SchRadler

I'm from the same area—Grand Rapids, Michigan—as the late builder Randy Smolenski. Since reading about Randy in this forum, I've been keeping my eyes open for one of his bikes. I think today I may have found one.

At some point a PO decided to remove the decals from the top and down tubes of this bike, but I'm pretty sure that I can make out the script "Smolenski" that I've seen in other photos (like this post from cb400bill). And the PO left the script "S" on the head tube. The decal residue also seems to show the name "Carly" on the top tube. Hard to get a good photo of this, but here's my best attempt.



In addition to the decal evidence, this bike definitely has the level of craftsmanship that fits with what I've read about Randy Smolenski. It also has beautiful dark blue paint! What it doesn't have are two things that from the photos I've seen seem to be hallmarks of Randy Smolenski's builds: a "fastback" seat cluster and a rear brake mounted in front of the brake bridge.




Does anyone out there who is familiar with Randy Smolenski's work consider these details to be a reason to doubt the other evidence that this is indeed one of Randy's bikes?

cb400bill

I’m the one who posted those pics but I’m far from an expert on Randy’s bikes. However, the script on your blue bike does seem to match the script Randy used.





I don’t think Randy did anything special to his frames for the rear brake. He simply mounted the calipers in front instead of behind the brake bridge.

cb400bill

Classic Rendezvous have a sample of the script on their website.

3alarmer 

...this came to me without the original fork. I guess the guy who replaced it with a carbon fiber one threw the old one away.
I've been meaning to repaint the one I substituted in there to a closer match, but I think he used dark metallic blue a lot on his frames.

Mine has different details from yours. I guess it's possible he evolved his style over the years. I could be wrong.

steelbikeguy

this seems like a good excuse to share photos of Smolenski frames displayed at the most recent Classic Rendezvous gatherings.

One is dark red frame painted by Chris Kvale. It was labeled as having multi-shape tubing.















pics of the others soon...

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Another Smolenski was salmon(?) colored with Tange Prestige tubing and 3 Rensho lugs.



















Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

The third Smolenski had cream (ivory?) paint with black trim and black components. Very classy looking, IMHO.


















Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

A fourth Smolenski wore an attractive ivory (cream?) with red trim paint scheme and 3 Rensho lugs.
















Steve in Peoria

xiaoman1 

Beautiful bikes...I never heard of the make before,,thanks for posting....OP's RS are different, were there many iterations/variants from this builder?
Best, Ben

Doug Fattic 

Randy was a manager of a bike store and built and painted frames at his house on a part time basis. I gave him his 1st brazing lesson one Sunday afternoon in the early 80's. One of my students picked up some of his framebuilding equipment from his widow. His birthdate was only 6 days after mine. He died in 2017.

jdawginsc 

He did some incredibly beautiful work. Very understated ornateness...if that is a thing.

cb400bill

Today I did a group ride that included the owner of the coral colored bike shown above. I showed him your pictures and he asked if that was a window cut into the lug in front of the seat tube. If so, he said it is unlikely to be a real Smolenski as Randy thought that such windows were dumb.

So, is that a window cut into the lug?

C9H13N 

2 of the Smolenski show bikes have windows in the fork crown and 3alarmer’s has windows in the brake bridge…dumb some places but not others?

SchRadler

Thanks, all, for your input. I've been offline for a few days and have enjoyed reading your posts and especially seeing the great photos of Randy Smolenski's other bikes.

In response to to cb400bill's question: there are definitely windows in the lugs on both the top and down tubes. As C9H13N noted, some of the other bike pictured have these windows on the fork crown or brake bridge, so it seems that Randy did utilize these at times.

Judging from the Shimano 105 group with STI shifters on my bike, this is a newer build than most of the others pictured. 3alarmer's example also seems newer and has the rear brake mounted behind the bridge, but mine seems to be the only example thus far with the stays brazed on "sidetack" style. I presume the latter is a little easier to do.

While there's no way to know for sure, I'm settled with the idea that mine probably is a bike that Randy Smolenski built. I look forward to getting it cleaned up a bit and riding it this summer. It will be a couple of weeks before I can give it much attention, but more photos to come when I do.

SchRadler

As promised, here are some photos after cleaning up this Randy Smolenski bike. It deserves better pedals than the old Wellgo flats I had on hand, but I really wanted to take it out for a ride. It didn't disappoint!

I found Randy's obituary online and noted that we're just a week past what would have been his 75th birthday (July 13). Here's to his legacy of craftsmanship!