Michael Butler wrote (in part):
>>>Wonderful to see this excellent maker get a mention on the list. He
hailed form somewhere in the West country. Perhaps Somerset? ...When we
raced in the Bristol area in the early 70' Stan Pike and Jensens where
all the rage with the locals. Not quite sure why Jensen a maker from
Croydon in Surrey should be popular down there but they were another
excellent maker from the UK. It is a crying shame that these Brit
builders do not get the recognition on the list they deserve.... At
least Stan Pike is now making a well deserved showing.<<<<
Michael -
Since Stan Pike is one of my favorite subjects (and favorite builders), I too am happy to see these frames get recognition, and glad to see more of them turning up in the hands of the CR community. If you were to go back into the archives, you would see that Stan Pike has been mentioned here from the very beginnings of the list (I know, because I have a Pike frame and met Dale because he was the only person I had met that had heard of Stan, and that was before the list started). In addition, Pike has been championed by some pretty esteemed list members over the years. The list does occasionally get preoccupied with Italian and, maybe to a lesser extent, French builders, because that reflects our exposure (as Americans, which the majority of the list are) in our formative years (bicycle-wise). Frames by small-output British builders like Pike and his peers were few-and-far-between here in the 70's and early 80's. The CR list has been one of the primary forums whereby builders like Stan Pike get exposure and recognition, and I think we see more of that all the time. Pike's frames compare very favorably to, and often exceed, the construction quality and attention to detail of other similar builder's frames of the day, whatever the national origin. And, as you say, more recognition is well deserved. Through this list, to a great extent, that is happening. That is a great benefit to all of us.
Another obvious, if rather ironic, benefit to the CR community is that frames by builders like Stan Pike can be quite a bargain, when compared to Masis, Colnagos, De Rosas and the like. The added irony is that they are as good as, or better, and very exclusive because there are relatively fewer of them around.
For the record, Stan Pike built frames only from the early 70's through November of '83, when he died at age 46. The first frames were built at the Pike home in Crewkerne (Somerset county, South West England), later at the Pike home in Misterton, near Crewkerne, and finally at a shop (Stan Pike Cycles) in Crewkerne on Hermitage Street. Stan's son Phillip built frames for a short while after Stan's death, but those frames are badged as "Pike of Crewkerne", rather than "Stan Pike".
Wayne Bingham
Lovettsville VA