Drillium Dude 

I have a couple. I'd like to see yours here.

I think Bill's bikes deserve their own thread because (1) most are exquisite and (2) when he opened his new framebuilding shop after the closure of Elliott Bay Bicycles, my understanding is that he was going to discontinue building lugged steel. I don't know for sure if that's true. In any case, if you've got an older, lugged steel Davidson it would've been built in the old, now-defunct location - so it's something special in my book

Early 80s:









2002:









DD

gioscinelli 

Here's one for sale on Chicago's Craigslist:

DAVIDSON "SUPER LIGHT" BIKE



It's not mine, could be bigchainring's

Drillium Dude 

I like that lilac color on the Chicago CL bike. I wonder what the deal is with the line "ALL transactions will be made in the presence of a local police officer to verify that your money is real" - perhaps the seller got burned with counterfeit money on a previous transaction.

DD

merziac

According to the website,you can order lugged steel right now for $1800 to start and a bargain at that!

due ruote 

Impulse, 1992 I was told.

Drillium Dude 

Thank you - cool fade on that one. Do you have any pics of the lug details?

DD

squirtdad

Color coordination down to the yellow cable ends???? hats off to you DD

Henry III

I have a friend in Oregon who was thinking of unloading his Davidson. White with full Dura Ace 7400 that looks spotless. Where does Bill build now that Elliot Bay is closed?

Drillium Dude 

He's got a new shop on the SW corner of Stone way and N. 35th Street in Fremont. I haven't been inside yet, but passed it on a Sunday a couple months ago. When the weather clears I'm going to get some pics inside/outside and I'll then revive the thread to add those.

@squirtdad: thank you. Yeah, I went a little nuts on that colorway, didn't I?

DD

Duke7777

I had two Davidsons, and they were two of the nicest built and best riding bikes I've owned. Unfortunately I had to sell them as I became obsessed with French bikes and was exceeding my self-imposed limit (20). I vaguely recall some top racers around here riding Davidsons in the early 80s, but first really took notice of them when a collector friend bought one a few years ago. The PO had bead-blasted the paint off all the lugs, IIRC with the idea of clear-coating them or something, but then gave up and sold the frame to my friend. After inspecting the bare lug work on this frame, I decided I had to have one. I first found the blue 79, then later the green 73, which I think was the first year Bill was making frames under his own name.

due ruote 

I don't but I should really take some. Very clean work, that's for sure. My only complaint about this bike is the tire clearance. 25 mm is about it, so it's definitely a dedicated go-fast bike. But everyone needs at least one of those, right?

@Duke7777 I can't open your attachments.

Duke7777

I'll try again...

Drillium Dude 

Agreed. My early-80s version won't take bigger than a 23mm under the rear brake bridge. I dunno why the original owner specced such a tight clearance there - I mean, the head tube angle is pretty slack, so he wasn't building a crit bike. I'll never find out, but it's interesting to speculate about the frame details.

If you do get pics, please share. I love looking at Bill's work

DD

Drillium Dude 

Now that's what I'm talking about! Great colors, great builds - I particularly like the contrasting Benotto cello-taped bars. And just look at the thinning going on with those head lugs; beautiful!

Thanks for sharing.

DD

due ruote 

+1 beautiful examples

eschlwc

interesting detail in those lugs.



certainly the oldest davidson i've seen.

eschlwc

in fremont, next to recycled cycles.

eschlwc

this is fun to look through: '91 catalog

excerpt:

gomango

Looks like it!

Same price range as a Della Santa.

Tough to earn a living at those prices....

Brewsmith 

Sorry for the poor pic, but here is mine. Currently set up with a 7700 group. Not sure of the year or model, but I sure do like it

bikemig 

I've had a Davidson project bike sitting around in my basement for like forever. One of these days I'll get around to building it up. I'm thinking about modernizing it with a campagnolo chorus 10 speed group I own which needs a good home. The frame is certainly worthy of the parts; the rider, on the other hand, is a different story, :

Drillium Dude 

Ah, thanks for doing the research I neglected to carry out! Appreciated

So, um...well, if you do have one from the old EBB location, it's still mighty special. I mean, just look at some of the recently-shared beauties.

I don't know about y'all, but I sure would like to see details on these frames. In my mind, that's what American builders truly excelled at; the devil's in the details. So let's see those thinned lugs, smooth dropout transitions and beautifully-finished seatstay caps!

Thanks to everyone for their contributions so far

dd

Aemmer

due ruote 

Took a few close-ups, and a new fds shot with skinwalls. Geez, not sure why the pics are so big; sorry.
[IMG]Untitled by jimbo417, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]Untitled by jimbo417, on Flickr[/IMG][IMG]Untitled by jimbo417, on Flickr[/IMG][IMG]Untitled by jimbo417, on Flickr[/IMG][IMG]Untitled by jimbo417, on Flickr[/IMG]

41roadmaster

In 1995, I asked Bill to build me a Signature custom bike. I wanted bike I could use for long distance loaded touring but also for recreational riding. Here's the bike.



In 1996, I rode it on a solo tour 4300 miles from Seattle to Yorktown, VA.