Thursday, May 4, 2017

Bruce Gordon Retiring

Just a brief post today - I just saw news that American framebuilding legend/pioneer Bruce Gordon has announced that he's retiring from the business. As posted in his own blog, Gordon will be 69 years old next month and has decided it's time to hang it up. His business, including shop space, tools, materials, etc., is up for sale.

(from Brucegordoncycles.blogspot.com)

Gordon had developed a reputation some years back as something of a curmudgeon -- a reputation that I believe he himself was happy to propagate. Years ago, he famously made and distributed badges that read "Bruce Gordon Was Rude To Me." I never met him, so I can't say he was ever rude to me, but I'd love to have one of the buttons. But lest anyone get to thinking they had him figured out, he later ran a batch of badges that read "Bruce Gordon Was Nice To Me." There's a good story about that on the Lovely Bicycle blog.

I would recommend that people go to Gordon's blog (brucegordoncycles.blogspot.com) and scroll back through the archives. One thing I really enjoyed was a series of articles on "Bruce Gordon's Personal Bikes" which ran from Jan. 2015 through June of 2016. It's cool, and informative, and the bikes are fantastic to see. Touring bikes, mountain bikes, commuters - there's a neat variety, and I enjoyed getting his thoughts on the various bikes from different times in his career.

Wishing him the best.
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownMay 4, 2017 at 5:42 PM

    The first Custom frame I ever saw was a Bruce Gordon with those fabulous fastback stays, I think the model was called Chinook. It was about 1978 and I walked into The Pedal in Corpus Christi, probably with $4.65 in loose change to buy more Oakley grips for my Mongoose or something. I was 14 and already dreaming about roadbikes but still thought the best bike in the world had to be a Raleigh Pro.

    Not after that.

    Bruce Gordon re-calibrated my sense of what a "Best Bike" ought to be that day.

    Spindizzy

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  2. MendonCycleSmithMay 5, 2017 at 1:45 PM

    NOOO!

    So sad. The industry loses another great, independent voice.

    This isn't a complete story without mentioning SOPWAMTOS and the golden toilet seat awards handed out at the industry trade show.

    I've met him a few times, always very cordial, polite, but with a touch of irascibility bubbling near the surface!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mark DeadeyDecember 16, 2017 at 4:39 AM

    I bought a bike off Bruce years back, great touring bike! I met him at his shop and had a lot of good laughs with him! Best on your retirement Bruce!

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