[CR]American framebuilders rule?

(Example: Production Builders:Frejus)

Date: 6 Apr 2001 08:13:12 -0700
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: <brucerobbins@worldmailer.com>
Subject: [CR]American framebuilders rule?

On Thu, 05 April 2001, "dave bohm" wrote:
>The cost of living can be substantially lower in some >areas than the average in the U.S.

From my experience, the cost of living in the UK is considerably higher than in the US. Petrol, to name but one product, is almost $6 a gallon here while average earnings are quite a bit lower. If the cost of living was lower here, we'd maybe have sufficient disposable income to buy a bike from Richard or Brian.
> There is no need for product liability insurance, This may well be an extra expense for American builders.
>some of the builders of classic frames are older, >have pensions and the like and do not need to make >much of a profit.

No doubt, but lots of others are guys with families, the same as US builders.
>The frames can differ too. U.S. builders tend to have >sophisticated fixturing and tools whereas British >builder often do with much less, silver brazing is >prevalent in the U.S, stainless, expensive painting >procedures using Imron, not just enamel etc.
>I am not debating the merits of these differences, >just pointing them out. Its the little details that >can really start to increase the prices through >higher materials cost, tooling and time. I am >surprised that this detail may be seen as a >unnecessary expense. This from the country that >brings us Aston Martin, Jaguar, Rolls Royce. All >highly unnecessary but thankfully still produced.

Personally, Dave, I'm more than satisfied by the standard of workmanship evident on many classic British marques or, for that matter, many new bikes built in the traditional way. They may lack some of the details that you like but they have stood the test of time and have still managed, in some cases, to earn a cult following around the world.

The point I was trying to make on the list could equally be applied to the cars you mention. Does the fact that someone works on the Aston Martin assembly line make him a better car maker than someone working for Chrysler? Or does he just have to produce a slightly different product for a different market?

By the way, you guys now own Jaguar and Aston Martin and the Germans own Rolls Royce! We still have Morgan and Bristol, though, and they've got more character than the rest of the car world combined...

Regards, Bruce.

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