Were the lugged frames of yesteryear all uniquely differentiated and and handcrafted, even at the high end? A lot of those lugged frames were made in a high volume factory; the only major difference were the brand decals. High production, high cost bikes were lugged from the mid 70's to the mid 80's. They too were generic, like the much derided on this list tig welded frames of today. How many 'Classic, Vintage, Old School' lugged frames from respected brands are sold on ebay and craigslist with the plain old lugged construction without anything special, even at a higher pricepoint? Hetchins and Jack Taylor pounded out dozens of lugs at a time with a big press. Masi did too I gather as well as other Italian makers. Old School and a lot of handwork to get the lugs usable and attractive enough for the afficionados taste. And an inordinate amount of time to produce it- they were still a business running a factory, and time is money. Is e Ritchie bastardizing the category by using an investment cast lugset? Can they be accused of taking shortcuts? Brian Bayliss? JP Weigle?? I hope not. I'm looking at a 1964 Jack Taylor mixtie tandem frame that is fillet brazed. There was no way to cost effectively fashion lugs for that beast, even though it was probably a one off, or maybe even a group of 3 or even 10 frames. If they spent the time to make the lugs, the brothers would still be working on it. I mention this because it is still a beautiful frame with clean flowing lines around the joints and there is obvious evidence it is hand crafted without the glaring errors of mistakes that are associated with the 'artists interpretation'. I have a few out of timeline steel bikes (mtn and road) in my collection and all are tig welded. From a distance, they look the same, and they reach the same goal- connecting frame tubes together beyond the constrains of traditional lugs. For those with bodies outside of the average (whatever that is), a lugged frame may never fit well or feel right. And all are works of art from well respected framebuilders, who have and/or still do lugged and fillet brazed frames. And they all have unique signatures within their style that you can notice to an afficionado.
Which leads to a somewhat related point:
How many on this list have actually welded a frame together? TIG welding is not such an easy process- it takes a considerable amount of skill to successfully join those tubes together. In my humble solitary class of welding at the local community college, TIG was the last type of welding we were taught, due to the fact it takes a more delicate hand and requires a more intimate knowledge of the tools and materials to do the job right so whatever you're working on stays together without catastrophic failure- which is an important issue when you're building, say, the Bay Bridge. The first process we were taught was torch brazing- it was faster and easier to become proficient than the other types of welding, and it set the foundation for the feel and look of MIG and TIG welding. I would venture to say it takes as long to master TIG welding as it does to braze. Both are lifelong endeavours to constantly improve your skillset. Of course, after your'e done brazing a lugged frame together, it is sometimes more esthetically pleasing, but if every brand of bike from every factory used the same lugs and tubing, how are they truly differentiated; how many frame building businesses truly went to the effort of making 'their' lugged bikes unique among the vast market? How many of them were considered ugly at the time and beneath the lists interest? It's easy to apply contemporary esthetics to previous generations of bikes. There are generic lugged bikes, just as there are generic TIG bikes. I'm all for rediscovery, but I think a legitimate question is why that esthetic fell out of favor in the first place- maybe to do something different? To be unique? Responding to the market?
Tom Martin Oakland CA
Attached Message From: OROBOYZ@aol.com [ Save Address ] To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Welded Ti frames Keeper of the Flame? Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 10:58:12 EST
In a message dated 12/2/2005 10:12:03 AM Eastern Standard Time, hetchinspete1@yahoo.com writes:
<< I guess it depends for now on your interpretation of what Dales describes as welded. If my interests still took me away from bikes of the U.K. I would certainly love to have a few of the original Titaniums in my grouping like Speedwell & Teledyne. Since Dale lists both frames on the CR pages, I would guess that sets a precedent for the list, and a shop like Merlin could be considered KOF. >>
Actually inclusion of the Speedwells and Teledynes is just luck, due to their date of manufacture, as their makeup does not fit what I envision as a handcrafted product where aesthetics and identifiable differentiation is a strong part of their persona. They really were the harbinger of a modern era where bikes with character were to almost disappear. Certainly filet brazed frames also stretch this definition, but in this, the entirety of the bike often is of the "Constructeur" approach where those individualistic end goals are met.
Dale Brown
Greensboro, NC USA