Originally Posted by
Wildwood
thanks for this article.
makes me wonder if the article benefitted these small builders?
I didn't benefit directly. By that I mean I don't remember someone saying they read the article and then called me up to order a frame or bring me a repaint. That doesn't mean that someone didn't become aware of my existence and then contact me sometime later when they wanted my services. I hadn't read this article since the 70's.
In 1985 Bicycling magazine did a an article on only 4 builders titled "The World's Most Beautiful Bicycles". They even had a 2 page color picture spread on one of my custom bicycles. I didn't get any immediate business from that article either. The other 3 builders were Peter Weigle, Tom Kellogg and Tom Ritchey. I do remember it raised my profile so that I could go into a pro bike shop located almost anywhere in the US and it was likely someone would recognize my name. Eventually even though my business remained the same I drifted back into obscurity until online web forums about learning to build bicycle frames because popular again.