[CR]Are we still taking words..

(Example: Framebuilders:Masi)

From: "Norris Lockley" <norris@norrislockley.wanadoo.co.uk>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 14:31:19 +0100
Subject: [CR]Are we still taking words..

I reckon Greg Arnold might be on the right lines here, when he says the French probably have a more apt and appropriate word for this emotion we all share...just as they appear to have a word for almost anything. Just think of that extremely clever word "niche"..it just says it all! What else would you call a recess in a wall where you stand your ceramic ornaments..?

My wife has often said to me "I just don't get it !!! What pleasure can a grown man get from just looking at a box of thirteen steel tubes?" This comment being made when she has seen might eyes light up, my smile widen when I have opened up a box of M Colombo's latest steel offering, and run my hands lovingly along the length of each tube and seat-stay.

I try to explain it's not what I see in the tubes...it's what I see them being built into... and the transport of del;ight that they will become for some customer. I try to explain that bespoke builders such as myself, as opposed to builders who build series of the same frame..are in the "Dream" industry..and I have built a couple of bikes for an English pop-idol one called "the Tangerine Dream Machine" and the second one, when the chromers managed to get the correct match of polished bright chrome. iuxtaposed with the areas of satin, and highlighted by subtle zones of golden black plate, was christened "The Silver Dream Machine". But I have always been aware that when I have set my files and torches on to the tubes for a low-profile time-trial machine, I am building the machine on which the customer is, in his dreams, going to win the National 25 mile championship. Similarly the "Tangerine Dream Machine" a fast touring bike using a Jack Taylor curved seat-tube, with a total wheelbase of only 38.5".. and equipped with rear panniers..was not so much a fast touring bike as such, but the machine on which the rider, a UK TV celebrity folk-singer, was to fulfill his dreams of cycling the length of the Appalachian chain, guitar on his bike, meeting up with hill-billy (hope I got the correct term here) musicians to "have a good crack.."and all recorded for the viewing public back in the UK.

I once thought of calling my bikeshop "The Dream Factory" but then felt that someone else had probably already done it..and was, more likely than not, selling beds.

The French DO have a word..but it's not as Greg suggests "hantise"...Yes that's type of obsession..but it implies a dread loathing..an obsessive fear..

The French love "Passion"... a word used extensively to not exactly define something that defines being defined..but is in itself the definition. Hence in France you have "Passion Natur" ..the love of being in the wild, Passion Detente..the love of just chilling out.. Passion Foot...all about the masterful way in which the Frenchplay football and yes! it does exist already - "VeloPassion" - a monthly cycle magazine which tries to express the otherwise inexpressable about all manner of, but mainly, new bikes and their bits. People like us who feel these feeling are "les vrais passionnes"

But of course the word, though spelt in the same way as in the States and the UK.... that's where it ends..and changes.and becomes the passion..for the French don't speak the word as we speak it.."pashun"..somewhat lethargically.with the voice dropping off at the end....they spit it out, the double "SS" sound being formed in between the front teeth, with violence..almost like a "hiss"...the voice rising. To me it is the feeling behind the speaking of the word rather than the word itself that betrays its true intensity..

Depending on the intensity of one's "passion" in France ...being in a state of "..vachement passionne" is to denote a higher level of feeling...then one passes into the realm of "rage". To understand this heightened level you have to understand that "la Rage" is that madness in animals that we call "rabies".but linguistically it has transduced into meaning an almost uncontrollable state of emotion..hence "rage de vivre" - "love of life.living life to the full, on the edge" and "la rage du jeu" meaning the out-of-control passion for gambling, and here's one for the very committed cyclists among us.." ils s'entrainent avec rage" meaning "they train with passionate dedication "

So maybe we all have more than a touch of "passion" ... but let's hope fervently that none of us start foaming at the mouth...otherwise we have "la RAGE" and I'm not sure that the medical profession can do too much to cure the human form of this sickness..

Norris Lockley...the sun is making a long overdue appearance and those Clement Ventoux 20mm clinchers that I've just fitted look
   as though they need putting to the test...Settle UK