from a framelist thread. i think the subject
was, as usual, about doing things the old
way, but in this century.
this was my reply:

look - what's gonna happen is what ALWAYS has happened
in this and other industries. in the bicycle business,
up unto a point (i'd wager the mid 80s at the most
recent) framebuilders were at the vanguard* and all

trends could be traced to the workbenches of the famous
ones. that changed in the mtb era and has continued to
evolve ever since. the industry, almost all industries,
co-opt "smallness" because the rank and file thinks the
artisans and design centers do the best work. but that
work is the most expensive, the hardest to get, the most
inefficiently produced, and just plain out of reach of
the masses. industry finds a way to glom onto the finer
points of this and distills it into a neat little package
that can be made easily and sold for a profit. it does not
have to reach the fountainhead proportions discussed already;
the top makers like trek and cannondale are already making
frames and bicycles that are every bit as good as those
builders made only a generation ago. where does that leave
the framebuilder? he sells himself based on his experiences
and skill set and never looks at what the mainstream is
doing. once you decide to measure youself against it, it's
over. it's two seperate life forms, despite the fact that
the product is a bicycle.
it's an impossibily difficult time to be starting out, so
learn your chops, make a lot of mistakes, pay attention,
watch the sport, and do your best work. if you wait long
enough, it'll happen.
e-RICHIE
* i love using catch terms like "at the vanguard" yo.