Master Richie
I say that the list has a BIG bias towards finish work (not the kind from Finland) and possibly a borderline obsession with the visual.
Yes, we're all in love with bicycles that look cool, but the "real deal" bikes by the masters transcend the visual... into the mojo realm. It's also in the ride, the construction quality, the heritage, the race results, the legends...it's about more than a crisp shore-line isn't it?
Don't get me wrong, a crisp shoreline is important. But how hard is it _really_ to get the finish work looking good under paint?
Can't be THAT hard. The rest of the criteria? Now that's hard!
I don't think choosing a frame material, or a construction technique, makes or breaks the deal. Mastering it does.
Grant McLean toronto, canada (i'm baaack, baby!)
Subject: [CR]Was: measuring ugliness. Now: welding
the list timeline stuff is celebrated because it represents an era which
no longer exists - and that doesn't ensure that goods made back then are
better or made from loving hands. most of the stuff discussed here daily
is production work or factory made or sourced out by the maker, only to
find most here incredulous 30-40 years later.
welding wasn't used then because the market didn't accept it and the
industry didn't embrace it. lugs were common because they were available,
not because they were better; most of the lugged frames from the pre-TIG
era are junk - we only like the .01% here. what grant said about "...in
200 years" is charming, but it doesn't account for the fact that, while he
is trying hard to re-issue a classic frame, not unlike the MASI i outed
this a.m., most of the other 500,000,000
lugged frames from the pre-TIG era show no evidence of the "differentiated
hand". lugs were used because that's what was economically viable.
whether it's off topic or not, it pains me, as a builder, to see such a
sweeping bias against all other assembly methods. tig welding has its own
aesthetic and requires the same care that lug brazing does - assumming the
builder is putting his best efforts into it. just as millions of TIG-ed
frames are/were indifferently made, the same could be said for lugged
frames.
e-RICHIE
chester, ct