Bonjour---
I see a bit on both sides of the fence here, though I must strongly sympathize with Ray Green.
Many French constructeurs made frames and maybe racks and a stem (my '47 constructeur C.Dardenne is an example of this) then added Simplex gears, Mavic or Mephisto rims, etc. While wonderful machines, they are hardly fashioned from a raw chunk of metal, as a sculptor would work with marble. And remember, these guys never made the metal, rubber, or tubing. They bought tube sets just like the supposed generic "framebuilders." To that extent they are as much "assemblers" as anybody else.
I guess what Ray's saying is that to be a pure constructeur requires an incredible range of skills and resources endowed in one person, the likes of which we have not witnessed since the days of the hobbyhorse. Let's face it, even the best French custom builders are really "demi-constructeurs," making a frame for a specific purpose and a couple of components and not much else. Last time I checked I never saw Rene Herse's name on light set, for instance (unless he secretly owned JOS).
As far a purpose-built bikes by British builders, I would like to start a list.
1. H.R. Morris. Look at Alex Van T's machine with custom stem and chainwheel (it's on the CR site). In terms of level of detail and finishing work Morris out Renes Rene in my opinion.
2. Jack Taylor----not only tandems with custom stems and racks, but dedicated "rough stuff" bikes that predate the Joe Breeze crowd hailed as the "inventors" of mountain bikes. At most, the California kids made parallel discoveries akin to what the "rough stuffers" had pioneered thirty years earlier. A JT rough stuff bike from the '50s or '60s looks more fitted for its specific service than are the early handmade, purpose-built American mountain bikes.
3. Gillot. The "Alpine" in particular. Every bit as thoughtfully constructed and purpose-built as a top French camping machine.
Those are just three. But if you get into path racers, etc., the list can go on and on.
Though I am of French ancestry, I think we sometimes get carried away with the French and create a "snob factor" that attemps to create an elite realm above other well-conceived handbuilt bikes. I accuse no one in particular (except perhaps myself!), but this drooling over everything French has created an inflated market on ebay for beat-up parts and caused a social and econmic rift in the hobby. It is so frustrating looking at parts prices that I am about to put Suntour on my Dardenne just to avoid continuing to fall prey to the trap (and to be a contrarian). Besides, it might otherwise take me five years to find and pay for all the genuine parts it needs so that I can finally ride the bloody thing.
As much as I love Jan's book (I do own a copy, and subscribe to BQ as well and overall think he does a tremendoub job), it should never have been named what it was. It should have been titled The Golden Age of FRENCH Handbuilt Bicycles. I am afraid that as wonderful as the book is, it gives the impression to the uninitiated that ONLY the French reached such a high level of building bikes. This has unfortunately added to the "Cult of the French" in the hobby. I think the Cult of the French exaggerates what in fact is only a small or non-existant gap between the ACTUAL merits of French, British, Italian and other well-built and yes---thoughtfully constructed---bikes of era.
Pierre Antoine Jourdain
L'eau Blanche, Wisconsin, AMERICA
> I see a constructeur as engineering a bicycle for a
> specific purpose and
> with a set of usage concepts in mind...[edit]
>
> A framebuilder is focused on the frame, and uses off
> the shelf components.
>
> Ken Freeman
> Ann Arbor, MI USA
>
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