Originally Posted by
unworthy1
I never saw one of Bernie's that looked like this one, but if it's actually HIS "001" I'm sure he'd recognize it...and Bernie is one of the few Bay Area or NorCal frame builders that didn't learn (something) from Albert Eisentraut.
I didn't run across Bernie or see any of his work until the late 1980's. I used to drop into Eisentraut's shop on occasion back then. He was winding down his building activities.
Originally Posted by
unworthy1
With a serial number like that I wouldn't be surprised if it was a student's first frame project for a class, and might have been one of Eisentraut's classes!
Don't turn up your nose at "student work": there are some VERY talented amateur builders who can surprise you...take a look at what a teen-aged Tom Ritchey built!
Don't forget Peter Johnson too! He started building frames at age 16!
In talking with Ed Litton about Eisentraut's classes, he commented that some of the "students" made some nice frames...
I'd date the frame to about 1975-76 because of the lugs, BB shell and the Campy 1060 stamped steel vertical dropouts. Brazing washers onto the those dropout was an old trick to change the thickness from ~5mm to ~7mm so that you could change wheels without having to adjust the QR.
By 1977 Suntour and Shimano were supplying forged vertical dropouts.
verktyg
Chas.