Cugel wrote:at near 70, life seems to have been very long indeed now, considering all the stuff that's happened during it. And, despite time accelerating as one gets older, I will never give up the pleasures of delayed gratification
I liked the above philosophy as it's similar to mine.
The main problem is that after many months beyond indicated start date I was getting few, increasingly rare & delayed, and woeful replies that seemed to indicate a lessening chance of getting the frame and/or an increasing delay.
All the advice has been useful and makes me want to try to continue working on getting the actual frame. Plus the last response I had, almost a month ago, he said he'd return in several installments only £800 not £1000 because of a 'cancellation fee' (which maddened me I admit for obvious reasons)... So at least it seems there's a money problem involved.
Yes, I believe his website is very old and prices lower than possible; he quoted me ~£1150 for a 725 frame of no great design weirdness, which is fair & similar to stuff I've had made by Woodrup/Sayles and Stanforth/Cooper which were also of course waitlisted (but not 18 months).
I've heard that tubing is a significant cost in framebuilding. I also figure that a builder's got to make ~50-100 frames a year at that price to earn even a basic living after materials, shop costs, etc. So since about 15 months ago or so he said he'd order my materials next order, either he's slowed down immensely or stopped, or my order's being ignored/kept at bottom of list (unless he orders 50+ frames' worth of tubing per order). So was thinking maybe he's changed careers (=needs to make a decent living), like doing other welding work.
As far as bad businessman & good builder, it may be the case as discussed. Another exam0ple: I have a friend who's a great Italian sportscar mechanic with his own shop, but instead of advertising in the right places and doing more Maserati & Ferrari work & restorations (which is his specialty & which he sometimes does, top notch) he does more emergency fixes on VWs and so forth. Disorganization is severely affecting his business, income, and reputation.
And I always prefer to support someone who lives in a civilized country with some reasonable standards of happy living, so am willing to pay fairly and allow for oddities/contingencies at a human lever (especially in a one-man 'traditional' bicycle shop). Will withstand delays, etc. to do so. I'm not rich and drive 'bottom feeder' cars (my 2004 kia minivan works fine) to spend more on good velostuff! But most of the things I've heard as excuses in this affair are the same tragedies big & small that I've encountered myself in recent years so feel a little 'played' after a while.
I'd've understood if above-mentioned framebuilder had said 'I refuse to deal with americans because they're too dangerous a country'... (before he accepted payment or with full refund of course as we still had an intelligent president when I paid). I'd also accept an "I'm overwhelmed and will have to cancel the order to get things under control"....
(the below has nothing to do with the original topic of course but can't resist as its such an overwhelming problem to all of us)
As for trump, hell no! I didn't vote for that monster. But unfortunately - whether from befuddlement from russian propaganda, i-phone entertainment addiction, laziness, ignorance, stupidity, or malice (or the belief it'd make them richer which is why his 'rich' vote was high) - too many did, giving us the worst imaginable 'leader' in the history of the civilized world! This unfortunately lends some legitimacy to the chinese who say democracy is too problematic a way to run a country!
It's a disaster, and as an ashamed american I can say that this /really does/ reflect the stupidity and laziness of our dumbed-down society (at least enough of them), so beware! I don't understand the vacation from reality or any sort of common sense here (exception: the military, money, and power elites; they're making out like bandits as usual). Kids smash their toys in tantrums, but adults are supposed to do better; at least an 'electoral majority' of 235 million eligible voters...
Seriously, is there a less competent or intelligent or qualified one you can think of who wasn't a dictator of some 3rd world backwater or dark ages? Criminy, even in the battle between the emotionally crippled spoiled 10 year-old man-children king donald the orange and king kim the plump it's easy to see which one is smarter (though which is more evil is harder)!
And of course it's easy to see why russia likes this! (cf. 'foundations of geopolitics' to see the evil but obvious [to this old sovietologist at least] logic and purpose in their policies of the last 20 years) Divide and conquer! Obfuscate and rule! Dumb down and ..er, make it all easy or whatever. Entertainment is the religion and opiate of the masses!
So please, Britain, don't let this happen there and give us hope in democracy - or at least slow our return to the dark ages! Keep your news media objective and intelligent rather than becoming 'reality' TV or 'outrageous!' entertainment. Stay off the facebook (in vendo veritas, man!). Understand media literacy (or whatever they call it there). Be suspicious and wonder why certain groups want this or that. Read history and psychology. Remember that intelligence and knowledge isn't an old fashioned idea or too much work or an 'elitist' manipulation technique... Don't get all crazy and worried about unrealistic bizarre and intricate conspiracies to 'explain' what you don't want to believe ... shoot, this is sounding just plain nuts!, what kind of people would do that?! Seems crazy to even think about!
Sometimes I think (wish! because then we'd know what to do,. but of course the martians would deny it even if found holding the nozzle!) that Martians must be pumping some sort of dumbing-down gas into the US air is the most plausible explanation. And eviling-up gas in the kremlin and everywhere else! I don't know what to do to solve it though other than trying to keep myself in reality (trying to gently persuade the already gone seems usually futile and/or dangerous).
I'd also move to Canada or Finland if I could! (I need boreal forests
and democracy)