As a follow up & (counter?) point to e-richies reference to the NYTimes / Steinway piece; today's Barron's has an editorial commentary regarding the 100'Th anniversary of Ford Motor Company. Before anyone goes postal, please bear with me. This piece talks about the whole craft vs. industry thing that we CR types tend to pine about. The article contends that at the time of the introduction of the Model T, automobile manufacturing was a craft, not an industry. The "T" changed that. "The Model T was not the best car that could be made; it was the best car that could be made easily." The result of this? More cars for more people. Better pay for more employees - $5.00 per day for Ford employees vs. the more typical $1.00 per day wage of the time. Better cars? No. Affordable cars, yes. A higher standard of living for all? You be the judge. Compare the average wage of today's Steinway craftsperson ($15.00 per hour?) to the average wage of a Ford production line employee. The relevance to the CR list? Just this little irony. We all love the frame builders / craftsmen that grace us with there participation on this list because of the life choices they have made, resulting in unique, high quality "niche" products that we lust after / own and enjoy. While at the same time we know that if the entire industry did as they have done, the industry would be done for. Just a little food for thought the next time we all lament what has happened to "our" industry. Richard Rose (Toledo, Ohio) P.S. I tried to include a http://www.link to the Barron's article, but I am not a subscriber & was not able to do so - without a fee!!
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Richard M Sachs Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2003 11:25 AM To: OROBOYZ@aol.com Cc: ferness261@voyager.net; Philcycles@aol.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org; rocklube@adnc.com Subject: Re: [CR]CR List... guitars, drums, Giant bikes on eBay, etc etc
dale et al.
i will heed this warning. before i sign off i want to make this point:
i think the synergys between the instrument making world as well
as its clientele, (as well as the 'worlds' of tailoring,
jewelrysmithing,
cabinetmaking, etcetera...), and our little classic bicycle world are
infinite. over 20 years ago, i stopped using 'my' industry to fuel my
zeal for framebuilding and started looking outside of it for inspira-
tion(s). let's face it, there is very little of value in today's market
for a CR list devotee. agreed-you can continue talking about lug
filing, and patent vs brev, and the pink that mercier used, ad
infinitum. i think it would be a breath of fresh air to consider how
other trades with similar historys/lineages/marketing trends
compare with ours. i think it can only raise the bar of awareness,
not suppress it.
if there are those on the list that are intimidated by the mail volume
because some of it contains arcane or 'ephemera' type subject
matter, that bothers me. i have a very hard time seperating it all.
earlier this week i posted about a NY Times article relevant to
Steinway & Sons. i included a pulled quote that mentioned the
term, "antimanufacturing". imo, there can't be anything more
analagous to the bicycles within the list timeline than such a
term. and i also still believe that this type of information has
merit on a list like this.
apologies to those who disagree.
e-RICHIE
Richard Sachs Cycles
No.9, North Main Street
Chester, CT 06412 USA
Tel. 860.526.2059
http://www.richardsachs.com
http://photos.yahoo.com/
On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 11:55:32 EDT OROBOYZ@aol.com writes: Ladies and gentleman:
Once again, as entranced as I might become in any of these and other tangental topics, I must urge, no, insist that you stay "on Topic" on the CR list. Sadly, this past week I bid farewell to 3 more members who cannot take the volume of this list. We must stick to the topic.
I go back to the basic tenets of this list's founding and remind everyone
that it is not a "chat list"! If you want to dash off uninhibited messages with little or no vintage bike content, do it privately to that person and do not burden the entire list with that message!
If you are relatively new to the CR list, PLEASE take another look at the <A HREF="http://www.classicrendezvous.com./CR_list_rules.htm">CR list rules</A>. There are a few other things there that folks routinely ignore (for instance, message sign off requirement.) Please take a minute and quickly read it again.. They have been tweaked a bit over the years (not much though!) but the core philosophy has not changed.
On the other hand, I would like to thank more than a few folk who have heeded my warnings (off list always!) and have consciously changed their habits to adapt to the CR list's peculiar rules. I know it took a special effort on their parts, and I think the list, on a whole, is doing very much better!
Thanks Dale
Dale Brown
List owner
Greensboro, North Carolina