David Feldman wrote:
>
> I used to be under the impression that Angel Rodriguez
> actually built some frames in the beginning of the R&E store,
David,
What do you mean by "used to be under the impression"? Are you saying, you now believe he never did? I can tell you for sure he did - I saw him build frames. Not too many, a maybe dozen or two total before he passed the torch to his partner Glenn Erickson, and employees John Watts and I. (I don't know the number of frames he built before I got there, just guessing.) He also brought in a number of frames made by Tonard of London, and house-branded them as Rodriguez - nice, hand-built frames with a good bit of flair, nothing to be ashamed of.
While it's true that most Rodriguez frames were made by people other than Angel, the ones made later at R+E were still "real" Rodriguezes, as real as a Colnago not made by Ernesto anyway, right? (Yes they used the plus sign not the ampersand, R+E not R&E)
Angel didn't exactly apprentice abroad, but he did hang around the Singer shop quite a bit when he lived in Paris a short while in the mid-70s, if I remember the story. I would say he definitely picked up some lore and technique, and when he came back he did some Singeresque things like brazing a fillet over lugs, and running derailleur cables under the BB (back when that was rare on US or Italian frames). Constructeur-style features I remember include cable-actuated generators for lights, wired internally, and braze-ons to put spare spokes over the right chainstay. Lots of bikes went out with Maxi-Car hubs and other rare/cool French parts.
Now as you may know, both Glenn and Angel have sold their shares, so there is no longer any R nor E in R+E
Mark Bulgier
Seattle WA USA