Re: [CR]Number 2?

(Example: Books:Ron Kitching)

Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 22:39:05 -0800
From: "Brian Baylis" <rocklube@adnc.com>
To: "Mark A. Perkins" <bicyclemark@juno.com>
Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]Number 2?
References: <20010313.215918.-435207.1.bicyclemark@juno.com>


Mark,

Art Stump is probably still with us, I see him at the GWBR often myself. I've known him since the early 70's. He's a very interesting man. Many of you may even have reproduction Hetchins head badges cast by Art quite a few years ago. He tried to sell them to Alf Hetchins as I recall and Alf was too cheap to buy them, even though they were out of them at the time. I think Art's castings were cleaner than the originals. The Hetchins I rode this past Sunday has an Art Stump badge on it.

I think Art made somewhere between 8 and 10 frames or so. In my opinion, the lug cutting itself was nicely done, but (speaking of lug finishing) the way they were finished off detracted from the design considerably, to my eye. He did the opposite of what Charles likes. The lug was full thickness until near the edge and then it just sort of rounded off into the tube. Never seen a full time builder approach lugs that way. The (and correctly this time) "mystique" of Art Stump frames was (at least on the one most people have seen) the black chrome finish and the extensive drilling and machining of the components. Quite striking as far as a finish goes, and a bit ahead of it's time. Never liked the Art Stump dropouts. Too limiting for use on a varity of frames and possibly not durable enough for many conditions a bike would meet up with under normal use over a period of many years. Fine for showboating and doddleing but not practical overall. I really love this man, he's a character and a craftsman and most certainly a So. CA icon from the early 70's. I've gotten a lot of old lugs and bits from him over the years. He did make a fork crown that is cool in some ways, but too plain for "vintage" style frames. Dave Tesch used them occassionally. I still have a few in my collection of crowns; and no, you can't buy one. I have a pair of dropouts also, but will never use them; they're for reference primarily. Art liked Hetchins and Hurlow frames.

When Mike Howard and I bought a spray booth for Wizard Cycles it came from an outfit that painted waterskis a few doors down from Arts shop in Santa Monica. After we took apart this rusty but cheap unit we dropped in on Art. He was in the middle of putting some sort of steam engine in a 60's Pontiac Tempest (if I recall correctly) of all things! Art has talent in places that most people don't even know they have places. Loves to tinker. Hope to see him this year, he's getting quite old. He may not make too many more rallies. He lives in Los Osos if I'm not mistaken.

Brian Baylis
>
> I just remembered that I met Art Stump at the 1999 Great Western Bicycle
> Rally (35th annual) in Paso Robles, CA. I told him that those articles
> in Bike World magazine inspired the curiosity within me which eventually
> led to my building the five frame-set's that I have built so far. That
> was Memorial Day weekend, '99, could be he's still with us. I intend to
> attend the 37th annual GWBR this year, so I'll keep an eye out for Art.
> BTW, this event has a swap meet on Friday, and a popular vote type
> Concours de Elegance, as well as tons of ride choices. Great fun,
> especially when you won 2nd and 3rd place in the "vintage" category in
> the concours with my '73 Bob Jackson chrome track bike, and '75 Jack
> Taylor Curve-tube (candy gold), respectively. I hope to show something
> different this year.
>
> "Bicycle Mark" Perkins
> Visalia, CA
>
> On Tue, 13 Mar 2001 20:36:58 -0800 (PST) David Postman
> <DavidPostman@excite.com> writes:
> > Brandon mentioned Art Stump. Is the A.D. Stump mentioned in some of my
> old
> > Bike World magazines of the 1970s? I remember staring at photos of his
> > frames and was thrilled to come across a great picture recently in an
> old issue sho
> > Can anyone tell me anything about Stump? Is he still around? How many
> bikes
> > did he build?
> >-snip-
> > David "barely enough eye-hand coordination to ride a bike muchless
> > build one" Postman
>
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