80's Custom US Framebuilder - Heard of him?
 

I recently finished restoring an early 80's frame that I purchased off craigslist with the help of this forum. I've finally got the bike into rideable conidition. I've attached a picture so you guys can have a look. More pictures are available on another thread I posted.

Anyway the frame was built up with Prugnat 62-d lugs with 531 tubing with Imron paint by a Chris Pauley from Santa Barbara in 1982. I did a search on him and found a website that linked him and Greg Diamond together. Apparently he went under the name "Tierra Cycles" or something. I'm was wondering if anyone has heard of either of these builders. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

http://people.ucsc.edu/~rfkalams/resized/11.jpg
http://people.ucsc.edu/~rfkalams/resized/headbadge.jpg

hmmn Chris Pauly sounds awfully familiar.
Did you check CR archives?
(you can be sure that I'm gonna, you've picqued my curiosity).

marty

Nicely done, Sarge! I remember your original post,
and I think it looks great, esp the blue tires ;)

Thanks Jack. Initially I wanted to keep everything time period correct but that quickly changed. I wanted to upgrade the wheelset to 700c and I got lucky coming across some campy hubs laced to some mavic module e2. The Selle Italia perforated white leather seat just fit too well not to put in on and i had the Vredstein tires lying around--they ended up matching perfectly.

Also, what is the CR archive?

Thanks guys.

CR is Classic Rendezvous.
I already did a search and there is not much
out there. Only that Chris Pauly built frames in the 80's (?)
and gave it up for woodwork.
I've asked one guy who owns one if he could give
a bit of information. . .

marty

I just found this info on a Google 'group' search: Here it is:

I knew Chris when I lived in Santa Barbara in the 70's and 80's. He did some
very nice work, but basically burned out and left the business by 1984 or
1985. Haven't heard his name since, until your posting.

He and Mike Celmins (Cielo) were the best framebuilders in town at that time,
with Chris King - yes that Chris King - doing some work in the framebuilding
area as well.


Art

"California custom builders" was a theme at last year's VR in Pasadena. I didn't see any Pauley frames there, but the name was mentioned. You've got a beautiful bike there... LUCKY!

I came very close to buying a Pauley MTB on craigslist that popped up cheap one day, but I hesitated on the color and it now resides with Jeff over at First Flight:

http://www.firstflightbikes.com/1984_pauley_diamond.htm

This post from CR is probably the most telling on the history.

Bob Hufford
Springfield, MO
-------------------

From: CYDYN@aol.com
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 01:21:00 EDT
Subject: [CR]Re: Chris Pauley

Chris made over 50 frames for my shop from 1980-1986, including the infamous
"Alex Ringer", and two ornate mountain bikes in 1981. Chris made both lugged
and lugless frames. He had a finely tuned aesthetic sense and his work shows
careful filing. I've kept specs on quite a few of the frames he built for my
clients.
One of the most striking was a lugless frame with a Phil Wood 4130
ovalized toptube with internal eyelets for brakes. Cyclart painted that frame
fading it from a deep candy blue at the BB, base of fork and chainstays
through
various stages of aqua to a deep candy green on the toptube. Spectacular!!
I spec'edseveral of Chris's frames with internal cables, generator
mounts and internal wiring, and brazed on head and tailights. James
McLean who
was Specialized first sales rep in my area took pictures and exclaimed
over the
features on one of the frames Chris built for me....about 3 months later
Specialized launched the Expedition with many of the same features and
braze-ons.
Chris Pauley and Greg Diamond worked together on a project to build
small sloping toptube 700c wheel frames for me in 1984. I showed them at
the Long
Beach show with my Hisbiscus decals on them.
I had heard rumors that Chris passed away, but haven't confirmed it.
I'd appreciate any details about him and pictures of the Pauleys and Pauley
Tierra'a that are available. I might have sold some of them new.

Paul Brown
Cycle Dynamics
Santa Rosa, CA

Some pictures of my Tierra Frame. I have a PDF of the brochure if anyone is interested.

Lorin



http://photobucket.com/albums/b251/TopSpringer/

[QUOTE=Youdelr]Some pictures of my Tierra Frame. I have a PDF of the brochure if anyone is interested.

Lorin
....


[QUOTE]

geez. I'd want one just for the cool headtube sticker alone. Do you know what brand of headset that your bike has?

The headset on the Tierra is an early ~'83 Chris King, when Chris King was located in Santa Barbara. When I acquired the bike I sent the headset to the factory and they rebuilt it free of charge noting it was a rare item. Also note Tierra on the downtube is an ambigram

man. you made my day. I have an immaculate headset just like that on a bike, but noooo markings. Is yours marked somewhere?

There are no markings on the headset. Mine also has alumunin races which according to Chris King are very rare

Oh, yeah! mine and yours look to be twins. It came with a very vintage Paramount, with the oldest high-flange Phil Wood hubs that I've ever seen, and this rocking headset. I thought the hubs were cool. The headset is even cooler!

Lorin,
Beautiful frame. If you could send me the brochure I would really appreciate it. I've been riding my Tierra rain or shine pretty much everyday since I've gotten it. I converted it to a fixed gear 2 days ago. I pulled the rear wheel off another bike and stripped all the parts off. I've fallen in love with it all over again. I've made no permanent changes and plan on rebuilding it pretty soon.

Also, what is stamped on your bottom bracket?

Thanks.

The bottom bracket is stamped 115 586 81T -

I have Chris Pauley's #151 with my own name stamped in the bottom bracket. He wasn't a fan of either Columbus or Reynolds but blended both to best effect. He was commissioned by Larry Byrd to construct an off-season training bike with Grateful Dead iconography. Super innovative lug work, including sunk cable housings and braze-ons that only years later became standards.

He sent his plating and painting to Cyclart of Vista, Calif. and if you Yahoo! search, for some reason his name pulls them up but no notable citation for him on their site.

If you know more, I'm looking for the guy. If I can answer more, write me: sclarkehamlin@cs.com.

The reversible logo is absolutely Pauley. He was a big fan of this. My frameset is Pauley #151 and has a mirror "Pauley" logo on it; reads right upside right and upside down.

I mis-"spoke" on the serial number of my Pauley frameset, was thinking of one I had by Keith Lippy.

Here's a link to some detail shots. Serial # on bottom bracket includes "CP83"

http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t156/stevehamlin/

Pauley was, as noted above, way ahead of what were to become features on production bikes.

I briefly met Chris in the mid-80's just as he was getting out of frame building (he seemed pretty burned out and apparently wasn't making much money). He had a shop out in Goleta (next to Santa Barbara).

One note: the "Cielo" frames were actually made by Chris King, not Mike Celmins. My first nice road bike was a Cielo (with the aero Dura Ace gruppo). Chris also made the frames for the Centurion racing team (an early 80's US road team that included Kent Bostick, Thurlow Rogers and others). Mike Celmins made frames under his own name (I also owned one of those) and made Rory O'Reilly's kilo bike for the 1984 Olympics. (I happened to stop by Mike's shop just as he was reluctantly applying the "Huffy" stickers to the frame).

I was traipsing down memory lane, and came upon this thread after typing "Celmins" into google.

I had a Celmins custom frame from 1985. I got it around my 16th birthday. I used my lawnmowing money to buy it.

I took my previous bike to to Mike's shop in the old roller rink, he took some measurements, watched me ride in the parking lot, and then set to work.

What he came up with was incredible. Stiff without being punishing, and handled like a dream. You didn't have to turn it - just think about the turn - and it was done.

Anyhow, it was locked up in front of the high school near the end of my senior year, and it was stolen.

So if anyone finds a vintage blue Celmins, let me know. I'd love to have it back!!

I went to high school with Chris; he had a good reputation as a frame builder well before graduating. He was also one of the best riders in our cohort and generally a very easy-going guy with a serious side. I remember that he would go on long rides with customers to observe them along with taking detailed measurements in order to design the right frame for each rider. If memory serves, his first bikes were labeled "Bittersweet" and I remember a very nice yellow one he built. I just stumbled on this old thread and was sorry to hear that he passed away so long ago--he would only have been about 30 in 1990.

well, this is one of those threads that its nice to see resurrected, even if it was to confirm someones death.

My Beautiful Chris Pauley Frame
 

I have a very early Chris Pauley that I bought from Chris when I worked at the Cycle Path Bike Shop in Santa Rosa, CA in the early 80's. I am going to be selling the bike, as it has been hanging in my garage for most of the last 10 years. It was made from Columbus SL tubing. The lug work is beautiful; I've never seen nicer lug work. It was painted and signed by Brian Baylis, and still has the original paint, though it does have some nicks and dings that show its age. I'll see if I can figure out how to post a picture. Forgive the goofy bars and stem, I used it as a town bike for a short time.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=466853http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=466856

Anyone have some more stories? Chris Pauly was an amazing innovator...