A Visit to Mr. Weigle's Workshop

We’ve been talking about this day for quite a while – over a year in fact.
It stuck in the back of our minds, a project that we knew would be a
labor of love.

Together, Justin, Mike, and I hatched a little idea about producing a
series of photo essays on framebuilder workshops.  We understood that we
were not reinventing the wheel: our friends at Rouleur, Embrocation, as
well as some of the more prolific bloggers in the industry have all
recently run with a version of the idea.  But we knew we also had the
goods to pull it off. Justin’s a great photographer, Mike can put pen to
paper when necessary, and most importantly, I have a car that seats 3 with
bikes – all of the components we needed for our own unique take on the
workshop profile.

Our subject in mind was none other than one of the all-time great American
frame-builders – J. Peter Weigle. We had gotten to know Peter recently,
and while we’ve been familiar with his bikes (and rustproofing) for
decades, it’s been the last couple of years where we’ve been able to truly
put into context what Peter contributes to the bike world.

After spending some time with Peter and his wife in connection with the
Museum of Arts and Design’s ‘Bespoke’ handbuilt bicycle exhibit this
summer, he invited us to stop by his workshop in Lyme, CT for a tour and a
ride.  Our schedules finally coincided last Tuesday, so Justin, Mike and I
hopped in the NYC Velo Subaru with a trio of steel bikes on the roof,
grabbed some coffee at Abraço, and headed out to our neighbor to the east.

We were greeted warmly by Peter upon our arrival at his workshop 120 miles
later.  We spent hours talking about rando bikes, vintage parts, handmade
tools, builders, flickr pages, NAHBS, and AC Cobra rally car racing.
Visiting Peter’s workshop for a day, one quickly realizes that you need a
month to document the parts, tools and bike ephemera that occupy every
inch of the 1000 sq. foot space.  At a certain point, Peter put his foot
down and got us out on a two-wheeled tour of the dirt roads in and around
the eastern CT coastline.  The day’s weather afforded a ride that took
advantage of the best that New England has to offer: grade A Vitamin G
roads – buff and fast.  Stark, leafless trees surrounding babbling brooks
and waterfalls sheepishly displaying a fraction of their springtime power.
Cottages and farmhouses, true to their Yankee locale, with nary a
subdivision in sight.  In other words – perfect.

Our planned four hour tour was cut back to an all-too-modest 2 hours,
thanks to the early winter sun’s westward advance.  But before we headed
back west to NY, Peter took us to Ashlawn Farm Coffee for an espresso
boost home and some talk about his days at Callaway Motorsports, tuning
Corvettes.  Peter’s randonneur masterpieces sure can move, and now we know
why.

Untill next time, thanks Peter!

We’re spending the winter organizing the photos of our trip, and we
promise the profile will be worth the wait.  Watch this space for more
info and updates.

-Andrew