sorry - i have left this page unattended to for too long
so i'll resume pasting now and continue until i'm caught
up. here is a reply from an interesting forum thread about
framebuilders and their thoughts wrt if their bicycles are
ridden, collected, or just bought as wall hangers. the entire
thread lives here
:
CLICK.

my initial post was...
framebuilders, i have always thought - and said - answer to
a higher calling. if they didn't, they'd be more in tune with
the market, more apt to worry about trends, concerned with
a time clock, or with building an ira. framebuilders live
outside the lines. the reason they do what they do is because
the conventional industry cannot; too many layers of corporate
this or model year that, etcetera. are you feeling me atmo?

when you come in to work and your only, or more aptly put,
your primary concern is to improve on what you did last week,
the only thing that matters is that you try to improve and that
you believe you have improved - that is, until next week comes.

it is not an easy thing to articulate, because at the end of the
day, bicycles are seen as commodities. however, most start as a
pile of stuff. often it's the same pile of stuff that the factories
use. so what's the difference? the framebuilders i know, and the
ones i don't know but fantasize about, all believe that they can
somehow add something to the pile that cannot be included by 100
people on 2nd shift at the yournamehere factory. yeah - i can see
a few heads nodding and thinking that this cat is deluded.

i'd agree. i know i suffer from this delusion. but i have no boss
to worry about, and most framebuilders are their own boss. let me
cut to the chase -
framebuilders build frames to build frames.
if they finally perfect the gig, there'd be no effin' reason in the
world to come in and continue. to a man, the primary task of all
the framebuilders i know is to improve, and not to remain the status
quo yo.

does a framebuilder get depressed if the frame isn't used? despite
reading some of the above, i hardly doubt it. i believe all that
matters is that he believed he did his best job to fill the order,
and would do his same best job even if the frame were to be destroyed
once it was completed. to have this mindset, one must remain detatched
from everything except the pile of stuff on the bench. that is where
the energy is focused, rather than what happens after the frame
leaves his hands.

all this said, all of us do try, and we all hope the client gets it.
whether the bicycle is used or not, if we believe the client doesn't
get it, it doesn't matter how many miles are logged.