Adopted

Parents of an adopted child will often tell them. “We chose you, and that makes you special.” I came to these United States in January 1979, in a few weeks’ time I will have lived here 44 years. That is longer than I lived in England, the country of my birth.

I adopted this country, which makes it special. I do not take this country or it’s people for granted as I might have done had I been born here.

A country and its people are one of the same, The USA being so large often feels like several different countries. To understand this, a person has to travel and live many places, as I have done. 

From New Jersey, close to New York City, to San Diego, California. Then gradually northwards to Riverside County, to Los Angeles. To Eugene, Oregon, then back across this country to South Carolina.

Throughout my travels, on meeting strangers, because of my accent as soon as I open my mouth I am viewed as a foreigner. Just as it is unwise for an American to travel overseas and express a political opinion, it is also best I remain neutral.

By taking political opinions out of the equation, I tend to see others as either good or bad, which is all there is really. If I choose friends based solely on some political leaning, I miss out on some good people, and allow others closer than they should be, taking my best interest into account.

I have no room for negativity in my life, either people or obsessing over it in the news or social media. Sadly, the media thrives on negativity, but I have come to realize if I look at the perspective of it, the goodness in the world, far outweighs the bad.

For example, I read about a mass shooting somewhere, and five or six people died. Not to make light of such a tragedy, but out of a population of over 300 million, the ratio of evil as opposed to good is a tiny percentage.

My point is, I can do little as an individual to stop these heinous acts, but when the good far outweighs the evil, why would I dwell on the bad?

You can define a country as the land mass it occupies, but the real spirit of any country, its heart and soul, is its people. As long as good people far outweigh the bad, and love outweighs the hate, there is hope.

Short back and sides

I have seen fashions come and go many times over the years, trends go out of style, and often given time will become fashionable again and appear for another-go-round.

One fashion I never expected to see again is the “Short back and sides” haircut. (Left.)

Reason being, it was never really a fashion statement, it came about out of necessity.

The decade from 1930 on, there was a world-wide depression.

Men were unemployed much of the time, but at the same time in order to get even casual temporary work, a person had to maintain a clean and presentable appearance.

A razor blade could be had for a penny, it was inexpensive and easy for men to keep themselves clean shaven. However, a hair cut is a different matter.

It had to be cheap, which meant quick and easy, and to maintain the tidy appearance, it was necessary to have a haircut every two weeks.

Men wore hats, either a brimmed felt hat, or a cloth cap. All a person needed was a pair of non-electric hand operated shears, to set themselves up in business charging a nickel for a short back and sides haircut, extra for some cut off the top.

The depression of the 1930s was followed by WWII, these were hard times, the trend continued. I remember in the 1940s, every two weeks, a silver shilling (12 Pennies.) clutched in my hand, running 2 or 3 miles, to a house where a Mr. West lived.

Mr. West had 12 children, which is probably how he got into the business of cutting hair.

After the war in my pre-teen years I would go to the barber shop for a haircut every two weeks, there was only one style, short back and sides.

I remember I had to ask the barber not to go too high at the back and sides, I hated to have my hair left like a little round skull cap on top of my head.

On weekends there would be 10 or 12 people waiting, but with each haircut taking only 5 or 10 minutes, the wait was never that long.

To me the short back and sides was a trend of that era, never a fashion. Who could indulge in fashion, when all a person could do is survive. It lasted 30 years from 1930 to the 1950s. Fashions do not last that long.

By the 1950s my generation were the first to come of age after the war, and to become interested in our appearance and fashion, and I would travel miles to avoid getting a haircut like the ones I see trending today.

I would get on a train and travel to London and pay good money to get my hair styled like Tony Curtis, (Above left.) or Robert Mitchum (Above right.) Note that movie stars did not have a short back and sides haircut, their hair was styled.

It seems to me that these over the top, “Manly” haircuts that are trending today, hark back to time when men were tough. They kind of act like a “Padded bra of masculinity.”

In the 1950s we all wanted to be different and to look different. We did so by all looking the same, as every new generation has done since.

It never works. A persons looks are what they are given in life, all one can do is exercise and eat healthy to make the most of what they have.

A confident demeanor and personality will take a person further than mere looks. And no haircut or style will make you appear tougher, or prettier, or whatever look you are going for.

Bob Hovey's Masi Registry

Bob Hovey’s Registry of Masi Frames has been around for many years, in fact I borrowed the idea when I opened my own Dave Moulton Registry in 2010.

Just today I got a request from Jonathan Justman, original owner of a Masi Gran Criterium serial number D8016. He asked if it could be added to my Dave Moulton Registry. I had to explain that there is no section for Masi frames on my registry, as I do not consider them to be my frames.

I was employed to build these frames from October 1980 until December 1981, but they were built strictly to Faliero Masi’s design. In fact, the frame shop where I worked had a set of “Jig-frames,” unpainted frames in every size, that were actually built by Faliero himself.

These were used to set up the frame jig and ensured that every frame built was an exact copy of the “jig” frames. The various adjustable clamps that held the tubes in the jig were loosened and the jig frame then clamped in place.

Once the set up was complete, and the jig frame removed, the jig was set to this particular size. I simply had to miter the tubes to fit, it was not even necessary that I knew what size frame I was building.

Also, as a paid employee I had no legal rights, to the Masi brand name, and I still don’t. I cannot claim that these are my frames, any more than a journalist in paid employment can claim copywrite for the articles they wrote. The product produced is the property of the employer, not the employee.

Having said that the California Masi frames built during my tenure mentioned above, were not only date stamped, but were marked SMC for San Marcos, California. The date stamp was in the form of A, B, C, and D representing the four quarters of the year, followed by the last two digits of the year. Followed by two more digits that were the number frame that quarter.

Jonathan Justman’s frame number D8016 was built around the end of October 1980 and has the SMC, so there is a good possibility I built it. Ted Kirkbride who owned the shop and subcontracted to build the Masi’s at that time, also built some of the custom orders like track frames or odd sizes.

If owners of the SMC frames with serial numbers starting D80**, A81**, B81**, C81**, and D81**, feel they have some added value having been built by me, I am flattered but lay no claim to these frames.

They belong on Bob Hovey’s Masi Registry, were a few of them have a side note that I built them.

Paris Sport: Setting the Record Straight

Paris Sport was a brand name and the name of a business owned by Vic Fraysse, and his son Mike Fraysse. The business was located in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, seven miles outside New York City, just across the George Washington Bridge.

They owned a bike store (Park Cycle.) with a framebuilding shop at the rear. On weekends the store attracted a lot of customers from New York City, who made the short bike ride via the separate bike path across the GW Bridge.

The Fraysse family had French origins and both Mike and Vic spoke fluent French. This enabled them to import bicycles and frames from France in the 1970s during the US bike boom. The bikes were labeled with the brand name, Paris Sport.

They also had resident frame builders build high end custom frames in their shop. This was how I came to move from England in January 1979 when the Fraysse’s offered me a job.

It was much easier to move to the US in 1979 than it is today. All one needed was a job offer, and a sponsor. The Fraysse’s offered this and paid my air fare over. I arrived literally “With the clothes on my back.” My luggage consisted of the tools from my framebuilding business in England.

Mike Fraysse bought me work clothes and work boots, and I lived in the basement of Vic Fraysee’s home. Frame building materials were supplied and I was paid a flat rate per frame built.

I was satisfied with this arrangement, it got me my start in the US, and for a lot less expense and hassle than if I had I tried to set up a framebuilding business on my own.

By this time there were not too many bikes being imported from France. Because of cost the cheaper bikes sold in the bike store were imported from Taiwan. These were all labeled with the same “Paris Sport” decals, along with the high-end custom frames I was building.

Some customers felt that this cheapened the Brand, and gradually as my reputation grew, customers wanted my name on the frames I built. Vic Fraysse was strongly against this, and I had to agree with him. Paris Sport was his brand that he had worked hard for years to establish. I was simply an employee hired to build Paris Sport frames.

Mike Fraysse on the other hand was a bit more flexible. It was Mike who painted the frames, and sometimes agreed to allow my “Four M’s Logo,” to be placed on the seat tube. 

The frames were often painted in the evening after I had left for the day, so I didn’t see how the were labeled. My decals that I had brought over from England were stored in the shop along with all my tools. These were made available to Mike, and I didn’t mind either way. If a frame had my logo or name on it. It was publicity for me.

I worked at the Paris Sport shop from January 1979 until October 1980. By the mid-1980s, a few frames left the shop fully decaled as a ‘dave moulton’ but without the “worcester, england.” under the logo.

I think a lot depended on, whether the customer was a friend of Mike Fraysse, how much the customer paid for the frame, or in some cases the customer would not agree to take delivery unless it had my name on it.

After working for the Fraysse’s for almost two years, I felt I had fulfilled my obligations to them, and I left in October 1980 to take another job with Masi In California.

We parted on good terms, and I am forever grateful for the start they gave me. Had I not had this opportunity, I may never have come to the United States.

The frames I built at Paris Sport were the same as the ones I built in England. Built to my own design and geometry, with one big difference. The frames built in the UK had a serial number stamped under the bottom bracket, that coincides with a number in my UK Frame-numbers record book.

Paris Sport frames I built had no serial number. Again, this was not my call. In fact, this is one of the clues that it is a Paris Sport frame I built. Like the one pictured here.

The recent owner of the bike was given missinformation by its original owner. I can recognize my own work, so I am not disputing that I built it.

It apparently was labeled fully as a “dave moulton” but as it has been repainted one cannot prove that, but as I have laid out here, “It is entirely possible.” However, it is a pity the original owner did not take a picture before repainting.

Where the story gets strange, is that the original owner says he bought, and paid me directly for the frame in my own shop in New Jersey, and he has never heard of Paris Sport.

I did consult with customers, measure them and build a custom frame, but I did not handle the finances.

I am alive and well, and my memory is still intact. If you do a search on the blog, for “Paris Sport” it will bring up more history. It does not need to be re-written yet.

It is annoying to spend hundreds of hours writing here, only to have miss-informed people question what I tell them.

The gift that keeps on giving

When I was building frames in Southern California in the 1980s, I could not foresee there would be a future with the Internet and social media.

Therefore, as I built frames and stamped a serial number on them, sent them off to the bicycle dealer, unless those frames came back for repair or a repaint, I never expected to see them, or hear about them again.

There was never a second thought that I might be corresponding people about these very same frames thirty or even forty years down the road. Who could even imagine what the future will hold that many years ahead?

When I stop and think about what has happened, I am both amazed and at the same time humbled that I find myself spending much of my time corresponding with people, either directly, or though this blog and social media.

My online presence started in 2003, ten years after I left the bike business. I had written a novel, Prodigal Child, and created a website to promote the book. People started to write to me asking, “Are you the Dave Moulton who used to build bikes?”

People started sending pictures of their bikes, and I opened a bicycle section on the book website to post these pictures. This bike section grew, and I found myself somewhat “Dragged” back into the bike thing.

Two years later in 2005 I began this “Bike Blog.” Three years on in 2008 I quit writing for reasons I outlined in this post, “The Party’s Over.” The post received 88 comments, probably my highest score ever. It was mostly an outpouring of kindness, and thanks for what I had written.

Quitting was a huge mistake. I lost a huge following, one that I will probably never see again. Six months later I was back when a group of bike enthusiasts, (Some of which I had never met.) got together and presented me with a “Tribute Bike.”

I was so touched that I had to at least write about it. Once more I was “Dragged” back, but this time with a new resolve never to quit again.

It is still difficult to come up with fresh and interesting stuff each week, but I look on it as exercise for my brain, which as I age, is just as important as physical exercise.

When I started out building bike frames, I was trying to build a better bike for myself. I achieved that goal, then set about building frames across the entire range of sizes, even though I could never test ride most of the larger sizes myself.

However, feedback from people who rode my bikes told me I was on the right track. I often went against what was fashionable and stuck with what I believed was right.

I remember turning down an order for 10 track frames in 1975. The order was from the Canadian Olympic Team. It was lucrative and would have carried a lot of prestige.

The problem was the team coach, sent drawings for each frame and insisted I build to the exact specs. I could have built the frames and took the money, but I would have hated it knowing that I could have built something better.

The same happened when I resumed building custom frames in California in 1982, some thought “Custom” meant building to their specs. I always said “No.” Had I built the frame, and they later sold it, it had my name on it, and it was my reputation at stake.

I went for consistency, every frame I built will ride, handle, go around corners, and feel stable on fast descents. People constantly tell me, “This is my favorite bike, my go to ride.”

And that for me is the gift that keeps on giving.