Re: [CR]Confente (Ed Granger)

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Ideale)

Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:33:46 -0800
From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Confente (Ed Granger)
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, <edvintage63@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <8CB399F5F3A1476-B74-528@WEBMAIL-DG09.sim.aol.com>


That's exactly the "contacts" I meant. These guys had been team mechanics, or in the case of Masi, I believe had managed a small team. So they were known around the peleton, and it would be natural for them to be hanging around riders, managers, etc. even at races where they did not have an active role. So they could easily strike up a conversation with Merckx which the hundred equally good bulders could not. To some the fact that Merckx rode their frames makes all their frames more important, but to me it doesn't make them better. Couldn't have been crap, or Merckx wouldn't have tolerated them. But Merckx didn't go on some mystic quest for the ultimate frame - he took bikes from guys he knew who were willing to taylor to his needs and even his whims. So he got what he wanted from these guys and they were rewarded by being made famous from the association, but that doesn't make the bikes the best for a guy who actually has to pay for them.

That's what I like about constructeur bikes. Although Herse, at least, won a lot of races, particularly women's events, I couldn't have named one person other than Lylie Herse that won a championship on an Herse, except that Jan's new book reveals that Genevieve Gambillon did as well. Even though many constructeurs were made famous by the Technical Trials, the focus there was on the bike rather than the rider. And ultimately the fame of the constructeurs was based on their ability to give a paying customer exactly what he wanted and needed, even when he didn't know exactly what he wanted himself. To me there is not a better definition of the "best" bike.

Regards,

Jerry Moos


--- On Wed, 12/31/08, edvintage63@aol.com wrote:


> From: edvintage63@aol.com <edvintage63@aol.com>

\r?\n> Subject: [CR]Confente (Ed Granger)

\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

\r?\n> Date: Wednesday, December 31, 2008, 2:42 PM

\r?\n> "As Fred said, the path to fame is often an association

\r?\n> with a

\r?\n> famous racer. After all, three of the biggest name italian

\r?\n> builders,

\r?\n> Masi, DeRosa and Colnago all supposedly built frames for

\r?\n> Eddy Merckx at

\r?\n> one time or another. A hundred other Italian builders

\r?\n> could probably

\r?\n> have

\r?\n> supplied Eddy with equally

\r?\n> good frames, but those three had the contacts to actually

\r?\n> meet Eddy

\r?\n> and

\r?\n> establish a relationship with him."

\r?\n>

\r?\n> ____________________________________________

\r?\n>

\r?\n> Not so fast. Many of the now-revered Italian frame builders

\r?\n> were ace

\r?\n> mechanics, and that's how they built their reputations.

\r?\n> Their frame

\r?\n> building activities were almost an extension of those

\r?\n> skills. In those

\r?\n> days, an ace mechanic was of as much value to a top racer

\r?\n> as a good

\r?\n> frame - and more rare. Those guys didn't seek out

\r?\n> racers to promote

\r?\n> their products, they were sought out by the top racers

\r?\n> because of their

\r?\n> abilities. Let's keep the cart before the horse. They

\r?\n> also sought to

\r?\n> improve on the tradition they were handed, which can't

\r?\n> be said of every

\r?\n> village frame builder. While Ernesto may have hyped himself

\r?\n> endlessly,

\r?\n> I think he does deserve some credit for encouraging the

\r?\n> trend toward

\r?\n> smaller, stiffer frames and longer seatposts and stems.

\r?\n> Just to cite

\r?\n> one example. The marketing piece really kicks in once they

\r?\n> were

\r?\n> building for the stars and saw the opportunity to get out

\r?\n> of the

\r?\n> smelly, dirty back room where the bikes were built and put

\r?\n> on a suit

\r?\n> and tie. That made you a businessman and respectable in

\r?\n> wider circles.

\r?\n> The exception is Ugo De Rosa, who seems uncomfortable as a

\r?\n> promoter and

\r?\n> apparently still quite comfortable with tools in his hands.

\r?\n> They all,

\r?\n> in one way or another, had to be good communicators on some

\r?\n> level. The

\r?\n> best of them also found ways, with slips, sure, to build

\r?\n> more frames

\r?\n> while maintaining quality - something beyond the abilities

\r?\n> of plenty of

\r?\n> small-timers. They understood how to instruct and oversee

\r?\n> the work of

\r?\n> others. So there may be a little more to the reputations of

\r?\n> some of the

\r?\n> guys who "made it big" than mere luck and a

\r?\n> penchant for self promotion.

\r?\n>

\r?\n> Ed Granger

\r?\n> Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA