I've got one: I made Sprint bikes for Ken Carpenter, which he used to win, I forget, at least 3 or 4 National championships, and raced in two Olympic games. Jim might remember those, because they said "Specialized" on them... at first. Later after he switched sponsors, the same frames were painted to look like titanium and said Merlin on them! We got paid to make them, by Big S who were his bike sponsors at the time. Ken is not the jerk in this story, he was great to work with.

Then a guy who came in second to Ken a few times decided that what Ken had, that he didn't have, was a frame made by me. He came to us and we agreed to make him a frame for free. I don't know if there was a signed contract, but the understanding was that he had to race on it exclusively. He had us paint it in a fade from silver to gold, get it? Well, then he got a better offer from Cannondale, not just free bike but cash money as well, so next thing we know he's racing a Can o' Ale. We asked for our frame back and he declined. We did get it back, but it invlolved a court order and the Sherriff taking possession of it.

Later that guy had a spectacular crash at Nationals in the Tandem Sprint when the fork crown on his tandem blew apart. The crown had been made of thin pieces of sheetmetal that looked like a nice solid crown until it blew open and you could see how shoddily it had been made. Pretty sure I heard he sued the bike maker. So glad we weren't associated with that jerk anymore. He shoulda had me make his tandem, mine don't break! But he burned that bridge. Can't say I shed a tear about his nasty crash, which seemed a bit like karma.

Apologies if I've gotten any of these memories wrong or mixed up. Best not to name names since I've landed on my head a few times and don't trust my memory.

Mark B