Tom, Let me begin with the statement that, overall, I agree with you.
How 's that for a disclaimer for what is to come :). You say "Celebrate
diversity." Well, just what does that mean. In its original political
context it does not really refer to a "do you own thing" approach but
rather the idea that each culture has a character that is as viable and
as valuable as any other and can only be judged by its own standards.
Politically, whether I agree with that or not is not a discussion for
this list and I will leave it there. However, I believe our use of the
term IS appropriate to the process of judging bikes.
In an attempt to make this post as short as possible your post
suggests more not less categories. Each as valuable, in its own right,
but each judged by its own criteria. Bikes claiming to be original and,
minimally period correct, should be judged in light of their claim.
Bikes claiming to be an expression of an individuals creativity and
quirkiness should be judged accordingly -- perhaps leaving that up to
the judges complete discression as to what they like. This years
judging had the Charlie Brown award. It was, admittedly, sort of a joke
(sorry Harvey) but the Alenax won hands down. Such categories could be
regularized in a "serious" way and one could enter a bike that you
believed was an expression of your won "creativity." Like the lizard
skin colnago. Also, not my cup of campy grease but cool by its own
standards. In short, there is room for a big tent while still
preserving what we have come to call, sometimes disparagingly, a
concours d'elegance where faithfulness to the original, rarity,
historical importance, etc. become all important.
Edward Albert
Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A.
>>> "Tom Sanders" <tesanders@comcast.net> 07/09/08 5:50 AM >>>
Here it is 5:30 in the morning. I woke up thinking that I'd write Wayne
about this very subject and when I turn on my computer, I see that he
has
just posted on the very issues I wanted to cover in a post to him. It
seems
more appropriate now to post to the list instead.
I love the original and period perfect bikes I see at Cirque. I do feel that the focus has become excessively narrowed on them, however. Imagine a car show where all the entrees are just the way they rolled off the assembly line. There are such shows.they hold my interest for a little while and then I start thinking "Where are the Hot Rods? The Roadsters? The Customs?". It seems to myself and to some others that the emphasis has taken a turn away from any sort of individuality on the part of the folks restoring and creating bikes as hot rods or expressions of their own individuality. This is fine. It will work on a limited basis. We can make it a Concourse d' Elegance if we wish. Do we really wish to? I sure as heck do not.
Where would be the room for bikes like that fantastic Hetchins with the 19th Century handlebars that won People's choice a few years ago? How about John Barron's breath taking Red Paramount with the stunning drillium additions of two years ago? Or even that ghastly but very interesting Ostrich Skin covered Colnago from this year? Do we really want to relegate bikes like these to some kind of second class status? Remember when we make our tent a lot smaller, a lot less bikes and folks fit beneath it.
For me, every year the Cirque event becomes more and more about the people there than the bikes. The bikes are just wonderful, but the chance to hang out with friends I mostly only see once a year is even better. Lots of these friends have an individual idea of what they want their bikes to be. If they want absolutely original or even unrestored absolutely original that is fine with me.but there is variation in the bike owner's vision of their bikes and this variation is every bit as important as any other aspect of bike collecting, in my opinion. We need room for these varying visions of bicycle excellence and we need to do it without relegating a major (and to me most interesting) portion of folks bringing bikes to a second class status. The idea of folks declaring their bikes as one thing or another sounds good at first but the more I look at it, the more it smacks of a 1950s Loyalty Oath.
I think we either need to judge the bikes as to how nice they are or to quit any but a People's Choice Award.
Celebrate diversity.
Tom Sanders
Lansing, Mi USA