At 5:36 PM -0400 9/19/07, Doug Fattic wrote:
> There is a reason Masi, Hetchins and Herse
>used contract builders. We don't remember those builders who built similar
>products quality in smaller numbers.
I do not know about Masi, but Herse made all their frames in-house, as far as I know. They did employ framebuilders, but they did not subcontract the work out to others. (They did subcontract machine-shop work and even the filing of frames, but that is a different story.) From what I gather about Hetchins - see the history of the maker in Bicycle Quarterly Vol. 5, No. 4 - it was the same for Hetchins.
Other French builders, like Goeland, did subcontract frames. There were many specialists in France who did nothing but make frames for various makers.
It may be a small distinction, but I feel that you have better control over the quality and design if the frames are made in your shop, by your employees, rather than by a contract builder who builds a series of "x" brand frames one day and "y" brand frames the next. Of course, some of the subcontractors did excellent work, too.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com