First I would like to say that my friend Robert and I thoroughly enjoyed our too brief, two hour stay at the Museo Deeter in Orlando Florida. I brought with me a friend who is an absolute lugged steel "newbie". An hour or so after the visit, the impact and import of what transpired sunk in to his carbon fibered, ten cog brain. He started to become envious of a world where bikes are built, and brazed and not extruded and slap dashed off to market. This is a small victory for a more humane world that values human dexterity and the slow creative process.
Mr. Deeter is a perfect host and curator of a collection of twenty five or so superb examples of the craft. The bikes take up the majority of his two car garage and when we arrived the Mercedeses were left outside to fend for themselves, while his bikes enjoyed center stage. What a lovely collection it is: There are multiples of Sachs, some Cuevas, a De Rosa, a Pro Miyata, a classic Bob Jackson, a Howard bike, and many others, all in the most collectible size of about 54 cm c-c. The absolute high point of the collection is a stunning Brian Baylis that has such remarkable detail work that almost anything else, even his Masi looks a little plain in comparison (please no flames. I love all kinds of bikes intensely, but I was not prepared for anything like the Baylis. If someone told me that it took him a year to make it, I would have say that that seems totally believable. The truth is that Mr. Baylis does really put extraordinary amounts of labor into each of his frames, and they have to be seen in the metal flesh, to be believed.
I hope that Lou enjoyed our appreciation as much as we enjoyed his appreciable stable of brass - riveted, Regal - saddled beauties. The wonderful thing about his, or any our collections is that even a poor man can afford to have one or maybe even two of these beautiful old bikes. This is not like collecting Fabrege eggs or classic cars. It is a game that still is in reach of the most humble of us.
Most Humbly, Garth Libre in Miami Fl