Originally Posted by
taras0000
Thanks for the compilation, taras0000.
Everything you said agrees with my own experience and things I have heard other more experienced bicycle industry types say. When I got my bike (in ~92 I think), the chap at the shop in Thunder Bay told me about the lengths Mike would go to to find the right paint for a demanding customer. And another guy, an older shop owner in Ottawa, told me he was never impressed with Mike's building skills, but always liked his experiments. My bike is one of those experiments - the seat cluster and top-tube/head-tube joints are dropped 2" below the top of the seat and head tubes, probably to make a bigger fitting bike ride like a smaller bike.
Mike's '80%' construction was more than good enough for most race bikes, which are far more likely to die from misadventure than from a fatigued slightly substandard joint. I did a lot of things on my bike that should not be done on a racing bike, especially a racing bike made from a tube set with maximum weight 50 lbs lighter than the rider. It gave me many many many miles of riding joy and it can retire now without owing me anything.