One of the list members wrote me and asked:
Hey Doug,
"Is there more to this story? It seems like you cut it short. Any pictures of the bikes out there anywhere on the web? This is a really cool project and story (I have read some related posts on the framebuilder list)."
Actually there is a lot more to the story. That post was the middle section without explaining what inspired the whole thing nor what happened after ordering the first batch of bikes. Obviously a single post that was already rivaling the length of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" - except without the good writing - had to come to some kind of merciful stop whether it was the end of the story or not. When I get a chance, and with Dale's okay, I will continue. Right now I should tell you something about the parts that I saw there. I believe that those copies of 50-/60's components were not being made at the time of my first visit in 2000. That was one of my first questions to them. I bought 2 samples of the model of the bike we had chosen to give to our pastors. One is now sitting by my alignment table in my frame shop. The most interesting parts to me were the derailleur and shift levers. The rest looked like less than Huffy quality. Steel stamped stuff. Well, the freewheel was interesting because it had a manufactored-by-hand-filing look. The rear derailleur was squarish aluminum similar to a Campy model 980. The front derailleur was also similar to the same Campy model but less well executed than the rear derailleur. The shift levers were kind of cool. They had a cut out in the lever. These parts were not on the 200 bicycles we picked up at the factory in August. They were equipped with cheap steel derailleurs one would find on a K-Mart special. Actually they work better than the old copies so I didn't complain. Because they had shut down most of their entire operation, I believe that the aluminum manufacturing section had ceased. At one time they did aluminum cranks and brakes but there was no evidence of that when I was there.
I thought they were goners when I first arrived. That place is enormously huge but like a tomb. To give a more accurate description, I should say very enormously huge. They admitted to making 300 bikes in 2000 and we ordered 250 of them. I think they were lying about the other 50. They were bought out and acquired by some other company in early 2001 and fired most of the existing staff. This led to some confusion of who was in charge and who we needed to contact to get what we wanted. The last time I was there was the summer of 2003. One of the secretaries had a big picture of Lenin behind her on the wall. I asked her what the purpose of that was. She said nobody had bothered to change it. To me it represented how far behind times this company was. There are in Ukraine marketing companies that are selling bikes made in the far east. Of course these bikes represent the latest fads in both the best and worse sense. As a matter of fact, I went to one aerospace company in Kiev that made the pursuit bikes for the 2002 world champions. The very latest in cutting edge technology. So it is not the country that is entirely backward but just this company.
Sometime, if there is some interest, I will tell more about how I got there in the first place and making a variety of sample frames for the company to copy. I have been pleased to be part of something where bicycling can make a difference in the quality of peoples lives and efforts. Right now I can tell you that we are going to make the frames ourselves using lugs. I will go sometime early next year to provide more training. I'll keep you posted. Thanks to those that showed interest. I have a lot of pictures and will have to see how I can post them for those wanting to see them.
Doug Fattic.
Niles, MI