Zanotti Cycles

The way of the future.

2009-12-06T02:55:00.000-08:00

It is certainly not in T-shirts of the retarded jewelers. I mean come on....you are not a frame builder unless you live and pay your bills by selling frames. No amount of willy twilly crap will make you a builder if you are not one already. Some people like Dave B. are just not cut out to be builders, again we run into the issue of some people wanting to be builders, but they completely lack the skills to even build a spoked wheelset by hand. I find this to be an utter outrage!!!

Plus...how the hell can you teach a class on building if you are just a jeweler? Come on does it really take that long to teach someone crap? I have taught over 200 students in 5 days or less. And yes you are busting your ass for those five days, but what do you expect? Sympathy? An easy ride? A nice vacation? Not happening here at Zanotti Cycles, you can expect to get hammered, challenged, tried, beaten up, and in the end, you will actually be better than these cry-babys who wear girl pants, and ride fixes, and make stupid shirts. For gods sake, there is a group of us builders who are actually sick of responding to these idiots on the web. There is a lot of Theorycraft=Some people who are still trying to be smart, and talk about stuff they have no idea about. But alas, we have to see this stuff in our in-boxes every... fracking...day....$200 off my framebuilding course if you can tie that reference.

Alas, there are fucking idiots that just want to post crap about how interesting they are in the community. And well, I am not one of them, I am currently teaching an elite crew of people, and well I am one of those guys that is POLARIZING. You either am on deck with me, or you want to shoot me...well that is if you had the brains to use a gun in the first place, but your girl pants wont let you stow one in that tight waist will it? Ficking girl-man. That said...todays post about a girl on a shirt made a fair amount of traffic on the boards. Too bad that the girl was actually Dave B in his best looking dream of his girl pants self. Just leave him alone and let him live his fantasy of being tied up. Everyone has their kinky side, and if Dave wants to be tied up and tripping over his O/A hoses, just let him.

That said, I had a great conversation with a student today who agreed with the function over fashion position that I hold. Orange curshy thingys will fade away, and in the end after the girl pants and 70's haircuts go away....there will be function. My bikes run better, race faster, and are just PLAIN BETTER than anything out on the market. I guarantee it. Make a stupid 29'er with a 1" fork, great....you are an idiot. Make a race bike that can manage 24 hours of hammering, get put away wet and hot and then come back out the next day... well....then you are me.

You want art, call an artist, and be afraid to ride the thing. But I and we make bikes that are worth riding, and they will hold your ass on the lines down Page Mill, Old La Honda, and Kings Mountain Roads. You want to match your canary to the color of your bike, then let's do it. But I can't see building a bike around "colorways". Get it...if not then search youtube for the video and move to Portland and drink some coffee. I build bikes around PERFORMANCE. YOU get to make it pretty. I am a blue and white type of guy, so please come to my table knowing what you want. I will not pick colors for you. I know what I like, and I expect that you know what the hell you like before you call me. It is your suit...like I was telling a client the other day....you pick the fabric, and let me do the fitting and tailoring. You know what you like. So call me when you have that in your hands, or you have it picked out. After that, let me take over, we will work out the details, and I promise you you will be happy......or you can settle for a T-shirt.

2009-11-29T00:36:00.000-08:00

I had a great conversation today. Pushing a great set of resources such as Nova Cycle Supply, BIKE CAD, And Freddy Parr. All of which have helped in one way or another for them. And I hope for me, as a technical resource, I helped a FUNCTIONAL frame builder.

If you want to build jewelry as a bike frame like Bohm, and Sacha at Vanilla, then go ahead. Their bikes are AWESOME, and if you think it is smart paying that kind of money for a frame that you would rather hang on your wall and ride, then go right ahead. My student today pointed out that many people would rather be building FUNCTIONAL frames and bikes in lieu of pretty art. Hey...the art is fine, but I have been approached by no less than 2 of Sacha Whites/ Vanilla Cycles Clients who really wanted the water bottle mounts installed in their 2 year wait frames.

Here I was...in my shop...drilling on a $3800 frame....which I think is a joke/bad idea, unless you are hanging it on the wall, as good art should be. Sacha is one of the finest artisans I have ever met. I have built some bikes that have rivaled his, but he specializes in it. And today, I spoke to a student who emphasized the functionality over artisan. Today, I got one notch back in my belt for believing people have not gone down the stupid retro track. OLD IS OLD....I never forget my foundation, but people who build 1" forks and quill stems are in a questionable position for me.

I have always said, even a 1" standard frame has a place, but honestly, there are few places left for a quill stem, and a threaded bike. Lugs are the worst idea for a custom client. And after talking to yet another client today, I am happy to say that lugs are still a bad idea...from a functionality point of view. If you want to show off some willy twilly crap skill you have, then use lugs. Or if you are great at a technology that is 50+ years old, then by all means use lugs, but I have my opinion, and I am more old school than lug users, I braze....with bronze....where it is, and I make it much prettier than some $5200 jeweler frame. And with pretty paint I do it for less than $2500 at best.

It functions, it RIDES, I am sorry, but if you want a bike you can hang on the wall, then buy an ARTISAN frame, and then hope they have a clue about racing, riding, or even whipping down a 56+MPH descent. Because I can bet they don't. Can they build you a custom wheelset? And even one custom tuned to their client to which they profess to build THE BEST FRAME EVER/ I doubt it.... If not, then how attached to cycling are they? Be honest?!

If you can't ride a fixie in the streets of SF and the hills, then why build one? What do you know?

Arguably the vast majority of the world is about functionality, and if you fail in that, which more than half of the builders do, then you are just artists. Not for bad or good, just there to produce pretty things to hang bike parts on.

But if you can produce a true CUSTOM frame for someone, then you are great. That is, fit first, ride next, and happiness next/coupled with efficiency. THEN....you might want to think about paint.

Honestly, I had a great conversation today with someone, and we acknowledged that some bikes are really pretty, but I have seen them break. More often than not. Really pretty bikes that I have even repaired from above said builders more than once, and they are really pretty, but they SUCK as bikes.

So I guess it comes down to if you want a bike, or if you want a piece of art, that has no bottle mounts for whatever ride you might have taken on that thing. Well at least until you bring it to me so I can put some rivnuts in.

Special On Rivnuts for Artisan frames....$300 for 2 and a 3 month wait:)

That said, I am standing by my functional frame status until this bad retro idea/artisan gig blows over. I will be happy to create the best performance frame for you, and these days my delivery time is short. But if you want to talk the chrome lugs, or pin striping, then you better call another builder, because when you are ripping down Page Mill, I want you to feel like that tailored suit fits, not that it is JUST pretty.

Pretty things fade, a fit that lasts and was build around you will never wane.

Chris Z

Back to a good basecamp.

2009-11-28T22:24:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

I am so sorry I have been gone for some great time. I could use simple metaphors like "What a long strange trip it's been..." They suck, because most of us are Grateful they Are Dead, and the song sucked anyway. But I am back, not in black, but in the Blue I have always had at my side. So lets get rolling and get the classes, which are 5 at the moment, and bikes....which are backed up on line. Thank you all for your support!