Last Lugged Serotta

[Dromen]

What was the last lugged steel framed Serotta in production? What year was it retired?

[jr59]

What was the last lugged steel framed Serotta in production? What year was it retired?

The ones Ben S made last year. The ones the were very high dollar.

I guess you had to be a super dentist to afford!

[FlashUNC]

The ones Ben S made last year. The ones the were very high dollar.

I guess you had to be a super dentist to afford!


I don't believe those were lugged. And did they take any Venticinque orders? I've never seen one in the wild.

[SPOKE]

There was one offered for the 40th anniversary last year. I tried to buy one but they wanted the complete wholesale price up front. I offered half that and would have paid the balance once it was ready.....they said no....:(

[SPOKE]

I'm pretty certain that I own one of the last 3 CSi's that were built. Kelly Bedford actually built it and Ben allowed Kelly to put his signature on it!

[Dromen]

I was kinda thinking larger production frames. Not 'anniversary' or limited run models like Venticinque or Le Patron.

How bout the last lugged frame they offered for an entire model year in an annual catalog(or website)? Was it CSI?

[SPOKE]

It was the CSi.

[Pete Mckeon]

THey were / are nice riding....just as the BEDFORD's are today.:)



I was kinda thinking larger production frames. Not

'anniversary' or limited run models like Venticinque or Le Patron.

How bout the last lugged frame they offered for an entire model year in an annual catalog(or website)? Was it CSI?

[Dromen]

thanks pete and spoke.

[Cat3roadracer]

Pictures of those please.

[David Kirk]

I built a bunch of CSi's from Bozeman and then when that stopped Kelly built the last of them from Saratoga. I don't know how many in total that was but they were the last of the lugged bikes I'm pretty sure.

Dave

[54ny77]

i just like posting this photo of a lugged serotta i had in my possession for a short while (i was babysitting it). it was a special bike ridden over yonder by some tall skinny guy named andy-something....;)

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z113/jpmz06/Bike/IMG_0555.jpg

[jlwdm]

I'm pretty certain that I own one of the last 3 CSi's that were built. Kelly Bedford actually built it and Ben allowed Kelly to put his signature on it!

I have the last one made. By Kelly for Kelly - also signed by Kelly. Great bike.

Jeff

[Cat3roadracer]

We definitely need a picture of that.

[Dromen]

What its the birthday of the 'last one'?

[jlwdm]

What its the birthday of the 'last one'?

Build sheet just says 2005.

Jeff

[Brian Smith]

As has been mentioned but not detailed on the forum before, Kelly built his last lugged Serotta, as a CSi, to be his own personal "company bike" before leaving Serotta. At that point, the fate of brazed bike construction had already been sealed (for the moment.) I was, at the time, and had been for a while, the last employee whose job it was to build lugged steel bikes for Serotta. The final lugged steel bikes that were customer-ordered CSis were produced concurrent to my training and reassignment in other areas of the factory. Some of those remaining orders were completed by a combination of my extra hours and Kelly's, in addition to our normal work weeks. I don't recall, and to me it doesn't seem significant, whose hands actually performed the relatively minor portion of producing a Serotta CSi frame that is the hand brazing of the last Serotta CSi.
For what it's worth, the designation of producing the last brazed steel lugged bike at Serotta, and that of producing the last customer-ordered brazed steel lugged bike at Serotta could go to no more deserving a man than Kelly Bedford. While I cannot fully corroborate that fact, I am plenty happy to believe it. To my knowledge, although it has been a year since I've worked at Serotta, none of the last "last" orders (for the moment) taken for lugged brazed steel bikes to be built by Ben, although notably in this case specifically not CSis nor even having a similar "bill of materials," was ever completed.
It was at one time proposed (not by me) in a meeting that I might help Ben get a jump on completing those orders, but he preferred to complete all of the work that he was capable of doing on those orders himself, and that it was owed to the customers that they be performed that way. At that time I was leading the CNC team and commonly was seen backing up the welding department for steel bike braze-on tasks, as it was often undesirable for them to perform these tasks, which took them more time than it took for me to do them, after their normal work shifts. It had also been proposed (not by me) in meetings over previous years that we build "extra-curricular" lugged brazed steel show bikes for which we weren't planning to take orders, but that did not occur.
Building lugged steel bikes is what I went to Serotta to do, what I moved across the country to do, and it took more than just the ability to learn the work to achieve that position. I believe that without Kelly Bedford's supporting input into decision-making at Serotta, the position I moved into would not have been re-established, and without his mentoring I wouldn't have been able to fill it. By that reckoning, even if it were my hands that happened to perform the brazing on the last customer lugged steel bikes, whether that includes only one frame or even the three years of my tenure in that position, none of it would have come to pass without Kelly's advocacy in the company's decision-making. Serotta could again take orders for lugged steel bikes. In Ben, Kelly, myself, Dave Kirk, and others currently working in production there, as well as other outside contractors, they'd even have the start to an ability to fulfill the orders. The line is a bit fuzzy and could be redrawn at any time. It is, however, a pretty good approximation, if you're not a historian, to say that the last lugged steel Serottas were CSis, and to say that the last lugged steel Serotta was built by Kelly Bedford.

[jlwdm]

We definitely need a picture of that.

Here are a few early morning light iPhone photos. The bike has spent most of its life with me in AZ, but since I have not been to AZ much it was hardly ridden. Sold the AZ house so now the CSI is here in TX and getting some miles. Just trying to figure what I want to do for wheels.

Jeff

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/Bike4.jpg

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/CSI.jpg

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/KB.jpg

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/TopTube.jpg

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/Fork.jpg

[Ahneida Ride]

I have the last one made. By Kelly for Kelly - also signed by Kelly. Great bike.

Jeff

Yup ... that was the last official CSi ...

I rode that bike ..... boy was it sweet !

The dark blue metallic have a faux carbon weave in the top tube.
The painters had a bit of fun with that frame.

-------------------

If say 5 people plunked down the frns up front to build 5 CSi's
Hey .... who knows?

But talk is cheap. Show me da frns.
Pete tried this many moons ago.

[jr59]

Here are a few early morning light iPhone photos. The bike has spent most of its life with me in AZ, but since I have not been to AZ much it was hardly ridden. Sold the AZ house so now the CSI is here in TX and getting some miles. Just trying to figure what I want to do for wheels.

Jeff

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/Bike4.jpg

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/CSI.jpg

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/KB.jpg

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/TopTube.jpg

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m617/6ridge9/CSI%202012/Fork.jpg

A bit of history right there!
Thanks for sharing the pics, and thanks to the poster who worked @ Serotta at the time.

[54ny77]

Brian that's a great bit of background. Thanks for sharing.

As has been mentioned but not detailed on the forum before, Kelly built his last lugged Serotta, as a CSi, to be his own personal "company bike" before leaving Serotta. At that point, the fate of brazed bike construction had already been sealed (for the moment.) I was, at the time, and had been for a while, the last employee whose job it was to build lugged steel bikes for Serotta. The final lugged steel bikes that were customer-ordered CSis were produced concurrent to my training and reassignment in other areas of the factory. Some of those remaining orders were completed by a combination of my extra hours and Kelly's, in addition to our normal work weeks. I don't recall, and to me it doesn't seem significant, whose hands actually performed the relatively minor portion of producing a Serotta CSi frame that is the hand brazing of the last Serotta CSi.
For what it's worth, the designation of producing the last brazed steel lugged bike at Serotta, and that of producing the last customer-ordered brazed steel lugged bike at Serotta could go to no more deserving a man than Kelly Bedford. While I cannot fully corroborate that fact, I am plenty happy to believe it. To my knowledge, although it has been a year since I've worked at Serotta, none of the last "last" orders (for the moment) taken for lugged brazed steel bikes to be built by Ben, although notably in this case specifically not CSis nor even having a similar "bill of materials," was ever completed.
It was at one time proposed (not by me) in a meeting that I might help Ben get a jump on completing those orders, but he preferred to complete all of the work that he was capable of doing on those orders himself, and that it was owed to the customers that they be performed that way. At that time I was leading the CNC team and commonly was seen backing up the welding department for steel bike braze-on tasks, as it was often undesirable for them to perform these tasks, which took them more time than it took for me to do them, after their normal work shifts. It had also been proposed (not by me) in meetings over previous years that we build "extra-curricular" lugged brazed steel show bikes for which we weren't planning to take orders, but that did not occur.
Building lugged steel bikes is what I went to Serotta to do, what I moved across the country to do, and it took more than just the ability to learn the work to achieve that position. I believe that without Kelly Bedford's supporting input into decision-making at Serotta, the position I moved into would not have been re-established, and without his mentoring I wouldn't have been able to fill it. By that reckoning, even if it were my hands that happened to perform the brazing on the last customer lugged steel bikes, whether that includes only one frame or even the three years of my tenure in that position, none of it would have come to pass without Kelly's advocacy in the company's decision-making. Serotta could again take orders for lugged steel bikes. In Ben, Kelly, myself, Dave Kirk, and others currently working in production there, as well as other outside contractors, they'd even have the start to an ability to fulfill the orders. The line is a bit fuzzy and could be redrawn at any time. It is, however, a pretty good approximation, if you're not a historian, to say that the last lugged steel Serottas were CSis, and to say that the last lugged steel Serotta was built by Kelly Bedford.

[Keith A]

Hey Brian -- If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing now? Are you still building bikes?

[William]

I remember Brian trying to teach Bradford how to braze.:eek: Did those burns ever heal?:D





William

[Dromen]

THis is great serotta lugged history. What a classy looking final CSI.

I would "plunk" down reasonable up front funds for a lugged steel saratoga springs serotta.

[Ahneida Ride]

THis is great serotta lugged history. What a classy looking final CSI.

I would "plunk" down reasonable up front funds for a lugged steel saratoga springs serotta.

that's one ..... 4 more ?