flame? Is it a defined list of specific brands/builders, or anyone currently building using traditional design and construction techniques? Can a keeper use oversize tubing? >>
Oh geez... Well, I admit we have never tightly nailed it down... (Maybe it's better that way?) but I know what I think it is:
Someone... or some trend... or some movement that recognizes the aesthetic system, hand work, personalization and sweat equity that is part and parcel of the arts (?) crafts(?) and skill set to make bicycles and parts.
A hard-to-define-but-I-know-it-when-I-see-it quality which celebrates the traditional approaches and acknowledges the striving for excellence which has gone before... This can include a broad range to me; people who have bee working and continue to refine their work (some of which are on this list) , people who pick it up later and run with it, and people who help the cause.
Lugs & steel tubes, any size, seem OK to me.. Brazing fits. Welding does not (OK, there are a few exceptions.) Waffle iron molds or robot manufacturing does not fit. One person or a few persons, working hard with a strong value placed upon the love of the form and tradition win big over large scale, minimal time & money invested. Etc., etc., etc....
I think one absolutely essential characteristic is "the sign of the hand" and even the ability to know who's hand is was! New stuff is impersonal and robotic. I think keepers of the flame display their humanity in their work and rejoice when it shows!
That sums most of it up for me.
(Boy, I can see a discussion about this can turn into a real can of worms!! Ha!)
Dale Brown
Greensboro, North Carolina