RE: [CR] Bruce Gordons Rant - WE ARE TO BLAME?

(Example: Humor)

From: "Roman Stankus" <rstankus@mindspring.com>
To: "'Guy Apple'" <cinelliguy@earthlink.net>, "'CR List Members'" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: RE: [CR] Bruce Gordons Rant - WE ARE TO BLAME?
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 07:04:39 -0500
Thread-Index: AcZDaz/xCDF81l8XRFyGalVKKyagIQABOOXg
In-Reply-To: <9397949.1141903118921.JavaMail.root@elwamui-polski.atl.sa.earthlink.net>


So the question remains - if it takes so long to get a classic vintage ride and Bruce's frames are done so well - why doesn't Bruce have a waiting list?

There is a reason. I think that's the nut Bruce has got to crack. I think there are orders to be had. There's something that keeps that from happening in spite of the Bruce's abilities. I say this because of my great respect for Bruce's abilities and my hope that he can continue to do what he does so well. His business/marketting approach may need some "tweaking" to be more successful in the marketplace.

Roman Stankus Dancing on pins in Atlanta, Ga.

-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Guy Apple Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 6:19 AM To: CR List Members Subject: Re: [CR] Bruce Gordons Rant - WE ARE TO BLAME?

Hi to all,

I have not been around the bike business all my life, I never raced bicycles, well triathalons long ago but...

The one thing I do know about is my appreciation of these builders, their sacrifices and the art they produce. My only recommendation is one grown from practicality. Buy a few less classic bikes and instead, pick the builder like the most at the time and order one up. It will take a while to get, it is not immediate like ebay etc, but on receipt of this bike you will be doing us all a big favor including and especially yourself. I think you know what I mean ~

Best always,

Guy Apple Sunnyvale CA

My modern classics:

Peter Johnson - Roadbike Peter Johnson - Pista (ordered) Assenmacher - Roadbike Peter Weigle - Sportif (ordered)

-----Original Message-----

>From: hersefan@comcast.net

>Sent: Mar 8, 2006 8:03 PM

>To: bgcycles@svn.net, "'Mann, Dave'" <damann@mitre.org>,
internet-bob@bikelist.org

>Cc: framebuilders@phred.org, touring@phred.org,
classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

>Subject: Re: [CR] Bruce Gordons Rant - WE ARE TO BLAME!

>

>Well I'm going to step on toes here....and it rambles - but here it goes.

>

>I've been around the bike biz a bit, and I'm convinced that the business is
totally driven by marketing. There are wonderful modern bikes out there,
but for the bulk of the market, the bikes folks buy are the wrong ones. A
great modern steel frame really is optimal for most folks - a perfect blend
of comfort, handling, fit, stability, the list goes on and on.

>

>But most folks who love their vintage bikes are too quick to fall for the
latest material for their "go-fast-bike" when a custom steel frame that is
done right will be the best widget to get the job done. And too many folks
dismiss bikes such as those Bruce Gordon is building as mellow touring bikes
unworthy of the weekend peloton.

>

>But I think it is just the opposite - traditional race bikes are designed
mostly for those who are often less hard core and who ride shorter
distances. The machines that Bruce Gordon, Peter Weigle, Alex Singer (and
that famous Baylis guy) are building are amazingly well suited for riders
that know what its like AFTER the first 50 or 100 miles of a days ride are
done. What gets you on a long ride isn't a pound of weight - its the
constant pounding of the miles.

>

>Here in Colorado, so many folks train so that they can do well on the club
120 mile event rides in the mountains. Yet the race bike which only takes
23mm tires, has no bags to carry clothes for changing mountain conditions,
and which has no fenders for the inevitable rain on a summer afternoon is
tragically unsuitable.

>

>So Bruce Gordon and a few other builders are making gorgeous custom
machines that are ideal for the majority of riders - riders that frequently
pride themselves on a quick 50, 75, or 100 mile jaunt. Each of us as an
example should ride these machines and recomend them to our friends. But
why don't we? Because so many of us are swept up believing the marketing.
We chase the false idols of weight and perceived stiffness. A good steel
frame is not much more than a waterbottle away from a Ti frame in weight.
And it isn't about stiffness - its about a bike that flexes in sync with
your riding style - and getting that match right is where the custom builder
comes in.

>

>When I owned Bicycle Classics inc. I rode them all - especially the modern
Italian Scandium and titanium. I had a Merckx SC, a Pinarello Prince, and
others - yet I am most at home, even when "sprinting", on my Weigle. Sure
the modern bikes did great things - but the Weigle is so much better for
nearly every type of riding I do, I can't imagine life on an alternative
material.

>

>So folks need to answer the question "what is the optimal bike for my
needs" - and if you answer the question without being swayed by fads or
misinformation, we should be swamping builders such as Bruce Gordon with
orders for ourselves and from our friends. American custom frames are
inexpensive - it is a crime that Bruce Gordon isn't complaining that he is
swamped. So lets get cracking!

>

>Mike Kone in Boulder CO

>

>

>From: "Bruce Gordon" <bgcycles@svn.net>

>

>> Sorry about the cross posting - But, I thought this might be interesting
to

>> people who do not subscribe to all the groups

>>

>>

>> -----Original Message-----

>> From: Mann, Dave [mailto:damann@mitre.org]

>> Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 11:15 AM

>> To: bgcycles@svn.net; internet-bob@bikelist.org

>> Subject: RE: [BOB] NAHBS Thoughts (late and long and opinionated)

>>

>>

>> """""While I find this to be very interesting, I'm not sure what

>> to do with this information. Perhaps I'm confused with what

>> your desired affect is with putting this information out."""""

>>

>> Someone asked my purpose in writing about this.

>> I'm writing to expose "the dirty little secret of the bike biz", that no
one

>> wants to talk about.

>> First I want to commend Don for the show. It was the most unique
gathering

>> I have been to in my 35 years in the bike business, it was also the most

>> troubling.

>> I write this because I think most of the visitors are totally unaware of
the

>> plight of the small builder.

>> First - I really like bikes, I like making them, I like thinking about
them,

>> I like riding them - I hate the bike business. Like many of you - I might


>> say that I am passionate about bikes.

>> One of the most disturbing moments of the weekend was when I was having

>> dinner at the hotel after spending an exhausting day at the show talking
to

>> people. A builder whom I really respect, who has been building about as

>> long as I have, quietly ordered a bowl of soup. I could tell it was not

>> because he was not hungry - it was because entrees were $15 to $20.

>> In the last 18 months I have been to 5 shows like the NAHBS. Don's show
in

>> San Jose was the biggest. I have been to the Velo Rendezvous in Pasadena
2

>> times, the Cirque in North Carolina, and the Handmade Bike Fair in Tokyo

>> Japan. In each show except the NAHBS I have won first place awards for my


>> bikes. I am humbled and honored by the awards. However, it has cost over

>> $20,000 with almost no sales. I have sold 3 frames in the last 16 years.
I

>> was hoping to sell some of the prize winners at the NAHBS show to recoup

>> some of my expenses. No luck (they are still all for sale) and I spent

>> $2000 to attend and display.

>> Making the fancy lugged frames bikes is very therapeutic for me. It gets
me

>> back to my roots.

>> At the NAHBS I got to talk to some builders I have known and admired for
30+

>> years. We talked bikes, but we also talked business. I handed out an

>> anonymous questionnaire I had printed up about the business. Some of the

>> answers might shock you. The first question was "what should a competent

>> frame builder earn a year?" The most common answer was $40,000 to $50,000


>> per year - certainly not Greedy. I have a 30 year old friend who is a
Union

>> Plumber who just turned Journeyman. He just started a job in San
Francisco

>> doing copper piping in a new Condominium at $43 per hour + health
coverage +

>> retirement. I should have been a plumber. I could have afforded to go the


>> Plumbing Shows and show off my fancy edged carved Copper plumbing
fittings.

>> I found in the questionnaire that no one including the well known small

>> builders even made $35,000. Most were about $20,000, which is where I fit


>> in. I asked if they could ever retire on their current income - everyone

>> replied NO. As for health insurance - 75% had no insurance, or if they
had

>> insurance - most had it through their spouse.

>> When I started building in 1974 with Albert Eisentraut he would say: "You


>> won't get rich building frames, but, you can make a living."

>> For the first 28 years of my business I could always afford an employee,

>> that has not been the case for the last 4 years. Even working alone I
have

>> had to dip into my personal savings to pay the bills. If sales stay the

>> same, I have 1 or 2 more years left before my savings are gone.

>> Most of my business for the last 16 years has been making more
utilitarian

>> TIG welded touring frames and racks. But even those TIGed bike sales have


>> dropped from 60 to 70 bikes a year to 25 last year. Is it because my
stuff

>> is lousy?? I don't think so. I think I make pretty good, reasonably
priced

>> touring stuff.

>> What has happened is that the business has been taken over by what I call


>> "Marketers". People who have discovered that "Why make it yourself if you


>> can have it made overseas for a lot less?". That way you can spend more
on

>> marketing, which seems to work better. Fine, some will say, THAT IS

>> CAPITALISM!. But, something to think about is this. Over the past 30 odd

>> years I have seen many innovations in the bike biz. Almost all were from
1

>> to 3 person shops. A couple that come to mind are Merlin, the first
viable

>> Titanium frames (early TI attempts, Teledyne, etc. just did not work) and


>> especially Mountain Bikes. Now, if you go into a bike shop - 90 to 95% of


>> Mountain Bikes are made in Taiwan or China. If we were to wait for the

>> Taiwanese or Chinese to invent the Mountain Bike - we would still be

>> waiting.

>> One of my most vivid memories of my first trip to France in the late
1980's

>> was that it was a country that almost everyone drove French cars. Not

>> because they were the best, they weren't (they have vastly improved
since),

>> but because they were built by French people, and they liked to support

>> their own industry.

>> What has hurt my business the most are the Rivendells, Surlys, Somas,

>> Kogswells, etc. I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THEIR PRODUCTS!!!!!


>> When Rivendell started - they were only going to be made in USA, then,
maybe

>> some made in Japan, then, OK maybe some from Taiwan. It is a slippery

>> slope, and there is NO chairlift back to the top of the mountain.

>> For me in California, I cannot compete with a $249 wholesale Surly
Touring

>> frame. I know the argument - we are better in the USA doing the designing


>> and outsourcing the production. B.S. - People in India, Taiwan and China

>> have the same computers we have. In fact, my Hewlett Packard computer as

>> made in China. They also have people who can use them. The only jobs that


>> can not be outsourced are the jobs pouring your coffee at Starbucks, and
the

>> job wearing an "Orange Apron" and saying - "Welcome to Home Depot".

>> That gets me back to the question of why I wrote the original post. If we


>> want to have the passionate, small, innovative builders - we have to
start

>> buying from them. We need to buy from the people who are passionate about


>> building them, NOT just from the passionate people who Market them. I
doubt

>> that the factory workers in Taiwan, or China, etc. are passionate about

>> bikes like you are.

>>

>> If you got this far - thanks for reading and letting me get this off my

>> chest.

>> Regards,

>> Bruce Gordon

>> Bruce Gordon Cycles

>> http://www.bgcycles.com