America Frame Builders

[Apexture]

Has there been a book published about the history of American frame builders? Is anyone working on one now? Would be great to see several generations including some of our newer builders.

[Clean39T]

There's one called The Bicycle Artisans that's pretty neat. And $8.99 on Amazon...

There was one Dave Kirk mentioned too, but I can't recall the name.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Apexture]

“The Bicycle Artisan” looks like a good book but seems absent of several important American builders. Ideally I’m looking for a book that really showcases the lineage of American builders up to present day. BQ seems to be the best option for this info but a beautiful book would be ideal.

[Doug Fattic]

This is a subject that has been largely ignored. Brian Baylis and I would talk about this at framebuilding gatherings. Of course his knowledge is now lost except what he wrote online. I've tried over the years to get one of my framebuilding class students to write up some reasearch on American builders without any success so far.

I asked Peter Weigle one time if he had ever documented his history and he said no.

I was reminded of the importance of this recently when there was a change of ownership at Ellis Briggs where I learned to build frames in Shipley Yorkshire in the UK in 1975. The founders had long passed and the grandsons sold the business and the connections to primary information has been lost.

Modern American framebuilding started right after the bike boom of 1970 with Albert Esentraut being the father of the beginning. There was little connection to the guys that made frames for the 6 day racers before the war. Some of us went to Europe, some Europeans came here, some figured it out on their own.

[AngryScientist]

there is someone here on the forum who made a lineage chart that was very nice, though i believe incomplete, which is to be expected due to the numerous players in the field.

i'll see if i can search that up...

[fiamme red]

there is someone here on the forum who made a lineage chart that was very nice, though i believe incomplete, which is to be expected due to the numerous players in the field.

i'll see if i can search that up...This?

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?p=1191308

[verbs4us]

there is someone here on the forum who made a lineage chart that was very nice, though i believe incomplete, which is to be expected due to the numerous players in the field.

i'll see if i can search that up...

This one?

[AngryScientist]

This?

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?p=1191308

very good fiamme! i just spent ten minutes fruitlessly searching for that. i had forgotten it was not meant as national, but more localized. thanks!

[Apexture]

This?

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?p=1191308

Thanks for finding this. I do remember seeing this once and it's a great illustration. I know it's a lot and not everyone could be included but a scaled up version of this lineage would be great on the national level.

[Apexture]

This is a subject that has been largely ignored. Brian Baylis and I would talk about this at framebuilding gatherings. Of course his knowledge is now lost except what he wrote online. I've tried over the years to get one of my framebuilding class students to write up some reasearch on American builders without any success so far.

I asked Peter Weigle one time if he had ever documented his history and he said no.

I was reminded of the importance of this recently when there was a change of ownership at Ellis Briggs where I learned to build frames in Shipley Yorkshire in the UK in 1975. The founders had long passed and the grandsons sold the business and the connections to primary information has been lost.

Modern American framebuilding started right after the bike boom of 1970 with Albert Esentraut being the father of the beginning. There was little connection to the guys that made frames for the 6 day racers before the war. Some of us went to Europe, some Europeans came here, some figured it out on their own.

Thanks Doug. I'm very interested in this topic and would love to see it happen
I wonder if Peter would like to tell his story?

[hummus_aquinas]

http://www.anglesandpoise.com/2012/new-england-bicycle-bloodline/
Thanks for tracking this down! I'm thankful to see it all laid out, it's super fascinating.

[Doug Fattic]

Just some quick context. Bicycling as an adult recreation in the US was unusual before 1970. Suddenly all at once it caught on. I was teaching English in Japan between degrees and to my complete surprise read an article in Time (or maybe Newsweek) titled “America discovers the 10 speed bike”. When I returned in the summer of 1971 everyone wanted to get one. The local Schwinn store was out of stock on many models and a customer had to wait for back orders to arrive. It wasn’t long before discerning riders were going to Europe to get the best. This opened up a market for making frames in America but of course there wasn’t a place to learn. A number of us including Matt Assenmacher, Peter Weigle, Richard Sachs, Jeff Lyons and Peter Mooney went across the pond to get educated. When I was looking for a place to learn Bill Hurlow (one of England’s best) said he got on average 2 letters a week from Americans wanting to apprentice with him.

Albert Eisentraut when he grew up in Chicago stopped by Oscar Wastyn’s shop and picked up the essentials and not only started building in the late 60’s but also teaching frame building in the early 70’s. Wastyn made the 1st Schwinn Paramounts in the 30’s. Their shop still exists run by the family many generations removed from Oscar. This is why Albert is the father of modern American frame builders.

[Apexture]

Just some quick context. Bicycling as an adult recreation in the US was unusual before 1970. Suddenly all at once it caught on. I was teaching English in Japan between degrees and to my complete surprise read an article in Time (or maybe Newsweek) titled “America discovers the 10 speed bike”. When I returned in the summer of 1971 everyone wanted to get one. The local Schwinn store was out of stock on many models and a customer had to wait for back orders to arrive. It wasn’t long before discerning riders were going to Europe to get the best. This opened up a market for making frames in America but of course there wasn’t a place to learn. A number of us including Matt Assenmacher, Peter Weigle, Richard Sachs, Jeff Lyons and Peter Mooney went across the pond to get educated. When I was looking for a place to learn Bill Hurlow (one of England’s best) said he got on average 2 letters a week from Americans wanting to apprentice with him.

Albert Eisentraut when he grew up in Chicago stopped by Oscar Wastyn’s shop and picked up the essentials and not only started building in the late 60’s but also teaching frame building in the early 70’s. Wastyn made the 1st Schwinn Paramounts in the 30’s. Their shop still exists run by the family many generations removed from Oscar. This is why Albert is the father of modern American frame builders.

Thanks Doug for the information provided. I'm going to dig into this a bit.

[bfd]

Has there been a book published about the history of American frame builders? Is anyone working on one now? Would be great to see several generations including some of our newer builders.

I have this book, The Custom Bicycle, but it is now available in pdf. Has a section on Schwinn and focus on several American builders:
Eisentraut, Bruce Gordon, Cuevas, Bill Boston and a few other east coast builders. Check it out!

http://classicrendezvous.com/publications/thecustombicycle.pdf

Good Luck!

[bob heinatz]

I still have a Eisentraut that gets ridden a few times per year. Those names bring back great memories.

[Clean39T]

I have this book, The Custom Bicycle, but it is now available in pdf. Has a section on Schwinn and focus on several American builders:
Eisentraut, Bruce Gordon, Cuevas, Bill Boston and a few other east coast builders. Check it out!

http://classicrendezvous.com/publications/thecustombicycle.pdf

Good Luck!

I've got a copy as well -- OP, if you'd like to do an inter-library loan, lemme know...

[Clean39T]

https://redkiteprayer.com/2018/08/the-pull-mark-dinucci/

OP -- I'm guessing you'd enjoy Padraig's conversation with Mark Dinucci -- they cover some of this ground..

[Apexture]

I still have a Eisentraut that gets ridden a few times per year. Those names bring back great memories.

Thanks Bob! This book looks promising.

[SpokeValley]

https://redkiteprayer.com/2018/08/the-pull-mark-dinucci/

OP -- I'm guessing you'd enjoy Padraig's conversation with Mark Dinucci -- they cover some of this ground..

Now I'm curious...

Any Dinucci's in the hive?