Well, I just received an encouraging letter from a recent customer...


calling me an amateur and an extortionist.

So I'm packing frames to return. Then I'm going to go play with my kids!!!

My website is gone, and email as well. If I get another computer, I still won't be back here again.

Too many ****waks & dickdroppers.


Ciao,

Mark

Nooooooo! (anguished scream)

I truly hope you come back/don't quit the biz. The opinion of one jerkwad shouldn't outweigh the opinions of your numerous happy customers and adoring fans who ogle your photos on the Internet (myself included.)

You'll definitely be missed, if this is truly the case.

Mark,

This really saddens me. You have done terrific work at very reasonable rates, and many of us are thrilled with the work you've done on our frames and the helpful advice you've freely given.

What a damn shame.

Good luck, and enjoy your kids while they're at the age you can share great adventures with them. That window passes quickly.

Warmest regards,

Stan

Don't let one @$$ stop you, Mark - let it be the driving force for you to create even more outstanding works of art. Some folks just never can be pleased, and it appears as if you've run into one. I've come across them myself in other hobbies (3D graphic/game design), and I've only let it inspire me to reach further and create more. The troublemakers hate it too, and you'll love every minute of their agony

Every single one of us is a contributer in one way or another to the future existence of vintage cycles, and I dare say there is no more important individual then the wizard who manipulates the gravity paint gun to create the fine finishes that grace our machines.

-Kurt

P.S.: Not to say that you don't rightfully deserve some time off. Take a vacation, spend some time with the family. To hell with the paint jobs for a month, then afterwards, get back to the good ol' Deltron goodness

From one artist to another, if it's no fun any more, don't do it. I rarely make any money on my art and I'm happy that way. But we all get crappy critiques on work we've spent so much time on. I expect it, if they don't appreciate it, **** 'em.

Dr. D,

While I have never had a frame painted, I have dabbled in a few of my own motorcycle frame paints, as well as tank and body parts. I have made a point of going back and reading your posts on your approach to bicycle painting. The advice you have offered is an excellent resource to us wannabe sprayers, and your years in the industry are an irreplaceable resource for us all.

I know that you were nearing the time when you were going to lay down the gun, but please reconsider leaving the forum. Your presence is a major plus and would be greatly missed. Perhaps take some time away, rediscover the joy of being an enthusiast, and come back to play with the rest of us who just like, and ride, old bikes.

Regards,

Tony

Good for you. Bikes needing paint will be around forever, your kids won't.

So....am I going to get the Raleigh mixte frame, along with all the Campy components I purchased?

East Hill

Mark,
Like everyone else, I appreciate the contributions you've made here, a lot. It's hard to stomach criticism from clients, but it is, sadly, a fact of life in any sort of business. Best thing is to move on -- continue with the work, or stop and do something more intrinsically rewarding. However, responding to provocation with name-calling doesn't do much for you or anyone else, I think.

As one of the only FJ40 guru's around my parts I have said the same thing a few times.
But 6 months later I'm up to my armpits in birfield joints again.

it would be a damn shame to lose you due to the bile of one miscreant. Take some time, enjoy a break...then reconsider.

Yeah, one Toolbox is hardly reason enough to call it quits. I've seen enough pics in posts within this forum of your work that makes it clear you're no amateur. Sure, you take some, well... "creative" photos once in a while but that is part of the fun.

If you enjoy it, stick with it... you can't please everyone but you'll please most of them. ;-)

Take some time off with the family & don't worry about what others think or want. If you enjoy what you are doing, maybe with sometime with family & a clear head you'll know what to do! Best wishes to you & yours!

Mark, I'm sorry to hear this news, but at the same time if it means more time on more meaningful persuits like family I wish you all the best. I know sometimes when I can pull myself away from my hobby and spend more time with my loved ones it is very gratifying, probably more so than the hours I spend toiling on bicycles.

In any case, as others have said you are an artist and there will be critics and especially ones who don't have a clue. My guest is you had someone displeased with a job because the paint wasn't like the original job. Well that is not what we are trying to do. If they wanted thin brittle italain paint they could have done it themselves with a spray can. You're work supurb and it is your own not anyone elses, if they don;t like how YOU paint then that is their problem. Those of us who solicit your work do so because we want what YOU do. I am lucky enough to have the one bike I will ever restore done By Dr. Deltron. It is a significant piece of bicycle history and I will keep it always.

I hope you concentrate and pursue whatever gives you satisfaction and happiness. Having seen the pictures of some of the bikes you have painted, well, those were lucky folks to have gotten something that beautiful.

As a "lucky" guy who had a bike painted by Dr.D, I have to admit he was at times, frustratingly slow. But the end result was well worth the wait! I could not have been more pleased!


During the extended time we worked together, I found Mark to be a most agreeable, most cordial, and the most friendly guy to work with, and I always appreciated several facts about his nature:

First, he loves his children and his wife, and they are the first and most important priority in his life--- and they should be. He was always telling me about his kids and his wife.

Second, he is a true artist and craftsman, when it comes to bike painting and building bikes. He is first class all the way and never rushes a job just to check it off his "to do" list.

Third, he loves his work and takes real pride in what he does. For instance, when he threw a 40th birthday party for his wife, he showed off my frame to her school teacher friends. He told me they "still didn't understand what was the big deal about painting a bicycle frame." But there was my "Sporty" sitting on his mantel during the entire party.


Do a "Dr.Deltron" search on BF. A member will find 100s if not 1000s of positive ways he has helped people, especially C&Vers, tandem, and recumbent riders. I've missed Mark's witty and helpful comments while he has been without a computer since this past spring.

We will be the losers because of his absence.

Take a break and re-evaluate in a month or 2.
The whiner is a d*ck and you're not a quiter Mark....You're a master at your craft.
It's what you do under adverse conditions that make you unique.

I remember your first posts on Bikeforums, offering painting advice to anybody who needed it. I guess I've learned a fair amount just reading those informational posts...but I learned what a great paint job looks like from your other posts;the teasers, progress photos and completed projects that bear your work.

You've been generous with C&V. I hope you don't leave the board, whatever your plans may be regarding your business.

It's sad but true that some people will complain if you hang them with a new rope. Sad to see you go but take the time to enjoy your kids.

Mark, I totally understand how tough it is to get motivated when your head isn't into it, and also when someone is critical of your efforts. Let me add a little perspective on things from the other side to hopefully create perspective.

In June, (before I took it for it's first ride) I took Shadowfax to the Cirque du Cyclisme, which is the largest gathering of vintage bicycle enthusiasts in the US, if not the world. I put her in the show, in the section with other bicycles that were made from 1970-1979. I wasn't camped out next to the bike the entire time, but in the time I was there, dozens of people stopped and commented about the bicycle. Everyone thought the paint job was excellent or better. Even Peter Kohler, who is quite well known for his love of original Raleighs had glowing comments. Everyone who sees the bicycle - other riders, the guys at the LBS, etc. comment and want to know where I got it painted.

I realize that not everyone can be at 100%, all the time, and quite possibly someone may have had a reason to be dissatisfied with one of your efforts, but I wouldn't consider that to be more than a small setback.

I can fully appreciate your desires to simplify life and spend more time with family. I think many of us would love to be able to do the same. It's a courageous step, possibly made a bit more attainable for you by other circumstances. I certainly wish you nothing but the best with whatever you decide. You're a good fellow through and through, and have one of the same failings I have in attempting to do business. You're so nice to people that you make it hard to make money.

Expect a telephone call from me before the weekend's over. It's long overdue.

Take care,

Z

I've never had work done by Dr. D. but what I can tell you is that most custumers looking for custom paint are never satisfied.

It easier to understand if you look at it from the perspective of why someone wants custom paint. Having an artist (painter) replicate something for another artist (customer) is a very tall task.

Whats important is to stay happy.....If Dr. D. will be more happy without painting, I wish him the best.

It was ever thus where art meets commerce. There's a caustic, argumentative dynamic to patronage, in which both the artist and the client exhaust themselves on behalf of their own eccentric demands. There's nothing harder on the spirit than making your way in the world as a working artist.

If Michelangelo could have canceled Il Pappa's custom paint job and refunded his deposit, he'd have done so.

So mazel tov, Dr. D. Revel in your newfound freedoms.

PPG was the problem, should have gone Dupont.

But, give the kids the time and energy, bikes will survive without.