Gentlemen, For many years now steel has had to take an undeserved backseat to the current crop of materials now sooo in vogue. I did then and still do tout to my customers and detractors alike the value of steel bicycle frames. So it goes without saying that the frame decal is a very important part of my sales pitch as a value added item, as one writer noted. "Fine grain Niobium doped tubes" I mean how cool is that! I know that Jim will tell me that CF is doped too, but just not the same. And the Spirit sets I use also say " Progressive Butted H.S.L.A. " (NO clue what it means-probably should find out) And it's a big decal compared to the O/T days size, so the company is very proud to proclaim the engineering that went into the tube set. It means a lot to me and to the customer alike. A regular badge of courage these days.. DaveP
frogeye@porterscustom.com
Porter Customs 2909 Arno NE Albuquerque, NM USA 87107 505-352-1378 1954 BN2 1959 AN5 Porter Custom Bicycles
cars:
http://www.britishcarforum.com/
blog: http://porterbikes.com/
-----Original Message----- From: John Hurley [mailto:JHurley@jdabrams.com] Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 12:11 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR] Tubing Decals
Wayne Bingham wrote:
"Pike built this frame with Reynolds top, seat and head tubes; Columbus fork blades; and Super Vitus down tube, chain and seat stays... Still, he chose to put Reynolds decals on the frame and fork. Was this just marketing?"
Perhaps so. Buyers had read in all the popular books that good frames have Reynolds, Columbus or other recognizable tubing decals. Therefore a frame without stickers would raise questions in the mind of a buyer, and would seem somehow deficient. I can see builders growing weary of trying to explain, and finally deciding to just apply the most reasonable decal, to make buyers happier and less troublesome.
John "Two Cents" Hurley
Austin, Texas, USA