It wasn’t so long ago that the majority of bicycles were made by hand, from raw materials, in places that aren’t China or Taiwan. While some of these artisans are still around, their wares are increasingly harder to come by, and to procure an example of their work means an outlay of time and money which is more than most are willing to commit. This is a problem with not just bikes; mass consumption is big business, not only in everyday necessities but for ‘luxury’ items as well. A bicycle can be considered a luxury item for some, so to bring them to the masses, they must be produced in ways that lower the cost of materials and labour to a point where the average consumer can feel like they are getting a quality product at a reasonable price. And they usually are.
They just aren’t getting anything unique.
Now that three of the four bikes in my possession are made by hand, I have made a commitment to only own machines produced not by robots, not from composites and not from ‘factory farming’ methods. While there are many excellent bicycles produced en masse, the little bit of personality that is instilled in each of my rides sets them apart and I know I’ll see not many, if any, similar steeds on my roads or trails. How many dudes you know roll like this?
Riding the cobbles of KT12 on my Merckx Team SC and KT13 on the Pavé steel Cyfacs re-opened my eyes to the subtleties of a well-made frame and the characteristics which can be incorporated into the bike by the maker; each one can be tweaked to offer a ride quality specific to each frame, each rider, even the environment in which they are created and which they are intended to be ridden. The Merckx was fairly hard to come by, and I stumbled upon it by chance rather than through any concerted effort to find it. I sometimes think it found me. It’s a bike I love to ride, but also to just appreciate its lines, its pedigree, its Made In Belgium heritage, no doubt welded by a grizzled Flandrian who cut his teeth in the very factory he still works at 40 years later. I’d like to think so, and there’s some small likelihood of it, at least. Maybe I will return it to Belgium once more, in Spring, from where its journey started and where it made its mark in history more than a decade ago.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/brettok@velominati.com/merckx sc/”/]
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Part of a tour of True North Cycles last night. Here's some shots of Hugh's hands in action.
@Gianni
You can always count on me for an uniformed opinion.
Uninformed.
@Optimiste
Your opinion is as informed as mine, maybe that does not say much. I don't think the guy in the video had a good reason and the fact he was buying his drills from Harbor Freight meant he does not mind having the drill snap off in the hole, giving himself something else to extract too.
@Marcus A bit dirty, terrible photo...
...and then there's that saddle.
Diverging briefly to mtb, I believe my '92 Rocky Mountain Hammer with Ritchey logic tubing had some Canadian hands involved. Re-built a few times, it's still a sweet ride on the trails.
@seemunkee
Hmm, tough to say, though in that situation I too would have assumed they were covering the new stem. Things happen, but I wonder how/why he scratched the stem in the first place. And, after scratching someone's pride and joy bike, you can't just tell them, "Ehhhh, that'll buff right out!" I guess it depends on the type of shop too. I am lucky enough to have a few close to where I live. I take my commuter bikes to some and my sparkling road bikes to others, the shops definitely service different niches of the local cycling community and I'm fine with that, but I'm cognizant of it as well.
I had one of my LBSs chip a small amount of paint on my BB shell when removing a seized BB30 bb. Not a huge deal as it was small and this was my cx bike, which sees a decent amount of abuse. He offered to take $20 off the install work price.
@Marcus
I'm another one of those people who like them - especially if the fork legs are painted to match the frame and the aluminum crown/canti mounts are left bare. They can tend to look a bit too thin on oversized tubed frames, but for anything traditional, I think they're the shit.
@Optimiste
Depends upon what kind of uniform you're wearing . . . If it's good enough and impressive enough, you can talk all kinds of shite.
@wiscot
Good point. I'll keep an eye out for something suitable.