VN misses the point

[BroDeal]

The latest bit of idiocy from Velonews.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/03/bikes-and-tech/the-torqued-wrench-the-myth-of-origin_211105

The author completely misses the artisan connotation of the word "hand made" and equates made to measure frames constructed by skilled labor in the U.S. with mass produced stock frames made in Asia by easily hired workers whose skill is laying a piece of carbon fabric on a form.

 

[Boeing]

all he had to say is no one buys hand made bikes end of story

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I think the author of that article has mixed up the words "pedantic" and "semantic".

Boeing, Time makes handmade bikes. I buy them, and so do lots of other people.

 

[twothirds]

Actually, all he has to say was that all bikes fall under a loose definition of handmade, but he didn't. He went on to equate that factory bikes and bikes from a framebuilder were essentially the same thing. This is where he is wrong. A factory made frame will have hands from many people building it during it's creation. Each person has a specialized job which they do and that's it. Designer designs it, engineer figures out the lay-up, Glasser lays up the molds, you got another guy monitoring the autoclaves and curing process, then the frame gets sent to a guy to clean up the mold flashing and prep for paint, then the painter finishes it off. You go to a framebuilder and they do all this from start to finish, some with the exception of the paint.

There is also much more skill involved in brazing, or welding a bike compare to laying in carbon swaths in a mold to a template pattern.

 

[elapid]

Actually, all he has to say was that all bikes fall under a loose definition of handmade, but he didn't. He went on to equate that factory bikes and bikes from a framebuilder were essentially the same thing. This is where he is wrong. A factory made frame will have hands from many people building it during it's creation. Each person has a specialized job which they do and that's it. Designer designs it, engineer figures out the lay-up, Glasser lays up the molds, you got another guy monitoring the autoclaves and curing process, then the frame gets sent to a guy to clean up the mold flashing and prep for paint, then the painter finishes it off. You go to a framebuilder and they do all this from start to finish, some with the exception of the paint.

There is also much more skill involved in brazing, or welding a bike compare to laying in carbon swaths in a mold to a template pattern.

+1. I have a custom titanium Lynskey road bike. The process of designing, building and finishing this bike was both exciting and laborious. I love my bike, especially knowing the care with which it was built and the craftsmanship that went into building it. I had a Cervelo R3 and sold that within 6 months without any reservations. I do not think I could appreciate any factory manufactured bike as much as a truly handmade bike.

 

[DirtyWorks]

The latest bit of idiocy from Velonews.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/03/bikes-and-tech/the-torqued-wrench-the-myth-of-origin_211105

The author completely misses the artisan connotation of the word "hand made" and equates made to measure frames constructed by skilled labor in the U.S. with mass produced stock frames made in Asia by easily hired workers whose skill is laying a piece of carbon fabric on a form.

Which one buys more advertising, the small shop or the national/international OEM reseller? Confusing the two segments could boost their ad revenue. I'd do it.

They have a fundamental problem where they are the UCI's/USAC's propaganda outlet. Neither of those organizations are set up to encourage participation so VN's only trajectory is losing money.

If they are breaking even now with their starving college grads for writing staff, then it will be awful for a very long time. Don't reward their awfulness by visiting their site.

 

[richwagmn]

all he had to say is no one buys hand made bikes end of story

The "elite" do. And they endlessly tell themselves how much better that hand made bike is than one from a big evil manufacturer (despite any objective evidence).

I mean goodness, think of the engineering manpower and research those little shops can do.