The recent mention of T.S. (Tim) Isaac frames spurred me to dig out this article from late 1999 about Tim's "KOF" company, Match. (Actually he spelled it with a small m but I can't quite bring myself to do that for some reason).
The writer is not from the bike biz as far as I know, but mostly gets it right. The article confirms 1975 as the year he started building frames, as mentioned here earlier. (I don't know if that's true, but it sounds about right, and the writer probably got it from Tim.)
The url is
http://seattle.bizjournals.com/
Full disclosure: I worked at Match as a framebuilder, so I am not impartial. ______________________
Lug Nut
Tim Isaac handcrafts custom bicycles the old-fashioned way, with lugged steel frames that traditionalists are willing to pay for
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - December 3, 1999 by Nancy J. Kim
Tim Isaac cuts a lean figure. It's easy to imagine the days when the former competitor turned bike builder stayed with the head of the pack on the racing circuit.
Like many who retired their jerseys, Isaac has stayed with his passion for cycling by going into the business. But unlike most, the founder of Match Bicycle Co. in Woodinville has focused on building bikes the old-fashioned way, mindful of the aesthetics beyond a paint job that distinguish one bike from the next.
Match Bicycle is a 3-year-old company, a tiny start-up dedicated to the art of crafting steel frames with joints that are brazed and lugged, not "TIG welded" like the vast majority of modern bikes. For Isaac and the handful of boutique brands still making steel lugged frames, it's a challenge to compete in a market that hypes titanium, carbon fiber and other flyweight materials to today's ounce-obsessed riders.
The dominance of welding with tungsten inert gas, so-called TIG welding, in the bike industry has eliminated the once-standard lug, a metal reinforcement that covers the tube joint in a frame. Lug designs range from utilitarian to ornate, and upscale custom builders like Isaac love to exploit the lug's artistic possibilities.
Isaac's original concept was to position Match as a high-end subcontractor, producing $1,000-plus lugged frames for other bike builders. He had no idea whether that could sustain his small bicycle works, but he landed a plum contract with Schwinn Cycling and Fitness Inc. that put the gears in motion.
"It was a project to bring back the Paramount. ...Schwinn won world championships with this bike, introduced in 1938," said Isaac.
It was a dream commission for Isaac, who knew the bike well. At 16, he had a Paramount custom built for him, part of the laurels decorated upon the young athlete when he qualified for the national championships. Match produced roughly 800 Paramounts for the 1998 relaunch. The poshest of Boulder-based Schwinn's road bikes, the steel lugged Paramount fetches $1,400 for the frame and fork alone.
Isaac isn't banking on more business from Schwinn. He speculates that Questor, the holding company that bought privately held Schwinn in 1997, won't see the justification in continued production based on Paramount's sales figures. But Schwinn spokesman Chris Holmes said the fate of future Paramount production is "yet to be determined."
In the meantime, Match has drummed up business from Rivendell Bicycle Works in Walnut Creek, Calif., Robert Beckman in Bend, Ore., and Steve and Andy Hampsten in Seattle, all high-end builders whose frames command $1,000 or more.
If Schwinn kills the Paramount, it will join the ranks of most big manufacturers. The decline of steel lugged construction, Match's specialty, stems from a combination of factors.
"Steel lugged frames are very labor intensive and expensive to produce. And there aren't that many people left with the skill to make them," said Holmes.
Match pours about 20 hours of labor into a lugged frame. When Isaac worked at Trek in Wisconsin, he incorporated robotics into the manufacturing process to reduce production time of a TIG welded frame to an hour and half.
Richard Schwinn, co-owner of Waterford Precision Cycles in Wisconsin, probably the biggest manufacturer of steel lugged bikes, pointed to the scarcity of skilled brazers. Silver or brass brazing is the method used to join most steel tubes; it produces a strong and aesthetically superior joint when done well, so say the champions of lugs. It also requires a high level of skill.
Isaac has sunk everything he has into Match. He won't cite an exact figure, but there's at least $150,000 worth of machinery -- for milling tubes, tooling lugs, aligning frames -- laid out in the 5,000-square-foot factory. It's a postage stamp compared with the Chinese factory, China Bicycle Co., where Isaac worked for four years as vice president of engineering before founding Match. Only three people share his current space, compared to the 3,500 at China Bicycle.
Waterford's sales are between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, but that includes revenues from nonlugged frames. Richard Schwinn said Waterford sells TIG welded models to support continued production of lugged frames.
"We're doing okay. Our lugged business is up and down," said Schwinn.
To achieve recognition, Isaac plans to introduce the first Match brand bikes in spring 2000. The frames will retail for about $1,500. He will have plenty of competition, locally and nationally. Seattle is one of the top bike markets in the United States, and home to several custom builders including Bill Davidson and Glenn Erickson. (Davidson and Erickson still build lugged frames.)
But Isaac isn't new to this. And in a way, the move will complete a circle for Isaac, who started his career with a custom bike shop in Denver in 1975. He produced about 500 frames under the T.S. Isaac name. _____________________
Mark Bulgier
Seattle WA USA