Matt Purdue
03/01/2005
With mint-condition vintage bicycles becoming increasingly rare, new collectors are looking to today’s finest lugged steel frame builders. Aficionados swear by these craftsmen:
Albert Eisentraut: Many of today’s American steel frame builders learned from Eisentraut or his apprentices. He began building frames in 1959 and continues today in Oakland, Calif.
Brian Baylis: A former frame builder for Masi California, the elusive Baylis is said to craft very few—but very special—bikes in his workshop in La Mesa, Calif. Many of his frames resemble mechanized works of art.
Tom Kellogg: By 1980, riders had ridden Kellogg’s frames to secure two professional world championships. Today he continues to craft bikes in a 170-year-old stone barn in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.
Dave Kirk: Kirk worked for Ben Serotta (below) for 10 years before starting his own business in Bozeman, Mont. He built the bikes for the legendary 7-Eleven team that was the first U.S. contingent to compete in the Tour de France.
Peter Mooney: A London native who now works in Belmont, Mass., Mooney has been handcrafting frames for three decades. He trained under English master Ron Cooper.
Dario Pegoretti: Italian builder Pegoretti’s Luigino frame pays homage to builders such as Mario Confente and Luigino Milani. Pegoretti lovingly hand-files ornate lugs and silver-brazes them to steel tubesets.
Richard Sachs: Considered by many the current czar of American lugged steel, Sachs apprenticed at Witcomb Lightweights in London and has more than 30 years of frame-building experience. His one-man shop in Connecticut has a waiting list of two and a half years.
Ben Serotta: Another product of Witcomb, Serotta’s upstate New York frame business is booming. While better known for titanium bikes—a certain U.S. senator from Massachusetts suddenly finds himself with free time to ride his—his lugged steel CSi is highly acclaimed.
Waterford: Founded in 1993 by Marc Muller and Richard Schwinn (yes, that Schwinn), Waterford builds frames in a small shop in Wisconsin. The firm’s lugged frames are ridden by CEOs and state champions alike.
J. Peter Weigle: Weigle’s shop is just across the river from Sachs’ in East Haddam, Conn. Like Sachs, he is an industry veteran whose waiting list for a custom-made frame is nearly three years long.
Mike Zanconato: A relative newcomer to the craft, Zanconato, of Worcester, Mass., shows great promise. He crafts about 15 frames a year using exquisite lugs made by the likes of Sachs and Henry James.
