Despite having lived in Texas the majority of my adult life, and owning a couple of Texas-built Romics, I have never heard of this builder before. But Austin is the most bicycle-friendly major city in Texas by a pretty wide margin so it doesn't surprise me to learn of a custom builder there. May be a couple more in Austin besides this guy that we still haven't heard of. He does some very nice detailing. I can't say I like the unicrown fork on the first track frame on Flickr, nor the (recent) Colnago-style straight fork blades on one or two others, but the blue and white road bike does have a traditional curved fork.
It seems that American framebuilding continues to thrive, with interesting builders turning up in almost any part of the country. Or at least it is thriving in terms of the number of builders. Whether many of these guys are actually making a living at it may be a completely different story. It seems to me that framebuilding in America is a lot different from most places in Europe, where builders, as well a cycle racers, traditionally were predominantly from a woking class background. But a lot, maybe even most, American framebuilders seem to be from middle class backgrounds, and pursue framebuilding as a lifestyle choice. I suspect a lot of these guys could make a lot more money in some other pursuit, and probably a fairly large percentage do have some other job or businesses to help pay the bills. I guess the downside of the surprisingly large number American framebuilders is that a lot of guys competing in a pretty small niche market no doubt makes it more difficult for any of them to make the kind of money their skill and efforts should command. But those of us who buy and ride, rather than build and sell, bikes certainly do benefit from the situation.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, Texas, USA
Guy Apple <cinelliguy@earthlink.net> wrote: Hi to all,
I am interested in Moyer Cycles, the builder's name is Whitney Moyer out of
Austin, TX. You can check out some of his handy work at http://www.moyerc
ycles.com/. He also has a photo gallery on flikr.com thatâs worth
spending a few minutes checking out: http://www.flickr.com/
Has anyone dealt with Mr Moyer or better yet, does anyone have a Moyer?
Thanks
Guy Apple
Palo Alto CA, USA