hey tom, i have not been around this list long enough to know who you are!!! ...but surely i'll find out if i care to ask around......so you grew up around baltimore.....hmmm, not me...i'm from wilmington delaware as a youth.....my formal background in bikes began at the bicycle exchange in cambridge mass...i was hired by ben olken....he was well known in the industry and i was quite shocked that he hired me, long hair, head band and all....that was 1969....not to bore you but i have owned two stores...one in philadelphia and one in charlottesville, va....worked as mechanic, manager, etc in two other stores, one in wilmington, one in newark delaware.....i've sponsored a hand full of riders and employed as many as 5 full time employees at a time....i loved repair work and worked on tons of bicycles of every stripe.....i am open minded and never met a bike guy that i didn't learn something from....i've been out of the business for years but continued to stay involved doing motorcycle support for the USPRO race series that i know you know all about...i was one of the press bikes for 15 years til an accident stopped my participation 3 years ago...as far as collecting is concerned i have a basement full of bicycles dateing back to the early 50's that i work on when i feel like it....i continue to build wheels for pleasure....i have never built a frame but know that i could...if i had a hankering to do so i'd enlist tom kellogg to get me started...i know him from motorcycle road raceing, which i, and he, did in the early 80's...once i learn how to navigate this list and who contributes what, i'll be sure to look up your pearls...as for my pearls, when you see my email name pop up...feel free to run for the delete button...and brian baylis, i've heard his name for years and am glad to see anything he contributes, same for jerry moos....there are some well informed fellows who pay attention to all this information about the classic bikes....i am amazed at the high level of details many can seemingly recall off the top of their heads....and the resourses many have in their libraries and data bases.... some guys obviously are talking to each other on this list and that's fine...it's nice to eaves drop..... so i don't know who you are, never heard of you....but you'll have to do better if you think your drivel is a put down for me. and if you think someone back in the day didn't put a pletcher rack on a rare constructeur bike you really are out to lunch.... so who are you tom dalton??? ...snobbish for sure..... me, arrogantly ill informed, i think not.... so tom, i could not care less if you read what i write.....but i will be keenly waiting for your next epistle to us all.... look, up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's lord tommy passing judgement on us all. ha. charlie flaherty in sweltering downtown baltimore maryland