In a message dated 11/11/03 8:32:47 AM Pacific Standard Time,
donalddunstan@wtconnect.com writes:
> Sooner or later you come to the realization that there really isn't any
> magic in this obsession we have. It came for me when I worked in a frame
> shop for 6 months, maybe a little before. Like Jose Ramirez III said about
> guitar building, "It's a craft", the same applies to bike building. In music
> the magic is the sound, in cycling, the magic is the ride, which is made up
> of a bizzillion different sensory stimuli. A ride on that Frejus, with the
> right combinations of elements, may make it the best ride in recent memory.
>
> Just the same, I like my guitars built with a solid sitka top.
>
>From a craft standpoint, I would call the Frejus a journeyman built frame,
certainly not a master built one. One part of the disappointment was that there
is a split in the tubing that was partially (may have been completely at the
time, but I'll never know) filled with brass when the drop out was brazed in
place, and they used it anyway! I don't know if the split traveled or if it was
always there, always the same length.
In any event, a little careful welding to seal it up will put it on the road.
I will ride it to see if I like it. In the end it probably won't matter
except that it was one more little thing that I had to fix.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA