Could anyone spare some time to answer a few questions?

[Simon Taylor]

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a great holiday.
I’ve been lurking around on the forum absorbing information for a while but have not posted or introduced myself.
My name is Simon, I’m in my final year of study on a 3D Design degree here in London.
I am about to attempt to start building my first (lugged) frame after much reading, preparation and mitring/brazing practice (thanks everyone for the wealth of information on here that has got me this far).
I’m currently writing a dissertation tentatively titled: The resurgence of the hand-crafted bicycle: A result of a return to ethical making processes or fashionably ‘authentic’ consumption?
I was wondering if anyone would be willing to answer a few questions that will help me with this dissertation?
I hope it’s OK to start a thread on here to ask this (I’m not really sure of forum rules/etiquette regarding something like this, especially this being my second post). Please let me know if it’s not good form or if this is in the wrong area and I’ll remove it.
I thought this might be the best way of gaining some information and opinions from framebuilders without cold-emailing and bothering the builders who are either too busy or taking valuable time from those who are too polite to not ignore my email.
This way no one need feel bad if you don't want to reply and I don't feel as if I'm bothering individuals who are not interested.
Below are the list of questions I've compiled (there are rather a lot of them, sorry!)
Apologies if some of the questions may be a little obvious or you've heard (and answered) a lot of them before but I need to show evidence of primary research.
If anyone could manage to answer even a few of them I'd really appreciate it.
(I can send my email address to those who would prefer their answers to be private).
Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me out.
Cheers
Si

1.a. Why do you think that there is a resurgence of interest in the handmade bicycle and an increased fascination in its design & construction?
1.b. Do you think that the fact the frame is hand-crafted is as important to the customer as it being a bespoke fit? Do you think people are drawn to the craft process as much as the finished article?
1.c. Other than a person with unusual proportions, why do you think that someone would choose a custom frame over an off the peg?
1.d. Why the resurgence in steel over aluminium or carbon fibre? Do you think this is as much down to the process as the evolution of the material?

2.a. Is it important to you to be respected as a maker and for you to be in charge of the entire process?
2.b. Do you think nostalgia for a simpler, slower and more ‘authentic’ way of life is a factor in this resurgence?
2.c. Do you think people with this nostalgic idea of the traditional craftsman’s way of life as being of more value are wearing rose-tinted spectacles?

3.a. Do you think there is a growing desire for people to customise their own environments & experiences as an expression of their identity?
3.b. Do you think we may be entering a cultural revolution? Is this a back-to-the-handmade movement or a back-to-the-aesthetics-of-the-handmade movement?
3.c. Are we gradually losing processes which take time and care in favour of fast/now/today culture?

4.a. Do you think the mediocrity of the vast majority of bicycles produced nowadays has been a catalyst in the rise in popularity of handmade bicycles? A response to the industry sacrificing quality for speed/profit? A reaction against disposable culture and planned obsolescence?
4.b. Do you think buying into a lifestyle is playing a part in lifting the profile of custom frame-builders? What are your views on cycling sub-cultures such as the urban fixed-gear scene?
4.c. Do you think the handmade bicycle fits in nicely with the current trend in sustainable, ‘authentic’ products?
4.d. Do you think that this resurgence might be a fad, or is the current interest in handmade bicycles sustainable?

5.a. Do you think the bicycle has become more of a cherished status object, rather than a means of transportation?
5.b. Do you think people see the craft of custom frame-building as an art form now? If so, why?
5.c. Do you think the rise in the numbers of custom frame-builders is indicative of the current reaction to mass production?
5.d. Why do you think there has been a shift in the centre of the craft of frame building from UK/Italy/France to the U.S?

6.a. Has the internet had a strong impact on consumers knowledge about bicycles? Are they now more demanding and in what ways?
6.b. Do you think the numbers of frame-builders are rising as there is now more knowledge easily available through web forums? What advantages and disadvantages are there with this available information?
6.c. Why do you think American frame-builders are much more open to sharing information than their British counterparts?

[Doug Fattic]

6.c. Why do you think American frame-builders are much more open to sharing information than their British counterparts?

Whoa there Simon you’ve got a lot of difficult questions! Some of them require philosophical reflection instead of accumulating hard data. Good luck with that. I’ll take only the last one now since I’m a teacher with some sympathy towards student projects. I’m an American that learned how to build bicycles at Ellis-Briggs in Shipley, West Yorkshire in 1975. Earlier in that decade, adult Americans had just started to enjoy riding good bicycles and for the most part needed to go to Europe to buy the best hand made custom bicycles. To fill this new market demand, a number of young Americans traveled abroad to learn the trade (since it basically wasn’t known here with a few exceptions). During this time I visited many European builders to gather as much knowledge as I could. Often they would say that the only reason they would share secrets with me was because I was an American and wouldn’t be competing with their business. The density of British builders in a business where fewer frames were being bought contrasts with the new wide open market available to us here in the States. In the Leeds/Bradford area where I was there were a number of companies building custom bicycles all competing for the same shrinking number of buyers. By contrast, where I live in Niles, Michigan one needed to travel pretty far to find another builder. Ron Boi was in Chicago 100 miles west, Kieth Anderson was in Indianapolis about 150 miles south and Matt Assenmacher was 200 miles east in the Detroit area.

There were a number of differences between the American and UK framebuilding market. 1st of all many of the masters I visited were in a family business or learned the trade when they were young because they were hired by a specific company. It was a highly competitive environment with little profit margin. I bought a semi-fancy lugged Hetchins with a several color paint job in 1969 for around $75. When I was apprenticing the cost had risen to around $150. The Brits likely to buy a frame came from a working background that didn’t have a lot of money to spend. By contrast, those in America looking to get a custom bicycle mostly came from the white collar middle class with more deposable income. That meant we could charge more. This class contrast also existed between American and British builders as well. Those of us that went abroad (or somehow learned) in the 70’s had college degrees instead of taking a building job at 16 like they did in your country. When I explained to those I visited that I was a teacher with a master’s degree, they thought I was nuts for downgrading my social status. And I think that being young and wanting to figure it all out ourselves made us more open to trading info.

I have barely scratched the surface of only one of your many questions. Now there seems to be a big revival of learning framebuilding in the UK as well as an interest in buying custom made frames. I’m under the impression these are being bought by those with more income than in the past. I’ve had a number of British students take my framebuilding class although not many lately as there has been new schools opening up over there.

Doug Fattic
Niles, Michigan

[bencooper]

6.c. Why do you think American frame-builders are much more open to sharing information than their British counterparts?

That's a pretty leading question, and in my experience it's total rubbish. For one thing, if it wasn't for British framebuilders sharing their craft, American framebuilding would be nowhere.

I also don't think the vast majority of bicycles produced now are mediocre - ignoring the low price points, mass-produced bicycles are incredibly well engineered nowadays.

[Mike Mcdermid]

Whoa there Simon you’ve got a lot of difficult questions! Some of them require philosophical reflection instead of accumulating hard data. Good luck with that. I’ll take only the last one now since I’m a teacher with some sympathy towards student projects. I’m an American that learned how to build bicycles at Ellis-Briggs in Shipley, West Yorkshire in 1975. Earlier in that decade, adult Americans had just started to enjoy riding good bicycles and for the most part needed to go to Europe to buy the best hand made custom bicycles. To fill this new market demand, a number of young Americans traveled abroad to learn the trade (since it basically wasn’t known here with a few exceptions). During this time I visited many European builders to gather as much knowledge as I could. Often they would say that the only reason they would share secrets with me was because I was an American and wouldn’t be competing with their business. The density of British builders in a business where fewer frames were being bought contrasts with the new wide open market available to us here in the States. In the Leeds/Bradford area where I was there were a number of companies building custom bicycles all competing for the same shrinking number of buyers. By contrast, where I live in Niles, Michigan one needed to travel pretty far to find another builder. Ron Boi was in Chicago 100 miles west, Kieth Anderson was in Indianapolis about 150 miles south and Matt Assenmacher was 200 miles east in the Detroit area.

There were a number of differences between the American and UK framebuilding market. 1st of all many of the masters I visited were in a family business or learned the trade when they were young because they were hired by a specific company. It was a highly competitive environment with little profit margin. I bought a semi-fancy lugged Hetchins with a several color paint job in 1969 for around $75. When I was apprenticing the cost had risen to around $150. The Brits likely to buy a frame came from a working background that didn’t have a lot of money to spend. By contrast, those in America looking to get a custom bicycle mostly came from the white collar middle class with more deposable income. That meant we could charge more. This class contrast also existed between American and British builders as well. Those of us that went abroad (or somehow learned) in the 70’s had college degrees instead of taking a building job at 16 like they did in your country. When I explained to those I visited that I was a teacher with a master’s degree, they thought I was nuts for downgrading my social status. And I think that being young and wanting to figure it all out ourselves made us more open to trading info.

I have barely scratched the surface of only one of your many questions. Now there seems to be a big revival of learning framebuilding in the UK as well as an interest in buying custom made frames. I’m under the impression these are being bought by those with more income than in the past. I’ve had a number of British students take my framebuilding class although not many lately as there has been new schools opening up over there.

Doug Fattic
Niles, Michigan

And there's still only one main road in and out of Shipley however

[suzyj]

I think nostalgia plays an important role. I grew up reading of the exploits of Hinault, Fignon, Millar, Roche, Indurain. The bikes that are imprinted in my brain are Gitanes, Pinarellos, T.I. Raleigh's... All beautiful steel bikes, and all a long way out of reach as a kid. Incidentally I couldn't give a fig about Masi bikes, they weren't part of my universe just like Malvern Stars and Apollos weren't part of the typical yank's.

Fast forward a quarter of a century and I've got way more disposable income, but the current crop of bikes just doesn't inspire. I bought an aluminium Colnago back when they were the thing, and watched it quietly fall apart under me in just a few years. So after that I went for custom steel, replicating something of the look of late 80's Pinarellos.

This is the same reason Super and Neuvo Record parts go for such stupid amounts. It's because those of us who drooled over them in bike shops as kids have too much money now. People my age who came into cycling later in life don't get it, and refer to bikes like mine (record groups and all) as "old steelies".

Essentially this makes the steel bike resurgence a fad. Once my generation go into nursing homes, our kids will ride around on plastic bikes and know nothing else.

[Too Tall]

(popping corn)
Terrific thread. Let's all remember the basics: polite mostly courteous replies consideration of the OP yo.

Look, from where I stand as a non-framebuilder the craft is dying not re-emerging as you say. Many of the builders who share words here and collaborate behind the scenes do so because they wish to preserve the find trade that it is. That said, I *think we as a group have created a viable roadmap for anyone who has followed the conversations in order to (barely) sustain a living.

OK, on with the show. Ignore me ;)

[Lionel]

Your basic assumption is that the hand made custom bike market is growing. Not really sure that it is. Around me, I'm the only guy with a custom hand made bike. But maybe it is growing I don't know.

[Mike Mcdermid]

Your basic assumption is that the hand made custom bike market is growing. Not really sure that it is. Around me, I'm the only guy with a custom hand made bike. But maybe it is growing I don't know.

A satirical view here but not as uncommon as you think

MAMIL sees CAV Froome and the other media darlings in their sky kit being sensationalised by the UK media

thought occurs when they were a lad they were into riding bikes

they have disposable income

they buy said pinarello and sky kit ....the dream isnt what they were sold on TV, 20 years of chains smoking, beer and sitting behind a desk means the bike goes back on to of the audi and back in the garage as fast as they can get it there via ER due to pain in the chest area

the custom made frame didn't get a look in ,surplus factors include the fact you can buy CHINA REPLICA RELLO for 400 QUID

On the other hand I know a shedload of mamils who would give their right arm for a custom made Timetrial Bike made by an ex F1 composites guy because they were sold the FIT in an F1 windtunnel ...Marketing rules

[ron l edmiston]

-- "income over which recipient has complete discretion..."
now with my semi-understading for above "disposable income.."
why?:

always loved riding and beautiful bikes & components, but without the di to invest..

later decades in my life with the di and 1/2 ass riding ability coupled with 100% desire --- being a marketing interigated body, i needed/wanted to identify
with??

i went/purchased all the wrong places / all the wrong faces ---- just never felt right or rode right, even though impressed right..

i met a man that i could relate to, introduced me to what was correct for me & the wait became the hardest part..
i smiled for a hadcrafted that remined me of my first love for lugged, racing and just happened to be beautiful too..

i am a man of habit, perception and smiles --- "no better it gets --, i look no elsewhere.."

i believe there is a place and always will be a place for the best handcrafted buiders for we ronnie's, "just gota pay your union dues, perfect practice makes perfect with many/many repetitions and hone your people skills.."

ronnie

[fortyfour]

As many have stated, that's a lot to bite off in one chew. I'll touch on only one and that is the "why". I believe there is a resurgence in the "hand made" attitude for a few reasons, and I'll give you a basic sentence that I hear from each client I speak with over the phone / email:

"I want to know where my bike comes from and who made it. If it costs a little more, and I know it's coming from the U.S. then it's money well spent".

In so many words, this is what I am hearing. Some are contemporaries, some younger, some much older. Some from the South. Some from the North. Some from the east or some from the west. Some is nostalgia, but that is a small piece of the puzzle I feel. Something bigger is at work. I think people who are avid cyclists, who have been around the block a bunch of times regardless of age, are turning away from mass manufactured bikes to ones that are made with an eye for detail, a bicycle that they have a say in what the options will be and that it has a more personal meaning. I'm not building someones first bicycle. I'm building a cyclists next bicycle. The one that's going to take them to that next level. That's the long and short of it I believe. And if you look at many other type industries, you're seeing the same thing happening. I see a lot of small batch production happening. I see a lot more attention to the experience of the purchase, through the entire process of it being produced. Giving large and small company's faces and being able to feel as if you connect with those who are making what you are purchasing. I see more and more people around me starting to pay attention and actually give a damn where their products come from. Especially those that have a passion.

However, I think the custom market went through a "bulge", but that bulge has given way to a different kind of purchase and many have been opened up to what a custom bicycle can be for them. It's many things for many different people. Most often it's something they just can't seem to find in one production bike. And that is what I offer in many of my bikes.

[e-RICHIE]

I’m currently writing a dissertation tentatively titled: The resurgence of the hand-crafted bicycle: A result of a return to ethical making processes or fashionably ‘authentic’ consumption?
I was wondering if anyone would be willing to answer a few questions that will help me with this dissertation?

Good morning Simon, and welcome. Since you posed the dissertation, I am not sure if the question has been asked of you. What makes you (or anyone, for that matter) think there's a resurgence? According to my opinion, just because media now focuses on what some of us do, that doesn't mean there's a place here that was never here before, or that it's bigger OR smaller. I happen to think it's gobs smaller than ever, but that's another thread. Framebuilding as an endeavor has landed on the desks of internet scribes, bloggers, and all sorts of folks who don't really go that far back to have a sense of the trade. My observation is that most get their facts and write stories based on Google searches. The result is that one story begets two more, and the subject matter grows geometrically.

The resurgence isn't in the trade; it's in the amount of lenses folks are looking at it through.

[Matthew Strongin]

Your basic assumption is that the hand made custom bike market is growing. Not really sure that it is. Around me, I'm the only guy with a custom hand made bike. But maybe it is growing I don't know.

The custom handmade market is only growing around me because I keep buying bikes. If I'm not riding with folks from vsalon, I'm the only one not on a mega-brand bike.

[Amaro Bikes]

People my age who came into cycling later in life don't get it, and refer to bikes like mine (record groups and all) as "old steelies".
Essentially this makes the steel bike resurgence a fad. Once my generation go into nursing homes, our kids will ride around on plastic bikes and know nothing else.

Why do we be the first one promoting the direct relation between the handbuilt one-man bicycle and steel material? We should be the first ones to remember that it's more about certain attitude and the process in itself rather than just the material. To me it's more handbuilt/artisanal/handmade bike a Carbon Crumpton or an Aluminum Zanconatto rather than just one of the maxway built lugged steel frames, or any of the infinite variations actual market has been filled with mass produced steel bikes.
I think questions to reinforce are about HOW a made is bike, rather than what is it made of.

"I want to know where my bike comes from and who made it. If it costs a little more, and I know it's coming from the U.S. then it's money well spent".

I've always seen U.S. as some kind of oasis in this situations, as you will always give first priority and prefrence to something built in your own lands, while many european lands as where I live, you can count for sure anything coming from outside will be more valued. You know, kind of "grass is greener" applied to consumerism.

As a final thought, I also think there's some kind of hypochresy on speaking loud about handbuilt, new values, etc, but it's all just a question of snobbery fashion as many of those new arriving customers demanding the ultimate handbuilt bike as they're really aware of how important is all, etc, they basically didn't care at all not long before, which left all the handbuilt small workshops die as it was not carbon fibre, aluminium or any other of the daily need the main market decided to be a must.

And call it handubilt bikes, organic food or sustainable transport.

Cheers
Cheers

[P K]

My observation is that most get their facts and write stories based on Google searches. The result is that one story begets two more, and the subject matter grows geometrically.

+1 but where's the ATMO?

[Lionel]

The custom handmade market is only growing around me because I keep buying bikes.

That's a good one. Using this angle, yeah, it's growing here too ;-)

[steve garro]

I have way too many antiquated steel bicycles to make to get involved.

As an aside, do you make things with your hands?
What leads to your own POV on the subject?
- Garro.

[Simon Taylor]

Firstly, thank you so much to those who have responded.
Secondly, apologies for the large chunk of questions I have dumped upon you.
In hindsight maybe I should have drip-fed them or asked if you wouldn't mind choosing one question to answer to make it a bit easier to swallow.

My research so far strongly suggests that there is a rise in the popularity of the hand-made bicycle
There is no-doubt many reasons for this reasons for this, (I hope to uncover a few of them)
The numbers of attendees at the NAHBS, and it’s British equivalent BESPOKED, have steadily risen every year.
The frame builders I have contacted in this country are busier than ever. Some have a waiting list of many months or even years compared to a relatively slow period in years previous.
The rise in popularity of cycling both as a means of transport and leisure/sport activity cannot be completely unrelated to the order books of frame builders filling up.
The ‘Olympic effect’ over here, which may be short-lived, along with a shifting attitude towards cycling as a means of transport in cities is also a factor in this.
There is a growing culture/trend of hand-crafted ‘authentic’ products and ethical produce. You only need to look around a supermarket to see evidence of this. Hand-cooked, artisan-baked, locally farmed, organic, ethically sourced etc, etc. Much of this is fuelled by advertising agencies, I’ve seen higher-priced ‘natural’ tobacco and ‘organic’ water in suitably rustic packaging in my local shop today! (If I see another £5 locally artisan-baked organic cupcake I’ll scream!)
I think the hand crafted bicycle may be at the intersection of both of these growing trends. It fits in nicely with the ethical ecologically sound, recyclable, sustainable and the authentic as in having a personal relationship with the maker and a say in the customisation as a way of expressing their personality.
What I’m trying to discern is whether or not this is a positive return to the values of an authentic product hand made by a craftsman and a direct response to a disillusionment with mass production and planned obsolescence or if it is the current trend/fashion/fad due to media attention and it will fade when the next big thing and latest fashion replaces it?
I'm not an expert, I'm asking for help because you will no doubt know much more than me about this subject. I'm interested to hear all opinions. I have chosen this subject as I have an interest in craft and beautiful bicycles and thought it would be an engaging debate. Only the next three weeks will tell if this will be the case!
Thanks again to everyone who has responded. I’m so grateful. I’m sorry if I don’t respond to everyone personally, I have a deadline and am juggling quite a few things at the moment, and I'm spending rather a bit too much time on the internet! (not enough hours in the day)
Cheers
Simon

[Simon Taylor]

Whoa there Simon you’ve got a lot of difficult questions! Some of them require philosophical reflection instead of accumulating hard data. Good luck with that. I’ll take only the last one now since I’m a teacher with some sympathy towards student projects. I’m an American that learned how to build bicycles at Ellis-Briggs in Shipley, West Yorkshire in 1975. Earlier in that decade, adult Americans had just started to enjoy riding good bicycles and for the most part needed to go to Europe to buy the best hand made custom bicycles. To fill this new market demand, a number of young Americans traveled abroad to learn the trade (since it basically wasn’t known here with a few exceptions). During this time I visited many European builders to gather as much knowledge as I could. Often they would say that the only reason they would share secrets with me was because I was an American and wouldn’t be competing with their business. The density of British builders in a business where fewer frames were being bought contrasts with the new wide open market available to us here in the States. In the Leeds/Bradford area where I was there were a number of companies building custom bicycles all competing for the same shrinking number of buyers. By contrast, where I live in Niles, Michigan one needed to travel pretty far to find another builder. Ron Boi was in Chicago 100 miles west, Kieth Anderson was in Indianapolis about 150 miles south and Matt Assenmacher was 200 miles east in the Detroit area.

There were a number of differences between the American and UK framebuilding market. 1st of all many of the masters I visited were in a family business or learned the trade when they were young because they were hired by a specific company. It was a highly competitive environment with little profit margin. I bought a semi-fancy lugged Hetchins with a several color paint job in 1969 for around $75. When I was apprenticing the cost had risen to around $150. The Brits likely to buy a frame came from a working background that didn’t have a lot of money to spend. By contrast, those in America looking to get a custom bicycle mostly came from the white collar middle class with more deposable income. That meant we could charge more. This class contrast also existed between American and British builders as well. Those of us that went abroad (or somehow learned) in the 70’s had college degrees instead of taking a building job at 16 like they did in your country. When I explained to those I visited that I was a teacher with a master’s degree, they thought I was nuts for downgrading my social status. And I think that being young and wanting to figure it all out ourselves made us more open to trading info.

I have barely scratched the surface of only one of your many questions. Now there seems to be a big revival of learning framebuilding in the UK as well as an interest in buying custom made frames. I’m under the impression these are being bought by those with more income than in the past. I’ve had a number of British students take my framebuilding class although not many lately as there has been new schools opening up over there.

Doug Fattic
Niles, Michigan

Doug
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, I’m really interested in the differences between the industry in the UK and US both concerning builders and customers. I really appreciate your answer.
In my research so far, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that the craftsmen of the past in this country (regardless of trade) were mostly working class, starting out as apprentices struggling to earn a living and a large percentage of modern day craftsmen starting out are a different demographic, middle class, educated with more leisure time, financially better off, pursuing an interest and passion rather than a necessity to earn. This is why I'm interested to know whether the perception of the bicycle has also changed from a means of transportation to a cherished status object or utility-craft to art-craft?
Thanks again
Simon

[Simon Taylor]

Good morning Simon, and welcome. Since you posed the dissertation, I am not sure if the question has been asked of you. What makes you (or anyone, for that matter) think there's a resurgence? According to my opinion, just because media now focuses on what some of us do, that doesn't mean there's a place here that was never here before, or that it's bigger OR smaller. I happen to think it's gobs smaller than ever, but that's another thread. Framebuilding as an endeavor has landed on the desks of internet scribes, bloggers, and all sorts of folks who don't really go that far back to have a sense of the trade. My observation is that most get their facts and write stories based on Google searches. The result is that one story begets two more, and the subject matter grows geometrically.

The resurgence isn't in the trade; it's in the amount of lenses folks are looking at it through.

Good afternoon e-RICHIE and thank you for your reply.
While there may not be a tidal wave of resurgence. I believe there is a greater interest from those outside of the craft, certainly in this country. The craft is certainly not in decline as it once was. It may be smaller than in the past but there is evidence in the number of people exhibiting and attending shows for example, that it is growing. This may likely be a result of media attention, but what I’m trying to discern is why is this? and if this attention is in relation to the ‘authentic’, ecological, ethical culture that is popular at the moment and indeed if this is in response to the disillusion with the ideology of mass production and disposable culture. I realise that this industry is looking forward and moving with the times, materials and consumables are anything but stuck in the past, but I know some people look at steel bicycles with nostalgia and think these are a throwback to some rose-tinted, simpler, more honest way of life as with a lot of crafts. This is why I’m questioning whether the level of interest is sustainable.
Thanks again for your response
Simon

[Doug Fattic]

That's a pretty leading question, and in my experience it's total rubbish. For one thing, if it wasn't for British framebuilders sharing their craft, American framebuilding would be nowhere.

Ben perhaps you are speaking only of the situation in the UK today? Certainly when I was visiting and working in England in the 70’s it was clear there was competition between builders and they didn’t share information. I was told this repeatedly when I visited them. There were connections between some builders like Briggs and Woodrup. Jack sent me there to learn how to make a concave seat stay caps similar to a Masi. So all builders didn’t live in isolation to each other but the reality is many did. I’ve always been very thankful to those British builders (especially Briggs where I mainly learned) that generously took their time to share their knowledge with me. Perhaps this is partly why I and others don’t mind sharing some of what we know too.

Americans in the 70’s had to learn from the ground up and they got their information from a number of sources that included but was not exclusive to the UK. For example someone like A.D. Stump were machinists that understood metal joining procedures. Many can trace there framebuilding heritage tree to the father of modern American builders Albert Eisentraut. He learned from Oscar Wastyn in Chicago that made the first Schwinn Paramounts. Albert was also a teacher (High School art if I remember right) that went around the US giving framebuilding classes in the 70’s and beyond. Furthermore he was the 1st instructor at UBI so he casts a pretty big shadow not related to anything across the pond. In addition Masi from Italy brought his operation to southern California that spawned a number of builders. I can think of a few master builders that just picked up the skills themselves over time . It was a bit later that production oriented frame shops in the States gave some builders there start. There was a lot of bicycle building going on in the US around the turn of the 19th century to the 20th but it eventually died out as American interest centered around cars. In my town of Niles in the late 1900’s there was a local bicycle builder that advertised gold and silver platted lugs.

I would characterize the American building scene in the 70’s as one in which almost everyone was new and started working with a blank sheet of paper. This means they were willing to try different methods that lead to some improvements from what daddy always did in the old country.