Chicago's bicycle builder boom (Winnetka, Fisher: sale, neighborhoods, purchases)

[tomcho]

I just wanted to say this thread was awesome.

[cubssoxfan]

Is Chet trying to say he doesn't feel the bike is agood value and there are other companies making better product at a better overall value? I have no problem with those issues being discussed and they can be subjective.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by Aleking

Chet is still getting all worked up because his hipster spider sense went off....I wonder if some PBR swilling trust funder stole his girl or something.

Yeah, although I think this one is more complicated for him. It set off his hipster spider sense - but then he realized the bike "is not even set up as a fixie". So how could it be hipster?!?! I think the cognitive dissonance this set off in his worldview is what really broke his brain.

[chet everett]

I linked to a whole lot of news items / web sites that show that how / why / when Chicago has been prominent in bicycle building both on a mass scale and which firms still are making money in the business right now.

I think in that there are whole lot of things stacked against any of the younger custom builders' odds of success including a certain air of cynical marketing that combined with questionable value is more than a little sad. There are dozens of guys with decades of experience making and selling custom bikes that have web sites with enough info on 'em to constitute an encyclopedia. Seems to me that any of these kids ought to try really hard to tap into some of that heritage and maybe they'll have an actual viable longer term business instead of some fadish style driven bad joke.

There are gentlemen like Lennard Zinn and Ben Serotta that are legends among bicycle racers, mountain bike champions and tri-atheletes. The value of their bicycles goes far beyond the look or some mystic / romantic notion of solitary craftsmen and addresses the short comings of "stock" bicycles. I can sorta almost see the "limitations" of fashion as being addressed by the guys selling bikes at $775 that really do look unique but I really question the appeal of bikes over $1000 that seem to address even aesthetics in at best an extremely low key manner... Sure I get the whole Apple driven "design is important" angle but reducing the look of a custom product to something that really falls from "bespoke" to "mundane" hardly seems worthy of consideration...

I suppose the few people that think the way I do about actually growing a viable business just don't visit this forum very often.

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

Is Chet trying to say he doesn't feel the bike is agood value and there are other companies making better product at a better overall value? I have no problem with those issues being discussed and they can be subjective.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I suppose the few people that think the way I do about actually growing a viable business just don't visit this forum very often.

I think most people feel that way. We just don't think it's "sad" if somebody else chooses to start a business that we don't believe is viable. If it's not viable, it will be gone soon. If it is viable, then we were wrong. Either way, who cares?

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

I think most people feel that way. We just don't think it's "sad" if somebody else chooses to start a business that we don't believe is viable. If it's not viable, it will be gone soon. If it is viable, then we were wrong. Either way, who cares?

I can think one person who cares....

[urbanlife78]

I think it is funny that the title of this thread sounds like there is a growing bike building industry going on in Chicago which would be a good thing, then you click on it and it is nothing more than another Chet rant about nothing. It's a shame, I was hoping for more substance on Chicago's growing bike community, not pointless ranting.

[ChiNaan]

I think Chet's greatest fear is not that it won't succeed, but that it will succeed, and will be further evidence of the conspiracy of "hipsters" (whatever those are) taking over the world with their skinny jeans and old-timey bicycles. He might have to run further out in the suburbs to be safe.

[chet everett]

Seems to me that exposure / publicity is a good thing. It ought to help someone succeed in their choosen pursuit. I suspect that most if not all the guys profiled have some skills in joining metal and finishing off the frames so they are smooth and shiny. Guys that work in auto body shops or places that restore classic cars can make a good living with just that.

The guys profiles also seem to suggest they have invested quite a bit in their own tools and such, not to mention web sites. I would think that they would want to make a product that has enough appeal to recoup their investment.

I also think that if these efforts do succeed that does help the whole region and if it does / is properly promoted can lead to a whole range of successes.

If instead that talent is squandered that seems to me to also have repercussions beyond the loss of income for just these people. It makes it more difficult for others to try being independant businessmen and makes it more likely that consumers wll look elsewhere for custom bicycles. This is sort of a parallel to the failed venture capital efforts of Divine Interventures and others of the past web 1.0 era and why I am skeptical that the efforts of current city leadership to pump up real estate deals as some kind of new tech boom...

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

I think most people feel that way. We just don't think it's "sad" if somebody else chooses to start a business that we don't believe is viable. If it's not viable, it will be gone soon. If it is viable, then we were wrong. Either way, who cares?

As to a "fear" that these guys succeed? Far from it. If they can figure out that like "purse dogs" low-value / high-priced bicycles are not a long term model for succcess I would welcome MORE options for custom bicycles that filled the gaps of mass market offerings. It would be a dream not to have to plan on dealing with skilled builders states away and instead meet with some of these guys over a APMD at Kuma's Corner or something...

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by tomcho

I just wanted to say this thread was awesome.

Indeed.