I'll offer a California name and an Oregon one. California: Jim Holly's "Griffons" built in LA in the late 70's-early 80's. I had an okay touring frame and a great sport frame that Jim built, they succumbed to the bike mechanic's hormonal bike-change twitch. The sport frame was the first one I ever had that was good for absolutely stupid descending--don't even want to think how fast I came down from Government Camp on Mt. Hood on that a few times. I think Jim still builds a frame once in a while. He has nothing to do with the ugly aluminum tri-geek bikes called Griffen. The Oregon builder that should be better known is Mark DiNucci, one of the early builders of Strawberry frames and under his own name into the 80's. Mark was of the file-the-lugs-real thin school until he started using cast lugs around 1983. Mark works as a consultant for Anodizing, Inc. now.
David Feldman
> Andy's bikes are really nice, or at least the two I've seen in person are
> quite nice. I think he was the subject of one of Bicycle Guide's Hot
> Tubes articles.
>
> We spend so much talking about "the big players" we forget about all the
> little craftspeople who build with all the skill and design of the known
> masters. The flat-out best touring frame I've ever seen was by a guy named
> Sam Braxton from Missoula, Montana. I'd be really surprised if anyone on
> the list actually owned one of his bikes, and I'll bet that fewer than 10
> people on the list have even hear of him. Sam owned the best shop in the
> Inland Northwest, but wasn't racing oriented so he got little
> attention. I never say his name mentioned in the cycling press and only
> heard of his passing from a friend who worked for him in the 60s-70s. To
> this day I still kick myself for selling one of his frames because it was
> "too small." Mine was really basic and had been ridden hard and put away
> wet on more than one occasion. In my life I've only seen 6 of his frames.
>
> Anyway, I'm sure most of the people on the list know of a couple "great
> unknowns" so who are they?
> enjoy,
> Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
>
> "Nobody can do everything, but if everybody did something everything would
> get done." Gil Scott-Heron
>
> On Mon, 11 Jun 2001, Mark Poore wrote:
>
> > Just a quick note, as my boss might walk through the door any minute, on
a
> > few bikes that might be of interest. There is a Penny Farthing SP? on
ebay
> > dated 1880 sitting at $8,100 and reserve hasn't been met yet. Could be
one
> > exciting auction to watch along with the Confente auction. There is also
a
> > Cinelli that is up there in price, about $1,500 or so. And then a
Gilmour
> > that is located in England and it just my size. I met Andy in Tuscan in
1986
> > and fell in love with his work. The silver and brass head badges were a
work
> > of art in themselves. It is too bad not many folks have heard of him or
have
> > seen his work. Many a top national rider were sporting one of his frames
> > between their legs.
> >
> > Dale, do you have any info or photos on his bikes?
> >
> > Mark, I hear footsteps, Poore