vqstaphbeard

My list is really just repetition:

• Peter Weigle
• Mitch Pryor
• Bruce Gordon
• Richard Sachs
• Chris Bishop
• Johnny Coast

rhm

Well, sure, there are plenty of legitimate excuses that can be made! and to anyone who understands the problems and challenges, perhaps they don't need to be made at all.

But I assume this thread is about aesthetics. We're talking about the guys who make really beautiful bikes, not the guys who have tried to be at the cutting edge of bike design (Mike Burrows comes to mind), right?

Well, if we're assessing these things from an aesthetic point of view, we have to be prepared to hit the "fail" buzzer now and then.



See?

No, I'm merely observing that while your new girlfriend may look like Sophia Loren from one angle, in fact her right arm is seven inches longer than her left.

repechage

No, I don't think so. There are other goofs in the basic lug designs too. Waterford buys what it can get as parts save for the special limited run commissions it has done. I think the whole is successful, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread there was much extra effort lavished on this frame that is in plain sight but if you don't know the processes might get easily overlooked. There are not many sources for oversize stainless steel lugs, the fact that there are any is terrific.

-holiday76

that head tube looks like a mouth (the lugs being the teeth) trying to eat a marshmallow browned over a fire and rolled in confetti.

repechage

Actually aesthetics are not my primary concern. The visuals are what we get to see, but are not the end all. That is why I mentioned Dave Wages and fortunately Scooper provided the visuals. The one advantage of a raw frame is that there is no paint to hide those overlooked joints.

Italuminium

yes, cranks I meant. And some hubs forged on a mystical mountain by some artisan that spend the first 200 years of his apprenticeship dusting his masters teacups. Top quality Japanese stuff.

Fred Smedley

Winter Bicycles: For all your seasons of cycling Erik Estlund , does some amazing work.

Dolanarc1

Boy, that chrome Dave Wages is awesome.

One a personal note, I've always favored Harry Quinn's out of Liverpool. I knew Harry personally. He always took real good care of me during my racing career.
I accomplished some real special rides on his frames.

Other builders that I've met that were top notch.
Marinoni out of Montreal
Tom Kellog when he was living in Allentown

RobE30

For me,

Tom Kellog and Jeff Duser @ Spectrum. I've spent far too many hours hanging around the shop "designing" my dream frame. They really do amazing work, not fancy, just simple and to the point.

Adam Eldridge @ Stanridge Speed. I agree w/ Robbie, Adam is doing great stuff and is a bright mind. He's doing wild track frames, cx bikes and traditional road bikes, quite cool.

At this point it's a toss up between those two when I eventually order my special frame

vqstaphbeard

Tom Kellog, blast there's another!

southpawboston

If I'm going to pay the price of a hand-built custom, I want to enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoy riding it. True, the aesthetics don't affect the ride, but I'd have a hard time riding a bike that fit me perfectly and rode like a dream if it had nasty TIG welds or hideous lugwork. One of my problems with some builders, even the really fastidious ones whose workmanship is top notch, is the concept of "style points", wherein the builder files gratuitous cutouts in the lugs and fork crown simply for stylistic effect, like bonus points, when they just don't harmonize with the lugs or the rest of the bike. Things like quarter moons, stars, hearts, those sorts of shapes. Just leave them out.

unterhausen

the white on that head tube is primer, that is far from the finished paint job. I hardly think that it is fair to complain about the aesthetics of a paint job that is far from complete.

I was really tempted to buy a Foresta (I assume that is a Foresta in the pic) but fortunately someone else got to it first. In the JPW thread, I said he was my favorite working framebuilder. This is because his frames are perfect in their workmanship and their aesthetics. I have to say that the bike that actually got me most excited was one of Dave Wages' stainless bikes with painted panels. Lots of really nice frames out there, but since I'm going to build all my frames anyway, I don't work too hard at building a list of favorites. I would say there are probably 10 builders that I would buy from should the money drop in my lap

Scooper

I'll admit that the extended top head lug distorts the classic constant radius of the original Nervex curve, but I have to take exception to the "spectacularly ugly" description.

The goal was to replicate the look of a seventies chrome plated Paramount in polished 953 stainless, and Richard's stainless Newvex lug set was/is as close as I could get in an OS stainless lug. That's the reason for the choice I made.

It is what it is, and overall I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. The bike is over seven years old now and still looks brand new after thousands of miles.

-holiday76

though I agree with what you say - i was just making a honest observation based on what i saw, having no context (including the state of the project). I wouldn't get too bent up about it.

gomango

This is all opinion stuff.

I happen to think this lugwork is gorgeous. imho

D1andonlyDman

The added reach could come in handy during some bedroom maneuvers.

qclabrat

when we say working frame builder, I assume it means that every bike which comes out of their shop was at least 50% hand welded by them, many great builders suggested, I but I can only suggest bikes I own or have owned

another + for Bruce Gordon (not the friendliest but no one knows tubes like Bruce)

John Slawta (see he's now moved on to carbon, love it or leave it thick paint jobs)

Masahiko Makino (always in Konno's shadow, but workmanship just as good)

obrentharris 

Yipes! My list exactly. All exceptionally skilled builders with strong aesthetics.
My favorite of the bunch is Bruce Gordon whose design sense always amazes me.

For race bikes and affordable bikes that you can beat hard for years you can't beat Paul Sadoff at Rock Lobster Cycles. (Not recommended for those who abhor sloping top tubes and TIG welding however!)






Brent

YoKev

Ftw, Ted Wojcik

lostarchitect 

Johnny Coast, local to me here in Brooklyn, does very nice work.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

'snice

RobbieTunes

You just hit on Wraith's mission.

Like another poster, I hope to be fabricating my own frame in the near future.
I'm under no illusions that I'll be my own favorite builder, though.

non-fixie 

I'd like to give an honorable mention to Wim van der Kaaij, who's been building the RIH Sport bikes since he took over from the Bustraan brothers in the seventies. Many a race, or even world championship was won on a frame he built. Often branded differently, because of sponsor obligations, so he never really got the recognition he deserves.

He's still building frames, even though he's in his seventies.

I'll get some pictures up later tonight, when I'm behind a real computer.

rhm

Oh, I hadn't realized this was your bike I was criticizing! Sorry, I feel like I'm chewing on my foot here. Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and you behold it a lot more than I do.

At the risk of digging myself deeper into this hole now, let me be clear, my objections are only to the design, not the workmanship, not the material, not... well, not anything other than the design.

Evidently the designer had a specific goal that involved raisinig the head of the bike, and chose to extend the head tube. Other solutions might have been a sloping top tube, or a higher top tube, or a longer steerer, etc. and evidently these were rejected for whatever reasons. A compromise had to be made, and they made it. Second guessing anyone on these choices is a pretty pointless exercise; but I believe I would have made a different compromise.

Sir_Name 

All of my favorites have been previously listed. Dave Wages and Mitch Pryor are at the top of my list currently, though there are many others. They make beautiful, high quality bicycles that I would love to ride. Simple as that. I'll add Independent Fabrications to the list as well.

MAP Bicycles: