Originally Posted by
Amani576
OOH... What bar wrap is that? I like it.
Origin 8, believe it or not. I was skeptical when I first saw it, but it looks and feels very nice.
Originally Posted by
divineAndbright
I'm not sure about the cable routing for the barcons, although I take it this bike probably wont be ridden, as sad as that is?
I've seen barcons routed both straight out the bottom, and next to the lever. I debated on the best method during the build, and settled on the upward curve so all the cables would converge in roughly the same place. Routing them through the front would not have looked as good.
Originally Posted by
High Fist Shin
A very pretty bike. Kurt, how did you come to know Mike?
Back in '03 or '04, I learned of a local framebuilder through the LBS's - took about 6 months before I finally found one that had his number (his website doesn't come up in the search engines that easily). I was considering having the '61 Paramount's seattube swapped out for a proper restoration at the time (I ultimately left the bike as it is).
Originally Posted by
USAZorro
One difference that I do see between this bike, and some of the most famous of the current frame-makers' work however is that the lugs have been minimally thinned. I am not a frame-maker to be certain, but I do understand that thinning lugs is very laborious and time consuming. Obviously, as they have almost no bearing on how the bike rides, it could be seen as a waste of time/money - but for lugs that were as rare as those, I am a bit surprised they weren't thinned more. Still earns an A+ in my book though.
Jan Heine criticized the lug thickness as well, though I disagree in this respect. The Ephgrave lugsets were born from an era that wasn't known for lug thinning as much as the investment-cast era.
Personally, I feel that thinning Les' lugs would destroy much of the homage it pays to the pure English 1950's look - simple, clean, and baroque - without being outrageously pretentious.
That said, I don't particularly care for excessively thinned Nervex Pro lugs either. Granted, they
are finished absolutely slovenly from the factory, and require thinning at any rate, but too much thinning takes away from their stateliness (I'm thinking of Mercian here). YMMV.
Originally Posted by
stausty
Absolutely gorgeous build. I wouldn't change a thing if it were mine (except maybe with blue paint, not red). Can I be uncouth and ask how much it cost?
PM sent.
-Kurt