At 6:19 AM -0400 4/24/08, Michael Schmidt wrote:
>Jan,
>
>Why single out Chuck Schmidt?
>
>Mike Schmidt
>Stirling, NJ
Sorry if I was misunderstood. Chuck has one of the best collections around. His bikes are fascinating to me, because I appreciate the finer details of the bikes. To me, a silver Cinelli from 1960 and a silver Mercian from 1970 are two entirely different bikes, even if they both have diamond frames and Campagnolo components. (I am not sure Chuck has either of those bikes...) I also appreciate historic accuracy, and prefer originals over modern recreations.
In Europe, I have seen lots of attempts to come up with "new" designs, whether they work or not. For a while, a diamond frame was decidedly "uncool" there, and you saw all kinds of strange creations, mostly with lots of curves and bent tubes, even though any engineer will tell you that a triangulated structure, such as a bike frame, works best with straight tubes.
So I did not intend to put down either Chuck Schmidt's or Michael Embacher's collection. I just wanted to point out that the focus of each is very different.
I am very sorry if I was misunderstood.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com