Richard Sachs Cycles

[e-RICHIE]

Richard:

Is that where you met the Hjertbergs? They had one of your frames on display on the table at the Wheelsmith in '77 (?). I went with the cheaper option, Jeff Lyons. I stumbled on the reciept for the Lyons the other day. Blew my mind!

Jim

i didn't meet them until many years later. hugh enoch from jevelot in la honda rep-ed my frames in norcal and wheelsmith was
a retailer that sold my frames, as did garner's in redwood city, bicycle odyssey in sausalito, village peddlar in god-knows-where,
and about four other stores whose
names escape me atmo.

[e-RICHIE]

Richard, at the time of the 1976 Cycle Show, and that particular bicycle, what was your goal? Were you looking for shops to do business with, or was your main goal exposure on a wider scale? I realize marketing was very different at that time, which could explain a lot. That is a very nice bicycle and looks exactly like the bike I wanted to ride at that time.
Craig

my goal? simple. to show that the tag-line used in this ad i ran at the beginning was more than just a line of type.
i had already made/brazed about 250 frames by the time the first RS label was on a bicycle. when i started my
business it was a business, not a folly. even though the brand had had many layers of evolution since day one,
i believed i was part of a new standard and had no second thoughts saying as much. odd though - after the very
first print campaign which lasted about two full seasons, it wouldn't be until the late 1990's that i would use adjectives
or superlatives in print again atmo.

[zank]

The word inspiring doesn't begin to describe that.

[e-RICHIE]

The word inspiring doesn't begin to describe that.

you're the next in line atmo.

[sharkboyrob]

Holy sh8t... just caught the drilling on the front and back of the brakes! That 1976 show was EPIC! Pergo and I were HS kids who got in with business cards as wrenches from Roy's Sheepshead Cycles.

[GrantM]

atmo- 20,000 views!!


g

[DCT]

lotsa good stories in this thread. thanks for keeping up with this richard.

[e-RICHIE]

lotsa good stories in this thread. thanks for keeping up with this richard.

thanks atmo.
here's a gem from twmp's intereview from 2009 and i think it's so nice i'm gonna play it twice:

is the much vaunted five year waiting list a bonus or a millstone round your neck?

It’s around seven years, but why keep score?! In my most self-absorbed moments, when I am looking at the stack of papers that comprise the order pile, or the running list of names that make up the queue, or the various client file folders I have created to keep order in my email program, or the three (count ‘em, THREE…) separate places I keep all of the pending orders information as a sort of checks and balances thing in case there’s some data loss suffered somewhere – when I stew on all of this in its entirety, at times I let it get to me. But the reality is that I am fortunate to have the work, and grateful for the demand.

as a sidebar, the wait list that gets tossed around as some kind of pop culture fodder for message board-istas is relatively new for most of us who have them. i labored (that’s a loose use of the word atmo) in relative obscurity for many seasons. for most of my adult life, the delivery quotes ranged from 6 months to maybe 2 years. all of this changed for many framebuilders when forum life became the routine social outlet for so many racers, consumers, and aficionados of handmade and hard to get items that go here —–> ________________ .

It’s a rather odd zeitgeist that has allowed for the craftspeople in question to have such long lines. The message boards threads add to the stew. The picture links add to the stew. The endless posts from detractors who question the others who are in the queues add to the stew. Most of the framebuilders are one-man shops with low output to begin with. The frames can’t be made any faster. So folks are waiting. That’s a story in itself, as is the herd instinct phenomenon that comes from the forum folk who have opinions on both sides of the issue.

[SteveP]

20,000th hit on this thread. qualifies for a free sachs frame
make it a sstt and hope to see it next week.

[anthonymaietta]

you're the next in line atmo.

Hey Mike, don't fuck it up ok? Thank you, kindly.

[davids]

Hey Mike, don't fuck it up ok? Thank you, kindly.

Is there some hidden message lurking here?

[DCT]

richard

any special plans for nahbs?

[e-RICHIE]

richard

any special plans for nahbs?

i'm happy in the margins atmo.

[e-RICHIE]

the washingmachinepost dot net atmo -



.

[edoz]

courtesy of pal dale atmo -

Wow, do you remember about what year that was?

[e-RICHIE]

Wow, do you remember about what year that was?

1976 or so atmo.
that's when i raised my prices to what you see here.

[e-RICHIE]

i want to say hello to all the cats i met at nahbs who were once only screen names to me but are now real faces and real names atmo.
also, my thanks to all the effbuilders who came to the big dance, especially the many Smoked Out alums who make this board so special.

[anthonymaietta]

Richard,

I have a non-cycling question for you. Don't ask me how, but the Peddie School came up in conversation today; which got me to thinking about you. I was under the impression that Peddie was a pretty large feeder school for Princeton, but after doing some simple online investigating Princeton isn't in the top 10 colleges for Peddie grads since 2005. When you were there was it a Princeton feeder?

How did you end up at such a prestigious boarding school? Do you feel that any of the Richard we see today was a direct result of your time there?

Did you ever feel pressure to enroll at a high brow college like I am sure many of your classmates did?

Thanks for indulging me.

Tony

[e-RICHIE]

Richard,

I have a non-cycling question for you. Don't ask me how, but the Peddie School came up in conversation today; which got me to thinking about you. I was under the impression that Peddie was a pretty large feeder school for Princeton, but after doing some simple online investigating Princeton isn't in the top 10 colleges for Peddie grads since 2005. When you were there was it a Princeton feeder?

How did you end up at such a prestigious boarding school? Do you feel that any of the Richard we see today was a direct result of your time there?

Did you ever feel pressure to enroll at a high brow college like I am sure many of your classmates did?

Thanks for indulging me.

Tony

i think many schools (like Peddie) are broad-stroked as being feeder schools to places like princeton. how did i end up there? well, after eight years at a yeshiva (look it up) i spent two at bayonne high school and the contrast between the cultures of independent and public school was huge. during my first two years at bhs, i drifted further from the discipline and self-motivation i had been used to and ended up doing near to nothing with myself, academically. my mother, who was a teacher, principal, had pioneer status in the new jersey Head Start programs, and who would also go on to work for the state mentoring future principals - she (my mom) didn't want me to become a statistic. so, after two year of partying, carbonna sniffing, lsd tripping, and taking the path train to the east village pretending i was of age and drinking at mcsorley's every weekend, i had a choice: new york miltary academy OR the Peddie school. off to hightown i went.

from the moment i was dropped off, indoctrinated, met room mates, and began to understand what independent boarding schools (like Peddie) were all about, i embraced the culture. i come from a working class, row house, blue collar neighborhood existence. Peddie, while a private school, was not a blue-blood, straight-from-a-mayflower-family type place. yes, there were many cats there who came from good (and famous) families, but it wasn't the rule. there was a good mix of backgrounds, races, and personality types. for me, the experience crystallized early on in mister roberts' english classes. don roberts was vigilant about keeping a diary; it was a requirement. so, with little to no writing experience, i was forced to self-start that chapter in my life. it didn't matter what we wrote, AS LONG AS WE WROTE SOMETHING EVERY DAY. these exercises morphed into a favorite thing to do of sorts, and almost a hobby. i embraced the writing and "expression" thing. the first winter at Peddie there was a school wide creative writing contest called, of all things The Dimes. every student was expected to submit an entry and the english department would judge them and declare a winner at the next assembly. i was a new boy and a sophomore, and when i heard my name called to the stage that fateful day in december it was incredible (i hate that word). no matter what i wrote about (it's irrelevant to this post) or what i was judged against, being singled out for the effort became an important spike on my evolution time line atmo. by spring i was on the board of the school's literary magazine called The Amphion and went on the edit it for the three years i was at Peddie. the writing thing was in my blood. i should add as a caveat, that while i do have these experiences and often summon them up, we are really only speaking about scholastic level writing; high school aged boys writing about what (little) they know. but it was my writing, and the enjoyment/fulfillment was my enjoyment/fulfillment, and that's all that mattered atmo.

during senior year, all Peddie boys are expected to apply to four (only) colleges. i saw myself as a creative, head-y type and duly applied to bard, bennington, antioch, and one other school whose name i cannot recall. all said no thanks. getting shot down at all four schools was a Peddie first. so, i then applied to goddard and franconia, both great schools in their own right but both were colleges that no Peddie boys had ever sought admission to. both said yes, and i was goddard bound that next fall. entrance got postponed from september to april, and the rest is history and more than well and exhaustively documented in other posts here as well as in articles on my site. fast forward note - not only was i probably the only Peddie boy in generations to 1) not go straight on to college after the summer, but i was likely 2) one of the only alums who chose to bypass the college experience altogether.

the money my mother used to send me to Peddie was the best money anyone ever spent on anything atmo. the campus experience during my formative years shaped me for the rest of my life. i embraced the atmosphere, the traditions, the bonds, and the collegial experience. and i became a zealot for the institution, donating money back to Peddie as often as i can, as well as promoting the school as being the single biggest influence in my life after my family.

i have only cracked the surface of this in reply to you, but i have to get back to earth now. before i end this, i'll paste in a letter i received from another Peddie boy. though old and yellowed, it remains ones of my life's treasures and made me believe that everything is circular.

[Dave Anderson]

What a great story. We all know that you are a better writer than most and its cool to see where the seed was planted. Sounds like your mom was ahead of the curve in numerous ways as well....cool stuff!

Dave