At 7:20 AM +1100 12/6/08, Ben Kamenjas wrote:
>><< Also there's a KOF 57cm Chris Chance on Boston CL.
>>http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/bik/945637272.html >>
>>
>>I have to make the point that this is not a KOF frame.
>>
>>Why? It's welded.
>>
>>That is decidedly not KOF, despite it's builder being retired, etc.
Dale,
I would qualify that as saying "It's TIG-welded and the welds are not smoothed."
After all, there were plenty of CR bikes that were (gas-)welded, whether the 1920s Alcyon from "The Competition Bicycle," René Vietto's 1948 aluminum Barra from the same book or the wonderful Reyhands from "The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles." I am sure there are many more examples, even though the arch-typical 1970s Campagnolo NR bike usually sported lugs.
If somebody made replicas of those welded frames
today, I would make a case for them being
considered KOF, just like a modern Bates or
Hetchins is KOF - a continuation of the old
traditions.
>But please enlighten us as to why Landshark is
>defined as a Keeper Of the Flame?
John Slawta at Landshark still makes fillet-brazed steel frames. They are more 1980s in style than 1970s, but they are very nice indeed.
He also has a pretty good output, and considers his bikes machines to be ridden, like the best of the CR timeframe builders.
Compared to some of the rather over-the-top creations from some modern builders, I would argue that something like a Landshark is more in the spirit of the CR bikes, which really were tools first and foremost, and which were revered for their performance. Merckx did not ride a De Rosa because of the hearts cut into the BB shell, but because he felt that he would go faster on one!
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com