Seldom-seen early production TA crankarms & spindle may be seen on the y ellow "Ben Dover" bike built by Mark Bulgier (at link supplied yesterday by Brandon Ives). Perhaps worth pointing to for those who've not seen t hem, these crankarms were no doubt a curiosity even at the date this bik e was built.
This is the type of bike I find myself perhaps most drawn to--a sophisti cated and dignified tourer--which it is, even painted "safety" yellow! H ere's the link to the drivetrain photo:
http://www.bulgier.net/
or try:
I believe those are TA pedals as well. Huret Duo-par rear derailleur, ot her top-flight components are in evidence--see the hubs--well, anyway, j ust struck me as neat to see that old (even at the time) crankset on the re. It's a sort-of cottered cotterless TA model with a proprietary spind le. "Jeu de Grain"--do I have the name right? I may have learned that fr om Sheldon's site. I believe we previously concluded these cranks hit th e market in 1962. I would be curious to hear of any dated advertising or catalog listings (having put off buying Chuck's and others reprints for far too long, and not having as many old mags as I'd like).
Ted E., if I may ask--what cranks were you racing with while in Europe, and what influenced your choice? Did you make a move from one type to an other during your early years of competition? Did you see these early TA arms in use in racing? Thanks in advance, and I hope others will find t his an interesting question.
Tom Ward New York City, New York
>Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 14:16:23 -0800
>From: "Mark Bulgier"
>OK you guys, cut it out. Many thanks, but I think you're >exaggerating
.
>I like to think I was a solid journeyman framebuilder, but there's >lot
s
>of current and former builders out there that are on a whole 'nother
>plane.
<[ellipsis]
>I didn't take many pictures over the years, which I regret. The
>pictures Monkeyman linked to include the second and third frames I >eve
r
>made (aside from production Santanas), in the "Ben Dover" folder.
>There
>are only two other frames pictured there, wife Laurie's road racer
>(poorly photographed) and Ray "Don" Chong's stainless steel touring
>frame.
>Not building any more, so please, don't place any orders!
>Mark Bulgier
>Seattle WA USA
>Brandon"monkeyman"Ives wrote:
>> Mark never built under his own name, except for some work for
>> friends and such. So you're not going to see much of his
>> work out there. As I remember it he worked at Santana first
>>in the mid-70s. Then he was back in Seattle at R&E Cycles
> for a few years, then off to Davidson for many years. He
> ended his building career in '94(?) while working for Ti
> Cycles. I'm with Curt as far as Mark's skills as a builder
> and I've said it before, if I was to have anyone else build
> me a frame it would be him. Here's a few pics of his frames:
> http://www.bulgier.net/
>
>
> Tom Sanders wrote:
>
> > When Curt Goodrich wrote "Who are these "unsung heros"?
I nominate
> > Mark Bulgier. He's the finest frame builder I've encountered. His
work
> > rivals any living or dead builder." I thought "Wow!
That's pretty
> > high praise, and
> > coming from Curt, especially so". Anyone have some photos of
this
> > work of Mark's that Curt is talking about?
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