I'll agree with Jim. With Toyo (or Waterford) a customer/re-seller realizes an established level of quality. Maybe it would be more difficult with multiple crafters trying for a common goal? While Rivendell could go through the headache of making a long list of requests/requirements in frame building, there is no guarantee all builders would reach the same end in the same way.
Anywho, with Toyo, as a Japanese builder, Rivendell then has closer access to the specific tubes required for a bike such as the Atlantis. Which from what I've read, are also Japan sourced. A US builder (or builders) might not have such easy access to the tubes. And if Rivendell decides to move and have the tubes also made here, would there be a big enough order for a steel company to custom draw the tubes in the quantities required? Not against U.S. made bikes. Just think there might be a few more hurdles to jump besides finding enough folks to do it. Especially to the standards of quality that folks expect in a Rivendell bicycle. Eric Platt St. Paul, MN On Oct 8, 11:28 am, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > The framebuilders I know are not the types who take to regimentation, > schedules, conforming to uniform standards, etc. A front-company, like > Riv, may not be able to tolerate the inherent uncertainty: > Framebuilder X is doing the 58s, but it turns out that framebuilder X > is an unreliable drunk/nutcase/bad-time-manager. So now we can't > deliver the 58s anywhere near on-time, and, frankly, we can't even > give an ETA when impatient customers start demanding answers. > > The other issue that arises in this biz is that the perception of non- > uniform quality is a killer. Somebody on the internet declares that > framebuilder A is the best of the bunch, and suddenly nobody wants the > frames built by the builders B and C in the collective. It can be a > major time-sink assuring neurotic quality-fetish customers (more > common than you might think) that builders B and C are adequately > skilled. > > And the biggest issue, potentially, is that numerous customers would > try to cut out the middle-man by going directly to the framebuilder. > > I can't speak for Riv, but I would think that the framebuilder > collective idea would be a non-starter. > > On Oct 8, 11:03 am, Seth Vidal <skvi...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 11:55 AM, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery > > > <thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > I don't think the yen exchange is the whole issue with Toyo. I heard a > > > rumor that they had a significant number (~half?) of their longtime > > > builders quit or retire. According to my source, it isn't fashionable > > > in Japan for young people to go into craft industries, so recruiting > > > new builders hasn't been easy for Toyo. > > > So then I guess I'll ask the silly question again. Instead of > > focusing on a couple of small but consolidated shops (Toyo and W'Ford) > > does it make any sense to distribute the framebuilding to a larger set > > of builders - I dare say there are a bunch of builders in the US right > > now who might want some work. > > > With a little database work it wouldn't be that hard to track which > > serial numbers were built by which people and where for Quality > > Assurance. > > > maybe I'm too influenced by the distributed production model that I > > work in a lot. > > > -sv- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
