Matt Chester is No more
 

well not as in Dead, as in not making bikes any more. sad to see a biking legend go away, especially one who was such a proponent of cool ass things like practicality over looks and fixed gear offroading. more info Here

Aww man. That blows. I've always liked Matt Chester and not just from a framebuilder perspective -- he has some good philosophies.

I actually think that's pretty cool. The guy tried to turn his passion into his business. He discovered as many do that trying to make a living out of a labor of love sometimes fails on both counts, and he's stopping. Sad for those who wanted to buy one of his frames, but good for him. He'll continue to build frames, but for the love of building without the pressures of business.

yeah thats the same reason i will never* build frames for a living no matter how good i get at it.


*as long as i still need money to live, if i win the lottery all bets are off

Dang.

that just ruined my day... i really was looking forward to a 29er of his someday

Wow, this is the second small builder I heard that is throwing in the towel. Kelly anounced the same thing last month. Too bad...

That sucks. At least he's got a good attitude about it (getting to have a social life, etc.) One less option out there for your custom Ti bike. :(

Woohoo! I'm last on the list of special projects.

Geez, I'm out of the loop: thank's for mentioning!

Me/sad

Kelly's done too? Where am I going to get my xc frame now!

Waltworks! or Spicer or badger or carl strong or curtlo or black sheep or lots of others.

i recoment walt for steel and black sheep for Ti. black sheep does some incredible work in Ti. infact he built my friend this 17.2 lb 29er xc bike and he did it on scedule!

absntr - theres one on the sf bay area craigslist right now.

Damn. They're always 55cm and up. Rarely a small one -- I think Juvi has the only sub-55 I've seen.

Thanks Cale. I've also considered Sycip.

For some reason this makes me profoundly sad.
I've always loved his image with the tag "why do you work?" as a bit of a mantra. In some ways it was the catalyst (along with the rest of his efforts) for me leaving my corporate job and radically refocusing my energy on creative, fulfiling work rather than mindless dronery.
I think I'm going to go out and ride my bike.

What a sad day. I can appreciate his reasoning but his vision was truly unique and inspiring. I wish him well for the future, whatever that entails...

i'm glad to hear that he'll continue writing. he's been a great influence to those of us in the scorching set. here's to matt.

Looks like Devolution (Brad Q.) is on the wait list in the "special project" section.

It might be sad for people who want one of his bikes but I wish him the best for his new life! I can
understand his reasons very well.

Yup. 29er, dropbar, mountain fixie.

A bummer, buy hey if it ain't making ya happy... It does suck that market forces played such a big role in his decision, but it's understandable.

This did give me a much-needed kick in the @ss to seriously consider a custom frame though. I'm calling a potential builder today.

Couldn't keep swallowing the costs of raw Ti to fuel his custom racks and brake calipers? ;)