non-fixie 

This is an interesting subject from a European point of view. Here, the market was totally different. The best frame builders were building for professional riders and aspiring amateurs, who couldn't care less about aesthetics. True quality in their eyes was a bike that enabled them to win races. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dylansbob 

Doug Fattic Since you're nearby, do you remember a builder in Lafayette, IN in the '90s? I had thought there was one, but could never figure out for sure.

Mad Honk 

Dylansbob,
Dave Plantenga was building during that period but he was from the Fort Wayne area. I think he is still actively building but not sure how many per year. Smiles, MH

Mad Honk 

non-fixie,
Kinda reminds me of my recent access of a Reg Harris frame that was made from gas pipe. He however used production made Raleigh's and won a bunch of races. Smiles, MH

tcs

Ah, early adventurers & memories: Ray Gasiorowski at Romic Cycles in Houston, Texas. Tom Boyden at Fastab Cycles in Garland, Texas.

And Mike Melton, who instead of studying with the European builders went east to 3Rensho.

bamboobike4

Adam Eldridge: Stanridge Speed, Wraith Fabrications. High end pursuit and track bikes, custom lugged frames, and podium cross/gravel bikes.

Doug Fattic 

That would be John Cherry. We took the very 1st titanium welding class together at UBI taught by Gary Helfrich in 1992. Gary was one of the founders of Merlin and figured out how to weld ti frames when he was road manager of the rock group Aerosmith. John had made some titanium frames before we went to UBI. I painted a lot of his frames over the years. He was both a MTB and road frame maker. His mountain bikes were called Cherry Bombs. He and his parents ran a bike store in Lafayette. Some years ago he left framebuilding and went back to college and sold his equipment and worked a normal job. Now he is back working at a bike store again and collecting more framebuilding equipment. He remembers selling his 1st set of equipment to one of my framebuilding class students.

Dave Plantenga was a barber in Kodomo Indiana that built frames on the side. Kokomo is between South Bend and Indianapolis. I don't believe he has built any bikes in years that I have heard about.

Adam Eldridge got his start taking one of my 3 day brazing classes.

Reg Harris (the English sprinter that won a national title in his 50's) rode a lot of different frames. It was common practice for well known professional riders to have custom made frames but decaled with whatever manufacturer was the sponsor. I remember a conversation with Johnny Berry the only time I talked to him almost 50 years ago that he built some frames for Reg. It didn't seem like an important detail at the time so I can't swear I heard this from him or later from his wife Ida when I was getting Johnny's equipment.

bamboobike4

I believe Adam is now in Texas, fabricating custom interiors for medical evac helicopters.
Wraith frames cost more now than when new, especially the cross/gravel versions.
I've never seen a Stanridge Speed frame for sale used.

bikingshearer 

There has to be about 50 gazzilion stories that could fall out of that one sentence.

nomadmax 

Doug did you ever get to know Jack Trumbull of Franklin Frame?

steelbikeguy

Just to add to Doug's info..

I've got an article about John Cherry's frames, saved from an old Bicycle Guide (I think) magazine, along with shots of a Cherry that I saw on the Hilly Hundred ride near Bloomington, Indiana.

Steve in Peoria

Doug Fattic 

No, I don't know Jack personally. We met one time when Melton went bust in Delaware, Ohio in 1981. Mike fled town when he realized the bank was going to call in their loan and one of his partners (whose dad was an officer of the bank) was selling what was left to us. After saying hi we were both busy organizing and packing and didn't have time to chat.

Darth Lefty 

Yeah... I was definitely thinking though of brands like Foes, Turner, Canfield, and Nicolai (Germany) making heavy duty mountain bikes, pulling the form ahead from the cruiser-tire-touring-bike mold it had already fallen into

tricky 

Gotcha! Yeah, that's a different era and beast than I was considering. That's a cool vein in bike history though. You could argue that heavy duty mountain bikes and the more cruiser style or XC bikes have ended up merging into the modern dual suspension XC or "down country" bikes that everyone seems to be riding.

Did maybe even Ventana have aluminum rear triangles? I think they mostly worked in steel, but I though they either built or sourced the rear triangles of their custom full suspension bikes in aluminum, but I haven't seen one in a while.

Edit: for example, here's a Habanero on ebay. Vintage Ventana El Habanero 26" Full Suspension Mountain Bike 18.5" Large Frame | eBay Not sure if they built those rear triangles or not.

Darth Lefty 

Yes they did. Lots of other peoples' too. It's a full aluminum shop. Maybe even things that are not bikes!

Don't know what their current status is, though. Their website lineup is ca. 2017. I know MTBTandems is still shipping out ECDM's and I think Ventana makes their Fandango line too.

obrentharris 

This was somewhat the approach of Roland Della Santa who built several of Greg LeMond's early bikes. Although Roland knew his American clientele well enough to keep a wide selection of lugs on hand for his customers to choose between. He also had a million stories and a fine sense of humor which may have contributed to his "ossobuco" chain stays.

The last time I saw him was at the 2019(?) handbuilt bicycle show in Sacramento. Roland, known for his race bikes, was displaying a touring bike. I asked him if Hell had frozen over. His response was "Don't tell anyone you saw this!"
Brent

RustyJames 

As a guy with a degree in History, I love this thread much more than any other posted on BF. Keep it comin’!

bamboobike4

If you like history, consider Primus Mootry, Sr. More to him than just frame building.

Another builder: Toby Stanton.

Doug Fattic 

Who is Primus Mootry Sr?

I remember painting the Cherry bike Steve posted (#61) that he saw on the Hilly Hundred.

motogeek 

I've had two custom bikes over the last 40+ years. A tandem built by Tom Boyden of FASTAB Cycles in Garland, TX. I think he has since passed. My road bike was built by John Stinsman in Allentown, PA who built under the name Veloce, a few years before Campy's groupo of the same name. He was a master of faded paint. Oddly, Stinsman's logo was an overhead view of a Lola formula 1 race car. Quite possibly the only frame builder to have a race car in their logo!
Others that come to mind are Gary Fisher, Proteus Design, Rob Boi in Chicago, Angel Rodriguez, Bill Davidson and there must be a plethora of other Seattle builders. I think there was a buy named Anderson in Indiana.

gomango

Thanks for mentioning Chris Kvale in this discussion.

I live in his neck of the woods and I get to see his bikes fairly often.

I've owned a handful. They ride beautifully and his handiwork is top shelf in terms of attention to details.

Curt Goodrich is also a Minneapolis builder that does exceptional work. One of my riding buds has two Goodrich bikes and I love riding them.

Interesting post btw.

merziac

How about drilling down on self taught builders?

Very short list?

Road Fan

I've also seen little of Rich Gangl. He was first recommended to me when I first moved to Colorado back around 1984. I was looking for a frame alignment for the Masi I had just bought. I didn't find him but I did find a great alignment, I think it might have been through Schwab cycles - somewhere in Littleton near 6th and Waterton?

steelbikeguy

so many mentions of neat frames, and NO PHOTOS!??!

what is the world coming to?

Steve in Peoria, wondering why I haven't seen these on the road

motogeek 

Only the FASTAB and Veloce were my bikes, and the FASTAB is long gone.

The Veloce is hanging in my workshop along with the Motobecanes and a couple others. On the rare occasion i go for a bike ride its usually on my 75 Grand Jubile or '73 Le Champion. Mostly it's behind the wheel of my '73 MGB GT.

Stop by and see them when you're over in Morton. PM me for address

QUOTE=steelbikeguy;22389671]so many mentions of neat frames, and NO PHOTOS!??!

what is the world coming to?

Steve in Peoria, wondering why I haven't seen these on the road[/QUOTE]