[CR]Curt Goodrich & John Greene: Where is the love, guys?

(Example: Framebuilding)

Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 05:57:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: "David Patrick" <patrick-ajdb@sbcglobal.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Curt Goodrich & John Greene: Where is the love, guys?

Curt,

Your reply to Brian's post really strikes me as being off-base and missing the point, and I can only hope that your comments were the result of record-high temps in Minneapolis these past few days.

Brian said in his post: ".... framebuilding is pretty simple in the basic form and most anyone with reasonable motor skills, some patience, and a good dose of common sense, and a little practice, can build excellent bike frames". I think the key here are the words "...in the basic form....". To me, Brian was just trying to encourage CR members to perhaps pick up a set of torches and give framebuilding a try, and that they should not be intimidated by the framebuilding process. In all seriousness, Curt, don't Brian's comments pretty much sum up your past ten years of framebuilding? You got an itch to build frames, moved to Seattle, kicked around from mentor to mentor (or shop to shop), picking up skills here & there, then you fell into the Rivendell gig after having about 5-6 years of experience under your belt.

I've built two framesets to date and I was happy with the results. Do I still have a lot to learn? Sure, but my initial efforts were not garbage. I don't know if any of NASA's old space chimps could build a frame, but I'm quite sure that the majority of CR members are capable of picking up a set of torches and turning out a very serviceable first frameset (note to CR members: I'm not comparing you to space chimps!!!). Hats off to Brian for giving the CR membership encouragement to do so, which is something I haven't seen from any other established framebuilders on the CR list.

Now it seems you & John Greene are involved in some sort of pissing contest with Brian over this "mystery framebuilder". Guys: I don't think the CR membership is privy to the ins and outs of the high-pressure, highly-charged, politicized world of framebuilders, so this is all over our heads. We have no idea who you guys are referring to, which to me is further proof that Brian's comments were not intended as malicious. Perhaps the two of you can mount your own militias and do your attacking somewhere else? Bottom line: Brian Baylis has been extremely generous on this list with his knowledge and encouragement, something I haven't seen from other "framebuilders", and his post to the CR list was meant to "de-mystify" the framebuilding process and as a bit of encouragement to CR members who have given thought to taking a stab at framebuilding.

Dave Patrick
Chelsea, Michigan