I don't want to put my foot in my mouth, nor blow out someone else's
birthday candles, BUT.....to me, it seems odd, (oops!!), a contradiction
of a sort, to read of an effort to market, re-make, re-intoduce, etc.,
a frame to be viewed as 'in the classic style'.
However, the posting did make use of the word 'entrepeneur'.
There has to be more than a good shine-job for anything, bikes if
you will, to be considered classic, or replica thereof. I am going to that
assume the purpose of such an endeavor MIGHT just be to
furnish something stylish or new for all the group demographic types to
hang their old, or new-old parts on. That, by itself, is a great idea.
Particularly since many of the old classics didn't make the cut into
the modern era. Being in the trade, I think the average reader of these
pages, or people who patronize John Barron at Velostuf, or are on
Bicycle Classics database, or get The Bicycle Trader....
would not readily accept a 'substitute' to appease their 'vintage' senses.
In other words, I don't see it as a 'market' ready to exploit. As
a sidebar, it would be pertinent to know if, for example, the DeRosa
Heritage series was a success, a financial one, that is. We are talking
commerce, not art, right? In my opinion, taking an 80's/90's frame with
cast fittings, one piece brake/chainstay bridges, plug-in dropouts, modern
hub spacing, modern braze-ons, etc., and shining it over with some really
old decals DOES NOT make anything a classic. Unfortunately, this is the
only mainstream example I can think of, though I am aware that through
the years an updated Cinelli Supercorsa has been offered...
Maybe I'm too close to the situation to make a clear opinion of the
potential market that these entrepeneurs are trying to tap. On the other
hand, there are still frame makers who are from that era, that have the
tools AND materials appropriate to that era (60's, 70's...), and offer
their wares as they have all along, not just to glom onto a niche/trend.
I don't want this to get more 'first-person' than it already is, but I'm
tapped into the same retro/classic intrerests that many readers of this
list are. And my clients know it. And my potential future clients know
this. And from my instincts I am venturing a guess that a bike/frame as
was suggested in the initial posting would sell in one's and two's, at
the most. But not enough to make the market. And certainly not if made
by a hired gun under license. I expect a range of responses!!!
e-RICHIE