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| Paul Sadoff |
Paul Sadoff has steadily producing finely crafted bike frames since the late seventies under the Rock Lobster name. Unlike some builders Paul builds custom frames out of a variety of different frame materials, steel, aluminum, mixed aluminum and carbon frames and, when available, scandium. Paul is also passionate musician and a prolific blogger. I consider his blog “Overopinionated Framebuilder” a must read not only for people who love bikes but also because it’s goddamn funny.
Paul produces a small number of bikes per year, usually around a hundred. Not one to specialize Paul makes cyclocross, road, track, fixed gear and mountain bikes but don’t, under any circumstances, ask for a “Notrager”.
Recently I asked Paul if he’d be interested in being interviewed by my blog, “Bicycle Industrial Complex” and to my surprise Paul said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”.
Ten Questions for Rock Lobster’s Paul Sadoff
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| Rock Lobster #2 |
Paul: The hand built bike show is open to many types of builders but it mostly champions rolling works of art. I think that the frames that folks make specifically for the show to win awards are truly amazing and probably have lots of painstaking hours of work into them. The thing that I find sad is that these hours are largely unpaid and the resulting masterpiece is not likely to command a price that pays for the builder's labor at anything close to a living wage. My guess is that some folks who come to the show are there to be 'wowed' but are not likely to buy the frames that they came to see. These folks who come to the show to look at the fancy frames might be under the impression that all of the builders at the show are making a living building these fancy frames...with only a couple of exceptions, this is not the case.
Bicycle Industrial Complex: What part of the bike industry really gets under your skin?
Paul: I don't have much of a beef with any part of the bike industry... it's mostly inhabited by people who would rather work at something they feel good about instead of going for the maximum dollar. The one thing that bothers me are people in the bike industry who take advantage of other people's labors and rip them off...this is pretty rare though.
Bicycle Industrial Complex: There’s a couple frame builders who are quite active bloggers, you, Bruce Gordon, Dave Moulton, and while I appreciate your no bullshit approach do you think that by being so straight forward that can turn off some customers?
Paul: The blog you are referring to does exactly what it is supposed to do...cut through what I see as bullshit in my craft and also make some folks laugh. If it turns off some people, that might really be a good thing as folks who don't share my humor probably wouldn't like the look of my shop or my whole approach to building frames. These folks might be fine people but honestly, another builder would probably better serve them; and I have learned this the hard way, trust me.
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| Same side shifters so Paul's hand wouldn't hit the number plate |
Paul: I feel that the riding around here and the people have shaped all of the bikes that have been born here. If I were to put some sort of phrase to sum up the 'Santa Cruz aesthetic' I would say that the bikes here are functional, durable and not too fancy for the most part. It's more about the riding here than the visual look of the bike.
Bicycle Industrial Complex: There’s a good number of frame builders who started building in the seventies, you, Albert Eisentraut, Bruce Gordon, Ross, Richard Sachs, Ben Serotta, etc., what do you think helped spur the first wave of artisan American frame builders?
Paul: In the '70's there were so few builders one could hardly refer to it as a 'wave'. For me it was an economic decision... I didn't have the money for a nice frame but I did have the $ 30 for a Columbus tube set. If I wasn't working for a good shop with a bunch of great frames hanging on the wall, I doubt I would have thought about building one myself. Seeing the workmanship was an inspiration for sure.
Bicycle Industrial Complex: I know that you’ve been a long time guitar player if you had to choose one guitar to play for the rest of your life, what guitar would you play?
Paul: I have an old red Stratocaster... I'm not letting go of that one until I'm dead.
(For the record Paul said it's a '63 that he bought in '81 before the vintage market went crazy).
Bicycle Industrial Complex: I’ve been spending a good amount of time on your blog and you’ve touched upon things such as sustainability issues, environmental impacts and labor issues associated with mass produced bikes, why do you think these issues are largely swept under the carpet by the cycling press?
Paul: Because that is the way of almost all press...hard truths are not popular with big business and they are the ones who advertise and pay for these publications to exist. The magazines can't bite the hand that feeds them. Not all magazines are like this, though. In the USA Dirt Rag, Bicycle Times and some others have articles that address the same topics as in my blog.... heck, I might have plagiarized them without knowing it!
Bicycle Industrial Complex: You’ve done quite a bit of racing in your past, and there a good number of frame builders who also race, Richard Sachs, Rick Hunter, Curtis Inglis, what do you think you’ve learned about frame building and design you wouldn’t have learned otherwise?
Paul: Actually, I did very little racing in the past, basically a couple of seasons on the road and a handful of single speed MTB races. It has only been since 1998 that I have really been regular with it. I have been around racing since the late '70's as a helper, mechanic and builder. I do run a cyclocross team now and have elevated my own skills to a less embarrassing level. Truth be told, I'm not a very good racer but I have a good time doing it and I really love the folks on the team and everyone connected with the sport.
Bicycle Industrial Complex: There have been a number of people in the industry who started off as builders who are now more associated with offshore made cycling products rather than something actually produced with their own hands. Is that a matter of being a savvy businessperson or is that simple dishonesty?
Paul: The sad fact is that the thing I like most about the job is the process of building the frame. It is also the most labor intensive and least profitable part. I can't blame people who want to make more money having their products made overseas by less expensive labor...the economics make sense. I did import frames from Taiwan that I designed for a few years but found that I really didn't want to grow my business in the classic corporate model. I found that the business of reselling stuff that I didn't make got in the way of making stuff! There are lots of brands that are merely a few folks who design and market outsourced products. Some of these products are pretty good and represent a good value. A lot of consumers cannot afford local handmade goods-unless that changes we will have the 'your name here' bicycles for the foreseeable future.
Bicycle Industrial Complex: Any parting thoughts?
Paul: I might come across as bitter or angry in my blog ' Overopinionated Framebuilder' but that is not the whole story-I have my share of good times being a bike builder. I won't say that it is an easy way to earn a living-it's very difficult to pull off-but the challenge keeps it interesting and there's always something to learn even if now and then it is a hard lesson.
People interested in reading Paul’s blog, check out ' Overopinionated Framebuilder' and people who are interested in having Paul produce you a hand crafted no b.s. frame please check out Rock Lobster’s site.
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