Great this is staying on the list. Early last year, I picked up a complete McLean on eBay - mine is badged McLean rather than Silk Hope. To me, both his bikes and his story are every bit as compelling as Confente's.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Dale Brown <oroboyz@aol.com>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Silk Hope frame SOLD (+ comments)
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Saturday, January 31, 2009, 9:14 AM
\r?\n> Congrats to the new owner, I am glad a CR member will be the
\r?\n> new guardian, and my thanks for the huge interest in this
\r?\n> beautiful frame set...(I could have sold a dozen based on
\r?\n> the response!)
\r?\n>
\r?\n> It is especially gratifying to see so many of you who
\r?\n> understand and appreciate McLean Fonvielle's work. Of
\r?\n> course there are quite a few brilliant builders, quite a few
\r?\n> reading this list (which is great, we should have an
\r?\n> appreciation day for you guys!) but it's nice when 30 +
\r?\n> years later, at least a small group of cognoscenti
\r?\n> acknowledge that someone did good craftwork.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> As some of you know, McLean was a wonderful personal friend
\r?\n> of mine. He was an unassuming guy who had an aesthetic
\r?\n> approach to his frames much like Jim Merz reflected in his
\r?\n> recent message. A direct, elegant and functional style that
\r?\n> did not embrace high elaboration but rather focused on clean
\r?\n> lines amd functionality. It is easy to be attracxted to
\r?\n> razzle dazzle, while it takes a special eye and a bit of
\r?\n> savvy to see the strength of this approach.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> So, let's celebrate our cycling craft persons, both
\r?\n> past & present!
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Thanks
\r?\n> Dale
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Dale Brown
\r?\n> cycles de ORO Bike Shop
\r?\n> 1410 Mill Street
\r?\n> Greensboro, North Carolina 27408 USA
\r?\n> 336-274-5959
\r?\n> http://cyclesdeoro.com
\r?\n> http://www.classicrendezvous.com
\r?\n> http://www.carolinacup.com
\r?\n> http://www.greensborovelo.com
\r?\n> http://www.bikegso.org
\r?\n> http://nbda.com