An open letter to the builders of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show - VeloNews.com
I just thought everyone had their own reliable wheelbuilder
An open letter to the builders of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show - VeloNews.com
I just thought everyone had their own reliable wheelbuilder
I just build my own. If I'd known there was a market for "boutique" wheel building, I'd have doubled my prices.
Boyd will be there. Good enough for me.
The mountains are calling and I must go.
- John Muir
The name is Guy Fazzio
too cheap to buy the email list?
I knew something was missing from my framebuilding program.
Now I know its jibbing..........
At least it was written in the correct tone for a NAHBS type letter.
Before anyone worries about wheels and if they are handmade from a wheelbuilder, how about
folks find a way to make the forks that go through the head tubes of the frames that have their
names on them atmo.
DT
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/
Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...
"the fun outweighs the suck, and the suck hasn't killed me yet." -- chasea
"Sometimes, as good as it feels to speak out, silence is the only way to rise above the morass. The high road is generally a quiet route." -- echelon_john
I'm not a fan of the open letter thing, but fwiw I've had wheels from wheelbuilder and they were all excellent with great service.
I get my custom wheels from Jude Kirstein: Sugar Wheel Works / Portland, OR Top notch wheels and service.....and she built wheels that were on display in my booths at Nahbs in years past.
Dave
I hope the guys displaying at the show aren't using factory made drive trains. Surely only handbuilt components should be shown on show bikes. 8-/
__________________________________________
"Even my farts smell like steel!" - Diel
"Make something with your hands. Not with your money." - Dario
Sean Doyle
www.devlincc.com
https://www.instagram.com/devlincustomcycles/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139142779@N05/
Maybe I'll give her a shot. I've had wheels built by a few folks and have been happy with most. I've also ridden factory wheels that were awesome (mostly what I'm on these days). I even plan to pull the trigger on a set from Boyd. My point is just that shoddy velonews journalism shouldn't take away from the WB folks and their quality work. If they had a banner ad on the side of the page next to a review of the super-uber Colnagorello C.think60 race frame (which is true journalism), would anyone care?*
*Apologies in advance if I'm coming off as pissy. I'm at the end of my 4th 13+hour day in a row and I'd grump in that other thread but I'm too tired to know if it's Thursday or not, and if I'm wrong I can't physically do pushups thanks to injury.
I think some of the arguments against some builders (hand or not) have come and gone but were better for the show. The same goes for certain products by some builders (stock models and or off shore products that were also "hand built").
Not being able to apply the same definition of "hand built" to wheels (relative to this thread) does seem at least partially duplicitous though.
I would guess that it could be argued for instance that lots of people are using the same tubes to build frames that are also a part of larger production...
None of that is meant to bring this into an argument as there are obvious differences to frame and wheel building.
What I mean to say is there seems to be a whole lot less to be argued / cast as negative here than is being presented.
Most, if not all framebuilders assemble metal into finished products. Many couldn't figure out what goes where without a cad file. Many can't design a frame without a fitter (sic). Many couldn't assemble a frame without a dedicated fixture. And of course, a lotta cats can't make anything straight without a 2000 pound granite table. There's a whole subculture who go online and ask OTHER framebuilders how to add braze-ons, couplers, and what brazing rod to use. Hardly anyone makes his own forks. So yeah NAHBS era cats are basically assemblers rather than makers or builders. Happy? But the point is also this: to make money, an effbuilder needs a margin. What custom wheelbuilder can sell units at a low enough number so that we can make money on the set when it's part of our assembled bicycle? Class? Bueller? Handmade, pre-built wheels at least give us a fighting chance at profiting. Asked another way, why should we care about how passionate a cat is about his wheelbuilding if he adds nothing to the bottom line?
Same can be said from the wheelbuilder side.
However, there can be a symbiotic relationship if both partners are getting exposure not otherwise had. Sometimes the framebuilder can benefit from the press of a wheelbuilder and vice-versa. In the case of Wheelbuilder, they get more internet traffic on their site than a lot of small frame builders. If a deal was struck where they shared space on the WB site that could bring in more traffic. I think more people here consider Cole wheels because they are on the RS bikes.
I don't think the open letter was the best way to go about things, but the there is room for discussion for the opportunistic frame builder looking for a larger customer base.
That's keeping it real.
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