dekindy
03-01-2009, 07:47 PM
All the framebuilders with long standing reputations get lots of press at each NAHBS and deserve all the attention and praise that they get. On Sunday afternoon when the crowds died down and I had gotten to see most everything that I wanted, I started looking around for things that I might have overlooked. Too very pleasant young men who after three long days still had smiles on their faces and eager to talk anyone who wandered into their booth were Vincent Dominguez and John Caletti.
Vincent is located in Minnesota where the winters are harsher than Indiana and he says he has lots of forced indoor time that he spends doing labors of love. Apparently his interests and skills know no boundaries. He is interested in woodworking and metalworking and just about anything else that involves working with his hands. He has a regular day job that pays the bills and spends most of his spare time building frames and getting some bicycle riding with the little leftover time remaining. Apparently his full-time job prevents him from building a large number of frames and he is very straightforward and honest about his production volume. He has had fabulous training and with his passion for building bicycle frames and the investment in equipment he has made for a part-time vocation, it would not surprise me if he eventually became a very successful full-time builder in the future. The story of his rabbit proof guaranty company emblem is particularly amusing. I encourage you to visit his website and read about the young builder.
http://www.dominguezcycles.com/index.php
A very young (you know I am getting old when I call 35-year old men young) full-time framebuilder is John Caletti. He is a very soft-spoken, unassuming young men who spoke very knowlegdeably about framebuilding and at the same time encouraged me to ask other folks questions about topics on which he was not an expert and suggested sources for the information I was seeking. I was particularly struck about his unlimited knowledge about other exhibitors at the show. He referenced a very large number of different exhibitors that had samples of the products/materials/designs that I asked about. It was obvious he had taken full advantage of the show and reviewed just about every exhibitors offerings in great detail and could quote them from memory. At least I was impressed. I wish I could have picked up just a fraction of what he had observed in a much shorter time than me.
http://caletticycles.com/index.html
He is so unassuming that I had to visit his website to find about his mentoring under Jim Kish and other experienced builders.
I am glad that I took the time to poke my head into some booths that I had walked by many times previously in my quest to look at Serotta, Kirk, Strong, Bedford, Eriksen, Waterford, Moots, Parlee, Crumpton, Sachs, De Rosa, Della Rosa, Dean, DeSalvo,Shimano, SRAM, etc. Wow, with a list like that and many others it was a wonder I talked to those two guys at all. This experience has peeked my interest even more in the show and I vow to visit more of these up and comers at the next show.
Vincent is located in Minnesota where the winters are harsher than Indiana and he says he has lots of forced indoor time that he spends doing labors of love. Apparently his interests and skills know no boundaries. He is interested in woodworking and metalworking and just about anything else that involves working with his hands. He has a regular day job that pays the bills and spends most of his spare time building frames and getting some bicycle riding with the little leftover time remaining. Apparently his full-time job prevents him from building a large number of frames and he is very straightforward and honest about his production volume. He has had fabulous training and with his passion for building bicycle frames and the investment in equipment he has made for a part-time vocation, it would not surprise me if he eventually became a very successful full-time builder in the future. The story of his rabbit proof guaranty company emblem is particularly amusing. I encourage you to visit his website and read about the young builder.
http://www.dominguezcycles.com/index.php
A very young (you know I am getting old when I call 35-year old men young) full-time framebuilder is John Caletti. He is a very soft-spoken, unassuming young men who spoke very knowlegdeably about framebuilding and at the same time encouraged me to ask other folks questions about topics on which he was not an expert and suggested sources for the information I was seeking. I was particularly struck about his unlimited knowledge about other exhibitors at the show. He referenced a very large number of different exhibitors that had samples of the products/materials/designs that I asked about. It was obvious he had taken full advantage of the show and reviewed just about every exhibitors offerings in great detail and could quote them from memory. At least I was impressed. I wish I could have picked up just a fraction of what he had observed in a much shorter time than me.
http://caletticycles.com/index.html
He is so unassuming that I had to visit his website to find about his mentoring under Jim Kish and other experienced builders.
I am glad that I took the time to poke my head into some booths that I had walked by many times previously in my quest to look at Serotta, Kirk, Strong, Bedford, Eriksen, Waterford, Moots, Parlee, Crumpton, Sachs, De Rosa, Della Rosa, Dean, DeSalvo,Shimano, SRAM, etc. Wow, with a list like that and many others it was a wonder I talked to those two guys at all. This experience has peeked my interest even more in the show and I vow to visit more of these up and comers at the next show.