I couldn't let this pass...
Don Wilson wrote, in part:
The Mona Lisa is not the best
> crafted or composed painting of the Florentine
> renaissance by far. Leonardo did at least one that I
> think was far better in every estimable way but one:
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ah, but the Mona Lisa is, through centuries, a *consensus* choice among experts as a remarkable masterpiece.
The Chance does not rise to this level for any number of reasons, chief among them, not enough time has passed for that to happen, so to compare the Mona Lisa to that Chance bike is specious, at best.
So, as Chuck said, it is simply your opinion that the Chance is a masterpiece. Nothing wrong with that, but that's as far as it goes.
I thought Dale described the frame well, and placed it fairly as a tidy and workmanlike track frame, no more, no less. I've seen more than a few custom japanese Keirin frames, for instance, that are far more impressive, and, dare I say it, soulful, for that matter. And that is comparing apples to apples, more or less.
You should take a look at the Rickert stayer bike Ted Ernst has, that he rode on the track, or a beat-to-crap-but-still-full-of-mojo Pogliaghi track bike a collector-friend of mine has... those make the Chance just ordinary.
And while it is easy to say that there's no arguing about taste, I've always thought that's a cop-out. You made your judgement, I made mine...and the future sorts that out. In 100 years, assuming anyone wants these old bikes, will there be more interest in the Chance, or a late-60s Pogliaghi track bike with lots of patina that was ridden hard and put away wet? I'm betting on the latter.