Russ Denny builds a Ritte

The above video is pretty much self explanatory; but let me explain how Russ Denny came to be building frames like the Ritte.

People who were not in the bike business in the late 1980s, early 1990s will not realize what a huge impact the mountain bike had. Within a few short years bicycle stores nationwide, switched over completely to selling only MTBs.

This killed the road bike market, and switching my production to mountain bikes would not have been easy even if I had the desire, which I did not. There were already established companies building MTBs, each with their own following of a whole new clientele of mountain bike enthusiasts.

I remember in the year or so before I quit the business completely, my accountant told me, “I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you didn’t make enough to pay taxes this year. The bad news is that your employee made more than you did.”

I had to tell Russ that I could no longer afford to pay him. He stayed on and survived by building his own mountain bikes, and he also contracted to build frames for Quintana Roo, a company that specialized in bikes for triathletes.  

Since that time Russ Denny has made subcontract building for other companies part of his business. It has not only allowed him to survive, but has given him experience building with other materials such as, aluminum, carbon fiber, and stainless steel.

Over the years Russ has built for, Abici, Action Tech, Avent, Beyond Fabrications, Burro Bikes, Dagger Mountian Bikes, Elite Bicycles, Forzza, Griffen, Haro, Javilen, Lab X, Masi, Pharo Bikes, Predator, Quintano Roo, Simonitti, Titan Flex, Tsunami, Voodoo Cycles, and William Lewis Imports.

I would also like to point out that in order to become a really good framebuilder it is necessary to build a lot of frames. Subcontracting has enabled Russ to do just that; build a lot of frames. More recently he has been building Ritte frames and the video above shows Russ building a carbon tube frame with stainless steel lugs.

Early on in the video there is a shot of some of my ‘dave moulton’ frames, probably repaints; the video then cuts to someone called “Dave,” but it is not me. Just to make that clear.

                        

The Re-birth of Fuso

 

Russ Denny, who was my former apprentice, and who took over my business when I retired in 1993, is launching a new line of frames under the Fuso brand name.

The New Fuso will make its debut at the North American Hand Made Bicycle Show (NAHBS) which takes place in Sacramento, California March 2 – 4.

The new Fuso frames will be built in steel, with the option of a steel or carbon fiber front fork.

The picture above shows three different models; all with oversize tubes.

The picture is of the frames in the raw state that have yet to be prepped and painted.

Note the built in stainless steel head badge.

Dave Lieberman, who is assisting Russ on the business and sales side of the project, told me the plan for this initial NAHBS showing is:

a.) That we are bringing back the original Fuso and geometry and keeping that to an affordable price, frame and steel fork

b.) Introduce a compact design, with one that uses lugs, and another that is tig welded.  Both using a more current design and oversized tubing, and a carbon fork, or optional steel if requested

c). Show some prototype version like the double down tube design

The bikes shown are as follows:

1.) Lugged oversize frameset (31.8x31.8x 35 down).  Lewellen lugs, Columbus life/spirit tubing, 6 degrees sloping top tube, stainless steel chainstays, English BB.

2.) Tig welded oversize frameset (35x35x38down , 38 headtube), Columbus zona tubes, 6 degree sloping top tube.

3.)  Tig welded oversize frameset with double downtube (35x35, 37 headtube), Nova tubes.

I am pleased that Russ (Picture right.) is sticking with the original geometry; this is a proven design.

The ride quality and the handling characteristics of the original Fuso is one of the reasons why it was so popular, and remains so amongst collectors today.

When I first introduced the Fuso name in 1984, I did so because I realized there were limitations to the extent my business could grow as an essentially one man operation, building one off custom frames.

By the same rule I could not plunge head first into a large scale production setup. I did not have the required capitol to make that happen, or money to launch the huge advertising campaign that it would take to generate the sales needed to support such a venture.

What I did was to make what I believe was a good compromise that proved to be successful for a number of years; I built the Fuso as a limited production frame. By having employees prepare and feed me materials, so I could devote my time to that which I did best, namely brazing the frame together.

Employees then did the finish work and painting. I built batches of five frames, (All the same size.) and for the most part managed to keep every size in stock for a quick delivery once an order was placed. At the height of production I had around six employees.

Many of these frames I built back in the 1980s, or perhaps I should say me and my team built, are still being ridden today; many are still owned by the original owners.

An even larger number still have the original paint intact; which speaks volumes for another American product, namely DuPont Imron paint.

Over the years I built up a network of bicycle dealers all over the US. This strategy was my success but in the end my downfall also.

When bike dealers switched to mountain bikes in the early 1990s the road bike market disappeared.

Today being in a small business is a whole different game. With the Internet and social media a framebuilder can have direct contact with his customers. A framebuilder can serve the individual customer better and still make a profit.

When Russ took over my business he had worked for me for eight years and could do anything I could. He survived during the hard times by building frames for other people.

It has been almost 19 years since I left, and in that time Russ has built a lot of frames. That is what it takes to become a world class framebuilder; you just need to build a lot of frames.

Although I am not directly involved in this latest venture, I am still excited for Russ. He has promised to build me one of the new frames and I look forward to riding it and writing about it here.

Watch this space, as they say

                         

A 100 year legacy

I initially learned my framebuilding skills from a man known as Albert “Pop” Hodge. Born in 1877, he was almost 80 when I first met him in the mid 1950s; he had been building frames since 1907.

Pop assembled his frames without the use of jigs. He measured and cut the tubes and measured the angles with a protractor. He drilled and pinned the tubes in the lugs with penny nails. He then laid the frame on the brick floor of his shop; the lines made by the mortar between the bricks told him if the geometry was right.

He brazed the lugged joints, blacksmith style, in a hearth of hot coals. He had a hand held torch which he used to add braze-ons; it was fueled by the town gas supply, which at that time was coal gas. The flame was boosted by compressed air supplied by a small compressor.

The air compressor was the only piece of electrical equipment Pop used, he had a bench drill and a hand drill, both were hand cranked.

I learned the basic skills from Pop Hodge, but in later years when I started my own framebuilding business, I no longer brazed in a hearth. I used an oxy-acetylene torch with a small but extremely hot flame, and controlled the heat by working quickly. I used jigs to assemble the frames, and aligning tools to ensure accuracy. I had taken framebuilding to the next level.

Fast forward to 1985, when a young Native American boy named Russell Denny came to work for me. 18 years old, and fresh out of high school, Russ became my apprentice. He learned every aspect of the craft of framebuilding; learning and mastering one task at a time before moving onto the next. Learning is like climbing a tree in the dark, one needs to be firmly placed on each branch before moving to the next.

By the end of the 1980s and in the early part of the 1990s the bike business was going through some drastic changes. An ugly beast had appeared known as the Mountain bike, and like some strange species introduced to a new environment, it took over and destroyed the road bike.

I knew that change had come but I wanted no part of it; I was bitter and burned out. I was ready to liquidate everything and leave. Russ Denny begged me not to, and I felt I had a certain obligation to him. I had taught him a skill, the only skill he knew. I stayed on as long as I could but in the end had to leave and turned the whole thing over to Russ.

For the next ten years I turned my back on the bike business, and even lost touch with Russ Denny. When I did finally get back in touch, Russ was doing well and had taken framebuilding to the next level, just as I had done.

He was building racing frames in aluminum, and carbon fiber. By this time I was living on the East Coast and Russ was still in Southern California. I have yet to get back for a visit or to see firsthand what Russ Denny is doing.

I was pleased when recently a good friend, Steve Farner (Picture at top of page.) who lives in So. Cal. Decided to start racing again after a break of twenty some years, and needed a modern bike to do so. He had Russ build him a custom frame. Here was someone I trusted that could truly compare the old with the new, and give me feed back.

Above: Russ Denny with his new creation

Russ Denny can build a frame in aluminum or carbon tubes with aluminum lugs, or any combination of the two, like aluminum main triangle with carbon fork and rear triangle. He can also still build a steel frame, lugged or filet brazed if you so desire.

Steve Farner chose an all aluminum frame with a carbon fork, simply for reasons of cost. Russ built him a custom fitted 52 cm. frame. Writing about the bike, Steve said:

From sitting position the top tube looks round and the same diameter; from the side it goes from diamond to oval, and Russ made it only slightly sloping, which I like better than “compact” frames. The seat tube is an oversize single diameter. The down tube is fat, sort of clover shaped and highlights Russ Denny’s decals, including his feather. The entire bike is painted metallic red, screaming speed like a Ferrari Dino. I have always liked red bikes.

Steve previously owned a custom frame that I built in 1984 a year before Russ Denny came to work for me, and incidentally the year I met Steve as a twenty-something young racer. His ‘dave moulton’ weighed 21 lbs. The Denny weighs slightly over 16 lbs. The ride was of course totally different, but it took Steve only about a week to grow to love his new ride. He said:

The Denny absorbs rough sections similar to steel bikes, which was surprising. The harder I push it, the more it gives back in forward motion. This bike tracks absolutely dead-on: throw it into a corner, sprint as powerful as you can, emergency brake, shift in a corner, hit potholes and it doesn’t flinch (or flex out of control). Of course Russ knows how to weld a straight frame.

When Pop Hodge built frames from 1907 until the early 1960s they were the racing frames of the day. The 1922 World Road Championship was won on one of his bikes.

The bikes I built were the racing bikes of the 1970s and 1980s, and now Russ Denny has taken frame building to the next level and into the 21st Century.

We can all lament about the beauty and the passing of lugged steel, but the sport of bicycle racing has changed and if someone wants to compete seriously he must do so on a modern machine.

As is evident by the North American Handmade Bicycle Show there are still plenty of builders offering “Pieces of Art,” lugged steel, for those who want that; I am pleased to see this tradition carried on. But how many framebuilders can build you a one off custom frame, that builds into a modern bike that you can race on, and more importantly, someone who knows what he is are doing.

I doubt if there are more than a handful of framebuilders in the whole world who can boast a direct unbroken connection of 100 years of framebuilding. I am proud to be that living connection between the old and the new.

Here is a link to Russ Denny's Website.

You can read Steve Farner's complete article here as a PDF.

Russ Denny

Russell Denny is my ex-apprentice who took over my framebuilding business when I left in 1993.

He still runs the business today in the little desert town of Hemet, in Southern California.

Russ came to work for me in my San Marcos, California frameshop in 1985. He was 18 years old and fresh out of high school; he had been recommended to me by a friend of a friend. Russ is of Native American origin and is proud of his heritage.

What I liked about Russ was that he knew nothing about bikes or framebuilding, but at the same time he had scored well in woodshop at school and had made furniture. In other words he had the makings of a craftsman, but had no pre-conceived ideas about framebuilding or what it entailed.

I had had some bad experiences prior to this with young people who had contacted me, begged me to take them on as an apprentice. They always agreed to start at the bottom, but without exception after a very short time grew tired of filing dropouts and wanted to plunge right in and start building a complete frame.

In the case of Russ Denny, here was a young man who was not only prepared to spend the first few years doing menial tasks like slotting chainstays and seatstays and mitering tubes, he really enjoyed it.

(Left, is a picture from the 1980s of a very young Russ Denny tapping the bottom bracket thread in Fuso frames.)

I had him totally master one task before he moved on to the next. His first attempts at brazing were brazing dropouts into chainstays and adding certain braze-ons to a frame. Five years later Russ had mastered every aspect of the craft of framebuilding.

It was the 1990s and the business was changing rapidly. The demand for road bikes was falling as the Mountain Bike grew in popularity. We tried to switch production but in the first place my heart was not really into building mountain bikes, and there were other established builders of MTBs who had their own following.

I was ready to close up shop, liquidate all the tools and equipment and move on, but I had Russ to think of. He had worked for me for over five years and framebuilding was the only skill he had. I could no longer afford to pay him but he stayed on and managed to get a few orders for his own custom mountain bikes, and he also built frames for Quintana-Roo for the Triathlon market.

This improved his skill as a frame builder and after eight years he could do anything that I could do. In fact in one aspect, namely fillet brazing, he was better than me, because of all the oversize tube MTB frames he had built.

By 1993 it got to the stage where I could no longer keep the business going. My whole business was reliant on a nationwide dealer network, and dealers no longer sold road bikes. Russell seemed to think he could survive on his own, and he did so by giving up his apartment and sleeping in the frameshop. I left the business and took other employment.

Today, Russ Denny has to be one of the most qualified and experienced framebuilders around. As I mentioned when I left in 1993 his skill level was equal to my own, and since then he has added another 14 years experience to this; a total of 22 years.

Russ survived by cutting back on expenses, and starving a little. He also took the business to the next level and started building in new materials as the market demanded. I probably would not have done this because I am too rooted in the past, in tradition. However, Russ was able to move forward and take these ‘old skool’ values in craftsmanship, and design, and apply it to the new.

(Above, a Russ Denny carbon fiber tube bike with aluminum lugs.)

He has gone on to build frames in aluminum, and aluminum and carbon fiber mix, and can still build a frame in steel, both lugged and filet brazed. He offers the best of both worlds. He still incorporates my design philosophies regarding fit and is one of the few people around who can build you a custom CF frame.

Russ has recently put up a new website with contact information and more pictures and details of his frames.