[CR]"Fixie" butchering again!

(Example: Racing:Wayne Stetina)

From: "Paul Williams" <castell5@sympatico.ca>
To: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 08:33:56 -0400
Subject: [CR]"Fixie" butchering again!

Morning folks,

Apologies if this ebay seller is a listmember, but I feel strongly about the potential fate of this Sun frameset - advertised as: "SUN track vintage single speed frame classic rare as f* "

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUN-track-vintage-single-speed-frame-classic-rare-a s-f_W0QQitemZ280225068339QQihZ018QQcategoryZ22679QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1Q QcmdZViewItem

Clearly another case of potential "fixie" butchering (not to mention language mangling), the seller writes:

"sun frame track single speed fixie vintage here is a rare chance to get hold off a lovely frame which has been lovely stripped off all off it's paint. what i had planned to do with this frame was to grind off some off gear and break solders on the frame and then get some car clear car gloss and give it a coat off clear car paint which is hard. but i never got around to it. this frame is mint in saying that your not going to get a frame like this. it's a one off. but do under stand what a frame is like when it has had all it's paint taken off, some would say it's cool as hell my mum wouldn't agree. if you know what I'm saying there . comes as a one off. and if you want to give it a under coat and the sand it down a few times and stick a coat off paint on it well fare anuff but that would be a shame. but you would be getting a get starting surface. so i can say this will make a head turner off a fixes single speed bike."

Unfiortunately, I think I know only too well what he means by "grind off some off gear and break solders on the frame." For someone who has always been interested in owning a Sun frameset, but is not in a financial situation to take on another project right now, I find this sort of attitude distressing. Someone please save this frame from the most extreme elements within the "fixie" crowd.

On a related point, I find it interesting to note a sea-change in ebay advertising for vintage bikes: away from subject lines which used the familiar "hetchins, chater lea, campagnolo" etc. qualifiers to attract attention to a sale, to ones which now use a string of terms like "fixed, fixies, single-speed, track, pista." Is this a case of savvy marketing in the light of perceived market changes?

The same seller also had a rather nice Dawes frame - auction ended early - and still has a Phil Sherwood frameset listed.

Paul B. Williams, BAH, MPhil, PhD
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
castell5@sympatico.ca