Originally Posted by
bikingshearer
A few comments on some of the marques mentioned....
Now for my nominee - Hetchins. Fun to look at with the curly stays and fancy lugs and all, and I have never heard bad things about how they ride or how they're built. But there is a reason why curly-stays are not done by everyone else - they do not add anything to the ride. Hetchins started doing them to allow Brits to identify his frames without decals (which were verboten for many years at English races under the weird British ideas of "amateurism"). They are fine bikes - just not the be-all and end-all that some think, IMHO. Personally, my taste in British frames runs more to the understated like, say, my Ron Cooper.
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I was waiting for this one to come up.
The vibrant stays are both marketing genius, and balderdash. Actually, I've heard the vibrant stays came into being before the restrictions, but they sure helped the bicycles to stand out.
I've only taken mine on two rides so far. It is quite a well-mannered bicycle, but the stays do little or nothing to dampen vibrations that I can tell. Once I dial in the brakes, I'll be taking "Victor" through some more meaningful paces. I'll be certain to report back, but at this point, I can't dispute what you say about them being a bit ostentatious, and/or pretentious. However the supply/demand equation seems to perpetually work in their favor.