Bruce Gordon Interview in Adventure Cyclist 2:2013
 

Might be required reading if you're thinking about entering the frame building business. Warning, Mr. Gordon has a pretty negative frame [pun] of mind about tourers and business side of bike building.

I think there is an Intervention for any one delusional about being the next Framebuilder-God..

I have heard that rant before, and would love to read the article. He is right, and any competition one can scare away, well, all the better. Frame building is not really automatable like say the Phil Wood business. And worse still, frame builders tend to stick with every bogus old world shortcut, that now stands for premium construction at a snaiil's pace. They have made a virtue out of inefficient. There are people who believe that writing with a quill pen on hand made paper is a better way to communicate. Then you have people who still write letters, but send them by email. And then you have the tweeting, burping, folks. It is all good, but you know which one the frame makers are more like.

The thing I always wonder about Bruce Gordon is he was in Cali during the last decade and with a machine shop and staff welder. How did he miss out cashing in on the whole chopper craze?

Maybe BG felt that he needed to "be the engine". Andy.

I met BG in late 1979, at his home in Eugene. I was building at the time and wanted to meet him. I called and he said come over and see the shop. I asked about the local market for frames and his simple answer was, non-existent, you need to build for the entire country if you want to make an even meager living. Kind of discouraging but I know he was right. He told me to wander around and see the shop while he went off to take care of something. About ten minutes later he came back, I thanked him for his time, bought a few tubes from his stash and split.

I came away with two impressions, Bruce Gordon is a man of very few words and I better get a day job.