HELLO Jim
I did suggest in the second paragraph to inquire about used framesets or bicycles which does help pay their utilities.
And if Olivier ever needed a few Euro for his trouble, no sweat. I have spent a few bucks in his shop anyway.
Usually, when someone does something for me, I may ask if I owe them anything for their time.
Sadly, it will take more than a custom frame to stimulate this economy.
Mike Schmidt Millington, New Jersey Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 22, 2009, at 2:30 PM, Rachel Valiensi <valiensi@mac.com> wrote:
> Hullo,
> I remember Bruce Grodon writing about how it be nice if folks would
> pay for his time for him to did through his records to find info
> about a frame they bought from ebay.
> I think it is kinda rude to expect a frame builder to find records
> for free, especially is you do not intend to buy a frame from them.
> Order a custom frame from a builder to help simulate the economy!
> James Valiensi
> Northridge, CA, USA
> On Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 11:03AM, "Mike Schmidt" <mdschmidt56@verizon.net
> > wrote:
>> If the serial number can be obtained, the shop is usually gracious
>> enough to look up their records and tell you when it was built.
>>
>> Marie, I have another suggestion. Contact Cycles Alex Singer
>> directly
>> and inquire about used AS bicycles. They do sell them and might have
>> something in your size.
>>
>> Mike Schmidt
>> Millington, New Jersey
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Jan 22, 2009, at 1:48 PM, Jan Heine <heine94@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>> At 9:38 AM -0500 1/22/09, marie autrey wrote:
>>>
>>>> Anyway, what I'm asking is this: is it going to mess up that
>>>> highly-vaunted SInger handling to substitute a longer seatpost on
>>>> this bike? Is the shorter top tube going to leave me bunched up,
>>>> or is this a classic randonneur geometry?
>>>
>>> That Singer on e-bay is the second-ugliest Singer I have seen in my
>>> life. I doubt it was made in 1970 - the geometry looks more like
>>> 1980 to me, and so do the fork blades. The 1980s were a slow period,
>>> and they accepted almost any order. (In 1970, the shop was busy
>>> during the bike boom, and probably would not have built such an odd
>>> bike.)
>>>
>>> For a few years in the early 1980s, Singer slackened the head tube
>>> angle for unknown reasons - Ernest Csuka claims not to remember
>>> doing so at all! - which made the bikes handle less well with front
>>> loads. So I doubt this bike has the "highly-vaunted" Singer
>>> handling, no matter the seat tube extension.
>>>
>>> I think the bike has potential, but I'd want to remodel it a bit to
>>> make it more like a true Singer (move those shift levers!), rather
>>> than a reflection of the "interesting" tastes of the original owner.
>>>
>>> Jan Heine
>>> Editor
>>> Bicycle Quarterly
>>> 140 Lakeside Ave #C
>>> Seattle WA 98122
>>> http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com