I had not heard much about Tom Teesdale lately - RIP

[eddief]

In fact in all of years here on the Forum his name came up now and then, but you just didn't here much about his custom work. Apparently, he died while riding RAGBRAI today or yesterday.

http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2014/07/22/west-branch-framebuilder-tom-teesdale-dies-ragbrai/13002205/

[bobswire]

Wow,that's a shock, a shame. I was looking at his site a few months ago wondering how he can still be making frames under $900. http://www.tetcycles.com/Pricing/pricing.html

[thirdgenbird]

I contacted him a while back about some Yokota info. He was also on my short list for a custom frame. I kind of want something local and his prices were great. As an Iowa guy, I though it would be cool to have a Jeff bock road bike and a Teesdale mtb.

[EPOJoe]

I rode a Teesdale road bike through much of the '90's. Great bike.

Godspeed, Tom

[stephenmarklay]

Well shoot. I had only heard the name but did not know him. Too young to go.

[cmg]

sad news. i followed his site.

[thwart]

That's a beautiful story/obituary.

"He had an engineer's mind and the generosity of a pope," he said.

Should we all be remembered so fondly.

RIP.

[stephenmarklay]

That's a beautiful story/obituary.

"He had an engineer's mind and the generosity of a pope," he said.

Should we all be remembered so fondly.

RIP.

Yes the story painted a really nice picture of the man. Sad indeed.

[paredown]

I'm sorry to read this--I had started to read about him when I was researching my beater Dean Culebra--a line he built for them, and thought his frames were an incredible bargain. Plus he sounded like a real character...

When dreaming about a custom touring bike, he was on my list...

RIP Tom

[Doug Fattic]

I never knew Tom very well but ironically met him on Ragbrai in 1979 (I think). Another Iowa builder Jeff Bock and I are good friends and often hung out together on the ride and somehow the 2 of us ran into Tom and then the 3 of us spent some time talking shop. At the time Jeff and I were both chronologically older and had built longer so Tom was mostly asking us questions. It does seem strange that a member of our group that started to build in the 70’s has passed.

RIP Tom

[soulspinner]

I had a Teesdale until I gave it to my next door neighbor, in fact saw him loading it for a lunch ride in his car this morning. Its a great 15 year old 55cm level tt foco. RIP Tom.

[redir]

What a shame. I've only ever heard of this bike frame maker before but it sounds like he had a good reputation.

[Tandem Rider]

Tom lived life on his own terms, doing what he loved, to his own elevated standards. We could all aspire to do as well. I'll miss visiting Tom at the old pole building where some of the world's outstanding pieces of cycling legend were actually born.

Tom loved showing off new simpler, more efficient ways of doing something. I remember him showing me a way to miter and bevel a tube for a tig weld in one step. Freehand.