Originally Posted by Dave Moulton
When I was in the bike business in the 1980s...most serious road bike riders had Italian imports; names like Colnago, Pogliagi, Guerechotti, and Gios. The rest rode bikes built by people like myself, and American custom builders.
...have roadies lowered their standards and accept less craftsmanship; maybe in exchange for a more reasonable price? I would like to hear from roadies out there especially the die hard ones who were around twenty years ago. What’s your input on this? I am out of the business now, so I really don’t know.
Dave, you're right. Craftsmanship (a.k.a. artwork) is a dying concern for buyers when it comes to bikes these days. Marketing (and being like Lance) now prevails--and that usually means supply "enough" bike for as much money as possible, or at market-researched "price points." I would give anything to have one of your chrome-lugged beauties. If it were around today, I'd not even ride it, but hang it on a wall as a true work of art.
I remember when tig-welding came along. Yes, we old-timers laughed at it back then. The welds were ugly, and are still ugly as a rule. The only thing that makes a tig-welded frame "beautiful" these days is the quality of the
visible weld. I'm with you--welds should be invisible. I'd love to see my Litespeed fillet-brazed although it supposedly has welds to die for. And given its already light weight, I wouldn't mind adding a pound or so for a few of your hand-filed chrome lugs.
Bikes were once
functional artwork. More often than not these days, they are now mere equipment--at artwork prices. When I paid for custom frames back in the 80s, I knew I was paying someone for their very valuable time. And, the craftsmen truly cared about both me and the bikes they were building for me. But unfortunately, you are right. I'm not sure if either of my two previous frame builders ever received the amount of money their frames were really worth. No, their frames weren't cheap, but they also discovered they couldn't make a living and feed their kids "caring" about each customer's order.
I guess those few who somehow found a compromise between fully hands-on and a measure of mass production survived. However, that did indeed mean substantial capital investments, lines of credit for cash flow, and worrying about apprentice employees (and their quality of work). I'm not sure if I could ever blame you for getting out of the business, but I wish your frames were still available. Why do you think I freaked out when I saw your name and asked if you were
really Dave Moulton? It's because your frames could never ever be forgotten once I saw them. (And you thought you'd been forgotten. Hah!) Who will freak out at seeing nothing more than the name of Trek, and the unknown/unnamed people who built it, over ten years after production ceases?