I'm sure when Tom is busy he's really busy. He paints for a bunch of other folks, not just Spectrum. Keep in mind, too, that while we all agree that helping folks with their old frames and bikes may to some extent help sell new ones, it would be easy to get bogged down in that stuff and wind up spending hours a week on it - hours of shop time that could be dedicated to something else. Spectrum is a really small operation. I can only relate my own experience dealing with Tom, when my brother took him a bike to be painted, and also had him build a new fork for a frame he'd just bought. Tom gave us a tour of the entire shop, then sat and shot the breeze with us for far longer than we had any right to expect. We felt far from rushed. He was willing to talk about the Ross Signature project at length, and also give us some cool inside info on Ross in general. Maybe it was a slow week or month for him, but IMO he went way above and beyond. Of course, my brother was dropping some serious money on his projects. But I'd expect to get really good treatment when buying from Spectrum, regardless of whether Tom has been as forthcoming regarding bikes he's frankly not making a cent on anymore. I'd buy a bike from the guy in a heartbeat.