>
>So what's the story with Brian Baylis' ultimate randonneur? Was the fog
>machine turned off long enough to glimpse the machine. Inquiring minds need
>to know.
>Roman,
Well, it was pretty "ultimate", but the thing that impressed me right off was the ulimate paint on it, and it was more impressive the longer I looked. He has done things like filling a smooth depressed bead in the hammered fenders with paint then outlining those beads with a fine line of gold, bridging the transition from the hammered to the smooth absolutely perfectly...it's crazy.
I guess I was so dulled from all the perfectly constructed frames I had already seen that it took outstanding paint to shake me up by the time I made it back to Baylis' booth.
Y'know, there were some pretty "ultimate" radonneur bikes in the Bruce Gordon and J.P. Weigle booths, too...and some pretty crazy paint and detailing in the Vanilla Cycles booth as well...it was an eye-candy overload!
I had to go get a Chile Verde burrito to settle my nerves.
Some really impressive work from guys I was not familiar with like Tony Periera and Tom Oswald, as well as all those usual suspects that we expect perfection from. Nice to see the "flame" being passed to some talented younger hands.
-Alan Goldsworthy
SF, CA