Cognoscenti Cycles is finally winding down to a close. There are a few sets of wheels to complete, and when they are done I will be putting away the tools and turning off the lights for good.
Its quite incredible to think of the fact that my foray into the world of bicycles started in the early 1970’s where I landed my first gig as a pro bike mechanic at Al Wrights Bicycle Shop here in Toronto in 1973.
I loved that job and the crazy crew that I worked with. I jumped right into wheel building with a consuming passion and fascination.
51 years has past since those first feeble efforts to make a wheel perfectly round and true. In the meantime I think I have more or less mastered this art. Yet I am sure if I continued with it there would be new tricks and new ways of building wheels.
But, it’s time to pursue other interests and I will leave the world of hand built wheels to the new young builders and we’ll see how they do.
I have to thank a rather long list of clients who stayed with me over the years and trusted me with their wheels as they fearlessly flew down mountain passes at heart stopping speeds and circled the globe on heavily laden touring bikes and clocked their best times at triathlons, time trials and other assorted racing events.
Without them, this business would have never existed!
I wish I could thank each and every person individually but that’s impossible. I hope you all manage to stay on the bike up until your last day on this little planet.
The invention of the wheel is one of the greatest inventions of all time and the bicycle a close second.
Keep rolling! It’s a good thing!