eh? open letter to nahbs

[Mike Mcdermid]

An open letter to the builders of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show - VeloNews.com

I just thought everyone had their own reliable wheelbuilder

[bencooper]

I just build my own. If I'd known there was a market for "boutique" wheel building, I'd have doubled my prices.

[liv2bike]

Boyd will be there. Good enough for me.

[EricKeller]

too cheap to buy the email list?

[Jake Rosenfeld]

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.

[e-RICHIE]

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.

[ryker]

I will need to recalibrate if Velonews is major league.

[David Tollefson]

I will need to recalibrate if Velonews is major league.

Are saying it was even in question?

[Matthew Strongin]

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.

[Dave Anderson]

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

[devlin]

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-/

[Matthew Strongin]

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

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.

[ergott]

Ya so then what's the rub? Or the need for the op-ed piece? All the wheels at NAHBS are handmade. And the ones that don't come from a distributor might as well be call custom made versions of the pre-builts because essentially so many cats and kittens are now using the same stew of materials (spokes, rims, and hubs) as those who have the units in a box ready for a framebuilder to buy, add to his bicycle assembly, and also make a good margin on atmo.

My point is that handmade isn't the only prerequisite (as you and Don rightfully note).

Can all vendors of handmade frames buy a booth?

[e-RICHIE]

My point is that handmade isn't the only prerequisite (as you and Don rightfully note).

Can all vendors of handmade frames buy a booth?

In the past the prerequisite was that your business was built on the made-to-order model.
That is, the order precedes the manufacture. And, if the brand's output exceeded a certain
number (I believe it was a few hundred a year), it was not NAHBS material atmo.

[PezTech]

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.

[e-RICHIE]

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?

[ergott]

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.

[ergott]

That's keeping it real.