agreed! ritchey and slawta do awesome fillet work.
and the taylors work always has had that utilitarian aspect to it - norman never really cleaned up his lugs, either - i tend to think of his work as an ugly duckling in many ways - a testament to his skill as a brazer far more than to his skill as a finish worker. the bottom line with the taylors was always the ride, not the look, and i hold a certain appreciation for that attitude...
-joel
At 11:52 -0400 08.29.2006, oroboyz@aol.com wrote:
>I thought I should inject here some comments regarding filet brazing.
>
>Norman Taylor was lauded for his filet brazing experience and
>skills. JT bikes are way cool; I have one beauty in my collection
>that I value immensely. Plus I have handled and owned a large number
>of Taylors and can say that the joinery skills are very competently
>done... but "industrial" in aesthetics. It's true that Norman never
>dressed or finished his fileted joints, and that is relatively
>apparent. There are uneven sections, little ledges and lumpinesses
>that show his "hand", sort of like noticeable file marks in other
>frames...
>
>But if you want to see that level of strength and integrity and more
>yet with higher & more refined artisan skills, you need to look at
>Tom Ritchey or John (Landshark) Slawta's work. These guys lay down
>an initial filet that has an almost perfectly blended radius,
>virtually no ripple or variance in the profile. I have a raw
>untouched tubing joint by Slawta at my shop that any of you could
>examine and you will see that John barely has to touch the filet
>before going to paint. There are other North American (many mountain
>bike & Off topic) guys who also have developed this craft/skill/art
>to a very very high level. It is a simply unparralled and amazing
>level of handwork
>
>It can be argued that there is no useful purpose to "sweat the look"
>to this degree, that the bike is a tool, yada yada, but these
>builders who can do it, do it amazingly well. Better than any before
>them! Even (gasp) vintage/classic builders!
>
>You know I love the old stuff BUT the current top makers of steel
>bikes (don't make me list them) are making the best crafted bicycles
>ever made, period (my humble opinion.)
>
>My three cents,
>Dale
>
>Dale Brown
>cycles de ORO, Inc.
>1410 Mill Street
>Greensboro, NC 27408 USA
>336-274-5959
>www.cyclesdeoro.com
>www.classicrendezvous.com
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: freitas1@pacbell.net
>To: magpie@blackbirdsf.org
>Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Sent: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:22 AM
>Subject: [CR]re:Jack Taylor Fillet brazed frames
>
> Joel probably knows but the Fillet frames are extremely light even
>with the additional brass. I had always thought a lugged frame would
>be lighter.
>My Marathon Tourist is one of my lightest bikes
>BOB FREITAS
>gray skies in MILL VALLEY,CA
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures,
>email and IM. All on demand. Always Free.
>
>_______________________________________________
--
joel metz : magpie@blackbirdsf.org : http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
bike messengers worldwide : ifbma : http://www.messengers.org/
magpie messenger collective http://www.magpiemessenger.com/
portland, oregon
==
i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't there,
after she got that bicycle...