Rick
If the process is more important than the result, you play. If the result is more important than the process, you work.
Ooooh a bass boat Sachs. What a good idea!
Dan Fuller, local bicycle enthusiast
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when i make a frame (and fork) nothing is finished until the paint dries. and when it does, the work i put into everything will look different depending on the color. there are colors that require more passes which means some visuals can appear heavier than others. opaques, particularly lighter ones, tend to look the heaviest. the thickest. lotta metal edges and curves and pointy points need to be buried. and, in turn, my metalwork can get lost.
there are moments when i unwrap a freshly painted frame (and fork) and wonder where all the labor went. these (moments) are few and far between. but they do come. they still come. after five decades of fussing and fitting and brazing and sculpting. i still look at a few of these, look at myself in the mirror (metaphorically) and think my skills are dropping off. that’s a different mindset than the one i have before i ship a frame (and fork) to the paint shop.
for me, the ideal is a moving target. if there’s a slight alignment gaffe i hope that the bicycle fits perfectly. if i err on a length measurement i hope that a millimeter is a dimension we can laugh about. if the design is a mirror image of my original plan but the workmanship raises an eyebrow i’ll use the term wabi-sabi in a sentence. the only time i don’t worry about my frames (and forks) is when i think of the ones i haven’t made yet.
All This By Hand
Slight Digression: 17 or 18 years ago @lenj posted a pic of his white-with-red-accents Richard Sachs bike (he referred to that color combination as "reverse Richie") and I was instantly smitten. It is by far my favorite colorway [sic] for a Sachs frame. The only reason I didn't order mine that color is because I know how bad I am about keeping white stuff clean!
But shee-it ^^^that pic is gorgeous!
To my untrained eye, the transition from head tube to lug looks sharper on mine. Can't help wondering whether that's because of actual paint thickness or color contrast.
Richie's discerning eye is much better than mine. Thankfully.
Also appreciate the little splooge of RichieLube on both fork crowns.
Regardless, once one is on board, that all disappears beneath.
Fork headtube closeup SACHS 22 by Doc Mertes, on Flickr
rccardr, are you building it with downtube shifters?
Dan Fuller, local bicycle enthusiast
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