David,
Colin Laing has built bicycles for decades. I first met him nearly 20 years ago when I went to his shop to have a frame painted (a Voyageur II that I still wish I had left original). He still builds an occasional frame to order, but his production has slowed to a trickle compared to the old days. For many years he had a shop in the rear of a huge bike store named Tempe Bicycle, and he shared a shop in Tempe with his son, Ian who is an accomplished frame builder in his own right. Colin was a serious competitive runner--I was in his work area one day and the walls were papered with entry numbers. I spoke with him a few months ago, and he was still riding in to work, probably on an old Roadster or some such steed. He likes funky bikes. I may have mentioned in a previous post about a tandem he made for friends of mine. The head lugs were just pieces of Art--they covered nearly the entire head tube. When I asked him about those lugs, he said he spent 40 hours on them. Rudy admitted he could never have afforded that bike if he had asked for the lug work. Colin just tossed them in as a surprise. It was just a very memorable bicycle.
A couple of years ago I was in the store and one of his bikes was hanging on the wall with a 'for sale' sign on it. It was a new bike with a great retro paint scheme--beautiful orange with black panels on the seat tube and down tube. Still kicking myself for passing on it.
Colin is a great guy--speaks his own mind, thinks what he wants to think, does what he wants to do. He still packs around that great accent from his native England.
Think I'll drop in on him sometime this week.
Pat Moffat Tempe, AZ
-----Original Message----- From: "David G. White" <whiteknight@adelphia.net> Sent: Aug 19, 2004 8:07 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Colin Laing KOF
I just bought a Colin Laing on eBay:
I'm very excited about it, but curious about why I haven't seen much chatter about his work on the list. There's not even alisting for him on Dale's <www.classicrendezvous.com>. Yet, he seems like a long time "keeper of the flame". What do you all think?
David
David -- I can't resist fine bikes nearly large enough for me -- White Burlington, VT