I admired the Whitcombs I saw at the Bicycle Place in Silver Spring Maryland when I was going to school at the University of Maryland right around the corner from Larry Black's shop, another taste of eye candy. I moved back to Baltimore and a year later had the disposable income to buy a nice frame and visited the Bike Place to buy a Whitcomb. I was told that unfortunately they were out of business. Would I be interested in buying a frame from this builder who worked there? We've got a show bike to see. And that's how I fell into ownership of my Richard Sachs tourer. Not a bad trade.
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland feeling like a kid in a candy store rareing to go, leaving for Bike Virginia bright and early tomorrow morning.
ps: And I did manage to own a Whitcomb a few years later, as Tom says, a
real stinker, a Crit frame with a huge heart shaped cutout on the BB that
looked like they botched it and kept cutting until they got the shape
sorta right. It just never felt good. Didn't feel bad getting rid of
that one.
>>> "Tom Sanders" <tsan7759142@comcast.net> 06/23/05 9:01 AM >>>
My own reluctance to buy an American Whitcomb stems from tales I have
heard
of widely differing quality from bike to bike. I certainly would have no
reservations about a bike built by Richard Sachs or Peter Weigle while
they
worked there, but I have also heard there were some real stinkers from
there, too.
While there is admittedly some quality variation from Masi California (I
have been told by several folks who have seen an un-named collector's
early
twin plate that it was not too well done in their opinion) overall they
are
pretty decent bikes. Maybe a little over rated, but pretty decent.
In light of this, there really is not much competition for my attention
between Whitcomb and Masi.
Tom Sanders
Lansing, Mi