[CR]Chairman Bill's Experience

(Example: Framebuilding:Restoration)

Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 07:54:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Tom Dalton" <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Chairman Bill's Experience

Jerry wrote: "Nothing wrong with healthy disagreements, I just wish people would base their opinions on actual experience, as you do."

I too base my opinions on experience. I've never ridden a PY-10 or a PX-10 or any of the higher-end Peugots. I have, however, had the experience of looking at many such Peugeots, and that experience has been more than enough for me to form the opinion that they are not well crafted. Race worthy? I certainly see no reason whay they wouldn't be, since they have been used to win the biggest race of them all. Cool bikes? Well, any pro team bike, when equipped as used by the team, is pretty cool in my book. Good examples of the craft? OBVIOUSLY NOT. A bike doesn't need to be a good example of the craft in order to be a good race bike, or in order to be a cool addition to one's collection. In fact, I don't own a single bike that I consider to be an exceptional example of the craft, and most team bikes are not. But please, please, please, let's not kid ourselves about PY-10's being as fine as Team Pros, or about Team Pros being as fine as Confentes. There are objective criteria for evaluating the craftsmanship of frames as surely as there are subjective criteria. To suggest that a PY-10 exhibits the objective traits of a well-crafted frame is absurd. To say that it meets one's personal criteria for fine craftmanship, as though these things are all subjective and all opinions have equal merit, is utter nonsense. This is the type of thinking that leads to ignorant opinions such the belief that a grandchild's finger painting has the same merit as a Pollock.

Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA

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