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..."In a room not much bigger than a closet, Peter Mooney makes bicycles - not the kind most people have, produced in duplicates of a thousand, but the kind only a few cyclists own. His bikes are made the old fashioned way, by hand. Each frame is carefully handcrafted to exacting specifications and made to last a lifetime. In Peter Mooney's workroom, at the back of Belmont Wheelworks, there are no conveyor belts, no robots, no line workers - just Mooney and his tools. Mooney finds his small-scale business satisfying for another reason. He gets to meet his customers and personally sells 95 percent of his frames. 'I love it when people come into the shop and say that the bike I built is everything they always wanted it to be.' Hanging from the ceiling of his shop are several frames that look naked and forlorn. To the untrained eye they look like bits of scaffolding; to the expert they are works of art." ~ The Boston Phoenix "...Peter Mooney is not a bicycle snob. It would be understandable if a craftsman like Mooney turned his nose at run-of-the-mill production bikes or the crude machine children enjoy. Mooney's own creations have the heirloom quality that only custom frames can claim, but it's bicycles in general that excite him. His bikes-for-all attitude was honed in England at the shop of the famed builder Ron Cooper. Mooney ventured across the Atlantic in 1975 to learn the art of frame building from the torch master. Mooney returned to his Boston home a year later and began building frames under his own name. 'I knew I wanted to be involved with a retail store and maintain direct contact with the customers,' he said. Shortly after he and a partner formed Belmont Wheelworks, which is now one of the most successful shops in New England. 'My relationship with Wheelworks is great-I do the bulk of building frames during the winter months. I keep the thread going through the summer, but I have retail responsibilities then as well,' the lanky Mooney said. The craftsmanship goes into what Mooney feels is the most important part of the bicycle - the frame. 'When you're really having fun on a bicycle and everything is going right - you have the hot sun on your back and some miles on your legs - what you're really feeling is the bike's frame and wheels. Those are the heart and soul of the bicycle. You're not feeling your $120 seat post or titanium stem. Those things are icing on the cake,' Mooney stated. Mooney isn't one to boast about his racing days as a category 1 rider not about the fact that he commutes by bicycle year-round, even through Boston's harsh winter. Mooney simply likes bikes for whatever purposes they might have. His reputation might be for creating dapper racing machines, but he doesn't harbor a bit of elitism. 'Just yesterday I sold a 24-inch mountain bike to a very excited nine-year-old. It might sound corny, but I got a charge out of that too.' Appreciation for quality that can be seen and felt is an evaporating value according to Mooney. Indeed, creating handmade intangibles requires a passion." ~ Bicycle Guide ...Quote: 'What makes me different? Learning in the most noted one-man frame shop in England, (Ron Cooper's) as my base. My extensive background in all aspects of bicycle activities, i.e., racing road and track events, in addition to extended touring trips. Also being directly involved in the retail sales of most of my work makes me very well versed in fitting the frame or bicycle to the rider's needs.' " ~ Cyclist Magazine "...Mooney had an active racing career, holding a Category 1 license for six years in the mid-seventies. In 1974 he went to Britain to do more racing and to learn a trade. He landed in Ron Cooper's frame shop where he did finish filing; he brazed his own frames after hours, and built his own jigs. A year later, he invested his savings in 50 tubesets and returned to the States to set up shop. Peter Mooney is an archetypal local frame-builder: He personally sells the majority of his hand-built bikes through contact with customers at his store in Belmont, Massachusetts. His annual frame output is somewhere between 35-50, a figure that reflects his obsession for performing all framebuilding duties except painting." " ~ Bicycle Guide "...Your new toaster ejects bread higher than Mt. St. Helens spits ash. The stereo played great in the store, but at home it makes Pavarotti sound like a Cuisinart chopping carrots. Doesn't anybody make anything that works anymore? Peter Mooney does. And his products are faster than a 12-meter yacht, cheaper than a Lamborghini, and 10 times more efficient than a Boeing 707. In a basement workshop, with a place for everything and everything in its place, Mooney crafts bicycles in the Old World tradition. We're talking about serious transportation here. Not kids' bikes with banana seats and handlebars that look as if they came off a moose. Nothing with streamers or cushy seats or knobby tires. Tube by tube, Mooney brazes together the thoroughbreds of the bicycle world. He is not the Northeast's most prolific custom frame builder, nor its most famous, but he has a reputation as one of the best. His output is a mix of racers and high-performance touring bicycles, machines made with the precise geometry and tolerances of a lunar module. In a suburban bicycle shop he partly owns (Belmont Wheelworks), rows of factory-made bicycles cover the floor, while a few Mooney made frames hang from the ceiling. The effect is rather like seeing a Matisse among paint-by-number sunsets." " ~ The Christian Science Monitor "...In an age of special compounds and aircraft metals, Peter Mooney sticks to the basics. He's a custom frame builder, with an emphasis on the word custom, who produces one of the finest steel-tube frames in America. He is hardly an arrogant man; perhaps he's too humble, considering his abilities with torches, brass, steel and files. One speaks with this angular redhead and senses his attention - like his leaning gaze - is focused on each detail of the conversation. Details. 'I think the biggest factor (in buying a Peter Mooney frame) is because it's me,' Mooney said. 'I think that's the biggest selling point.' Not only is Mooney, like any custom builder, going to do the brazing and design work on the bike, but he'll also figure out the customer. 'The Fit Kit is great, but that's just a start. You have to do a bit more. I talk to you,' Mooney said. Mooney's compact frame shop is squared away behind the retail end of Belmont Wheelworks, where he is a part owner. There are few machines visable - nothing is unnecessary. A letter recently written by a satisfied customer is pinned to the wall." ~ Race New England "...No doubt you've noticed that most higher quality bikes you've seen in local shops are routinely made in Europe, Japan or Taiwan by large companies which also manufacture less expensive models. You probably also know that American framebuilders have acquired a well-deserved reputation for immaculate finish work and very innovative designs. But did you know one of the finest bicycle craftsman in the world lives right here in New England? Peter Mooney was born in England where he later returned to learn the trade of framebuilding from Britain's finest bicycle framebuilders, Ron Cooper. In the seventies he set up his own shop, Belmont Wheelworks in Belmont, Massachusetts, where he is now framebuilder-in-residence. From the fitting sessions to the finish filing, only the painting is entrusted to other hands. Peter's choice of steel tubing is based on his respect for its proven and long-lasting qualities, as well as ease of modification, realignment and repair. Mooney derives great satisfaction from being able to meet with his customers one-on-one. Although it sometimes seems easier from a production point of view to hide and simply devote his attention to building product, Mooney insists on personally selling 95 percent of his frames. To have it any other way just wouldn't suit his priorities." ~ Connecticut Sports ..."Did you know that the price of a high quality lug set, bottom bracket, and fork crown can be close to the price of the entire tube set? It's no wonder why so many frame builders are happy to so greatly reduce production costs. Why do some of us persist in making frames the old way? Lugs reinforce high stress areas on a frame. They provide extra thickness where headset cups and seat post clamps can distort thin walled tubes or require the use of heavier tubing. Lugs can also facilitate tube replacements. The main reason for choosing a lugged frame may not be performance related, however. Many popular frame materials must be bonded or welded, eliminating lugs as an option. My frame choice picks steel for its ride-handling characteristics, and lugs for their aesthetic contribution. If steel gives the frame its ride-handling personality, lugs compliment it with a visual personality that makes me feel good about the bikes I build." ~ The Rivendell Reader |