A Tribute to Francisco Cuevas

It was recently reported on the Classic Rendezvous that Francisco Cuevas had passed away in Barcelona at the age of 90. Classic Rendezvous is an online haven for people who love vintage bikes with lugged, steel frames.

Francisco was a builder of custom bicycles, and I was fortunate enough to make his acquaintance when I was a younger man. He left an impression on me and I was sad to hear of his death.

In 1974, I was living in NYC and obsessed with riding and working on racing bicycles. I would rebuild my friends' bikes, just for the experience of tearing apart and reassembling different makes. Eventually, the small apartment that I shared with my girlfriend was completely cluttered with bikes and parts. One day, in exasperation, she said to me, "If you love bikes so much, why don't you get a job in a bike shop?" I think there were some other words in there, but you get the idea. Funny thing, the idea had never occurred to me. It was one of those moments when you look up and you're torn between exhilaration and feeling incredibly stupid.

Within two weeks, I was working at 14th Street Bicycles, on the corner of 1st Avenue. This shop was well known at the time for the huge mural of a bike painted on the brick wall above. The mural originally had a chain and lock that wrapped around the vent pipe. I have a photo from 1972 somewhere, but can't find it. It was owned by Denco Distributors, who had a total of 5 shops in Manhattan and Queens. They put me to work   selling bikes and I took to it eagerly. I had never enjoyed a job so much. Talking to people about bikes, answering their questions, and helping them pick out the right bike for their needs, was my idea of heaven. Needless to say, I started selling a lot of bikes.

In the back room was an older gentleman who was the head mechanic. He was a fit looking 60, with muscular arms and shoulders, olive skin, thick salt and pepper hair and a huge smile. This was Francisco Cuevas. He spoke no English and the interaction I had with him for the next weeks consisted of me trying to communicate with sign language what repairs were to be done on customers bikes. Slowly I started to learn the Spanish words for brakes, gears, tires, and began to put them together into coherent phrases. Francisco was a good teacher, laughing when I'd make a mistake and gently correcting me. Originally he said he'd teach me Spanish, if I'd teach him English. Well, I learned some Spanish, but that's about as far as it went.

Anyway, as time went on I began to take notice of the racer types who would come in to the shop and go back to chat with Francisco. They were always wheeling beautiful bikes with frames that had no identification on them. This may have been before the Cuevas crest was created. I any case, I never saw one until 10 years later. I asked one of the other employees at the shop about the racers and their great looking bikes. He told me that these were Francisco's customers, for whom he had built custom frames. Wow. Turns out that he was building frames after hours on his own time. My budding friendship with Sr. Cuevas quickly turned into a serious case of hero worship. I would stay after work to watch him and talk.

He told me about his life. How he was from Barcelona, and his pride in being Catalan was apparent, but had to leave when the political situation became intolerable. So he took his family to Argentina and continued to work in the bicycle trade that he learned in his homeland. He said he had a bike factory and, if I understood him correctly, he built 17,000 frames there. Now my Spanish was very rudimentary, so I could have misunderstood the number. Looking back now, it seems like a lot. Then, a few years before I met him, he pulled up stakes and moved his family again, this time to New York City. His sons, Paco and Andres also worked in Denco shops, and one of them (Andres?) painted some of the frames that Francisco made.

It didn't take me long to start asking about having a frame made. The price was $175.00 for a bare frame. I put down the deposit and the deal was done. I started staying after work more frequently and actually got to do some of the filing during the construction of my frame. I remember one evening when Francisco had set me to work filing while he did other things. After a while, I asked him to have look and tell me if it was good enough. He peered at my work a moment, then turned away with a shrug, "It's your frame, if you think that is good enough, then it is." I went back to filing.

Francisco's technique of building frames was a unusual in that he did not use jigs to hold the tubes in place as he brazed them. He would tack the tubes and lugs, eyeball them, make adjustments, and when he was satisfied, he'd complete the brazing process. He used brass instead of silver for his brazing. He was very much the old-world craftsman. The frame he built for me was numbered 026, indicating the 26th frame he built here in the States.

When the frame was complete, I sent it down to Proteus in Maryland where they painted it in forest green Imron for the astronomical price of $30.00. Over the next two years I assembled the bike using Zeus components from Spain. I had become friends with the manager of the Zeus distributorship on 11 Stone Street downtown, and traded work for components. It seemed appropriate to set up the Cuevas with Spanish parts. I have a a few pictures I scanned from photos of the bike taken at it's completion in 1976. The details are not clear and the beautiful lugwork is not featured in the pics. Really, the dark green paint job had no lug lining or highlights and did not do the frame justice. This is not to say that there was anything wrong with the paint job that was done by Proteus. I chose this paint scheme for an understated look, which I felt was a better idea while living in Manhattan (I had already lost a bike to theft).

For comparison, I want to show these pictures of the same frame taken in the mid-80's after it was repainted by CyclArt. I had ridden the bike across the US in 1977 (the subject of a future post), and the paint was looking pretty shabby. The folks at CyclArt detailed the frame with highlights and added Cuevas decals which I had never seen before. This is how the bike still looks today.

 

After being at the 14th Street bike shop for around a year, I was transferred to the shop on 96th Street and Broadway. I kept in touch with Francisco, visiting  him from time to time. I left New York in June of 1977 to do the cross country ride and lost touch with him at that point. I have read accounts of him going on to work at Paris Sport bikes in New Jersey (I think). Eventually he worked out of his own shop in Queens with his sons, and then, at some point, returned to Barcelona to spend his remaining years.

One of the things I find most curious about his work is that it doesn't command higher prices on E-Bay. Complete bikes stall out well below the $1000 mark. Seems strange, given the fact that they don't often come available. I do not want to speculate on why this may be, or relate stories I have heard about problems with Cuevas frames. I can only relate my own experience with one of his frames. This bike has endured many hard miles, at least 3,000 of them with 50 pounds of gear hanging from it. Never had a moments problem with it.

I wish that I had some great words of wisdom of Francisco's to recount. But I don't. The hours I spent with him I remember as being comfortable and interesting. He was a great guy with a terrific sense of humor. I feel fortunate to have been his friend, even if only for a short time.

Comments

[Scott]

Great piece on some very neat cycle history! Welcome to the WWB... Weird World o' Blogging.

Fine start in my estimate Greg... I'll certainly be back again.

-Me (Large Fella)

PS> Thanks for the Link, I'll hit ya up too.

[Doug Smith]

Great Greg did'nt know you were involved in this great medium
Congratulations
Doug Smith

[Quique VonMrazek]

My Bro owns a Cuevas Bike... plus there's a few still spinnin' in Puerto Rico. Great bike!!!! and Andres's paint job is oustanding.
I'm pretty sure he is back!!! doing paint works.

Quique

[Landon Wickham, Jr.]

Thank you for the story. I bought my 1st cuevas custom cycle in 1982 when he was building bikes in LIC. His son built my second and I cherish both. Landon

[Manny Lopez]

I worked with Francisco Andres, and Maria in the Astoria Queens shop along with my good friend John. I remember Franciso had a frame shop not far from the bike shop. The name of the shop was Quevas Bicycles. He really was a great guy and so was his entire family. One of his grandsons gave me my first set of riding clothes. Andres taught me some great stuff about riding. We would go on these fantastic rides with Francisco, Andres, and even Paco would go along on his moped and pace us. We would go to races and people would always stare at the frames. Those were some great times that I'll never forget. I really grew to love and respect the whole family. Thanks for posting this.

[Quique VonMrazek]

I'm back!

On November 23 2005 I posted 'bout my bro owning a very nice Blue, White and Purple Cuevas Barcelona frame. Well.... now I've got mine!!!!!! A yellow and white 52 x 53 with Cuevas straight fork. I've already ridden it over 5 thousand miles and it keeps getting better. My only upgrade was a set of Topolino C-19 wheels to bring down the weight (it came with Ultegra hubs with mavic rims) and a smoother ride.

I hope more Cuevas show up here.

See You....

Qq

[JUAN VALERIO BELMONT]

Sr.Francisco Cuevas y familia mando mi mas sentido pesame po el fallecimiento de su padre.pronto nos beremos andres y fernando saludos. JUAN VALERIO.

[Adam]

I found a Cuevas bike in a thrift shop. I posted it on eBay -- just search for Vintage Cuevas -- and am getting inundated with questions.

I've sold a bunch of stuff on eBay but I've never gotten more questions than about this. Does anyone know anything about the bike?

[Greg]

I was surprised today to see several new comments. Just shows how often I work on my blog.

Please, if you have any questions or just want to talk about Senor Cuevas, e-mail me directly, I will be glad to respond.

[email protected]

Thanks.

Greg

[Luis Mejia]

Que gran persona, recuerdo su carisma, su personalidad, que buenos momentos con su sentido de humor pase alla en Queens N.Y
Gane la gran fortuna de trabajar a su lado,
siempre llevare estos agradables dias presentes en mi mente Que Dios te tenga en su gloria buen amigo!

[Luis]

I met Francisco when he came to Barcelona from New York. He settled in a small village 50 km from Barcelona, close to a National Park called Montseny. At that time I was 16 years old and I started to bike race. We founded the Club Ciclista Montseny which is still working. Francisco was a great guy, always smiling. Last 10 years of his life he was on a wheel chair unable to talk or move because of an ambolia (I am not sure if that´s the correct name in english), but he still had a clear mind. Every time I went to see him he was just smiling like a kid and looking really healthy. I also feel fortunate to have met him.

[Fenderman]

See http://fendermanchronicles.blogspot.com/ for my too-brief post about my Cuevas...not many of them made it out here to the west coast but we always thought they were cool...

[Jorge Rodriguez]

I was fortunate to meet Don Francisco in 1975 when I started sandblasting his frames before they were to be painted and I was a witness of the perfection in which the tubbing was welded; that is the reason why we see today proud riders after so many years of ridding those frames. Our frienship and contact continued untill his passing. Needless to say, the Master built my 2 racing bikes, my wife's and son's which we still have. When he returned to Barcelona, he continued building frames in Montseny, Spain. On one of my trips to Barcelona I visited him and remenber him saying with a smile "HOMBRE, TO DEBERIAS ABRIR UN TALLER AQUI PUES ME RESULTA ENGORROZO ENCONTRAR ALGUIEN QUE ARENE MIS CUADROS Y TENGO QUE LIMPIARLOS A MANO."(MAN,YOU SHOULD OPEN A SHOP HERE BECAUSE IT IS DIFICULT TO FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN SANDBLAST MY FRAMES AND I HAVE TO CLEAN THEM BY HAND.)As far as I am concerned, Don Francisco Cuevas, as a frame builder, was a pioneer for the increasing interest in cycling trough NY and NJ, specially in Queens were he built frames for many years. We will always have him and his family in our thuoghts and prayers.

[Ronnie]

Approx. 30 yrs. ago,I stumbled upon Mr.Cuevas's shop on 14st. I visited the shop almost every day,became friends with Andres and eventually saved up enough money to purchase a beautiful Cuevas frame with Campy gruppos....when I approached andres with my request for a new bike,he informed me that His Dad was going back home and wasnt building any more frames.I convinced him to please build my bike,I was too excited at that point as was sooo close.Mr. Cuevas agreed to build 1 more frame..I never stop riding that bike and am currently competing in triatalons with it....Thank you MR. Cuevas

[Andres Cuevas]

Thank all of you who have honored my father with your generous thoughts. I am very proud of him and am in the process of creating a website dedicated to his memory and my ongoing interest in custom-made frames. For those who are interested in knowing more about Francisco Cuevas, be on te lookout for my new site coming soon.

[Greg]

Andres,
Thank you for commenting here. You and I met a couple of times, long ago.

I'm looking forward to seeing your web site. I hope you will leave a comment here when it is complete, and put in a link to my post on your Dad. I will, in turn, put up a link to your site.

I look at your father's work every day. The bike is leaning against my bedroom wall, right next to my bed. And my wife doesn't even complain! :)

Thanks again for the comment,

Greg

[ADA CURTI]

QUERIDA FAMILIA DESDE ARGENTINA NUESTRO MAS SENTIDO PESAME. LOS RECORDAMOS A TODOS Y NUESTRO QUERIDO PACO SIEMPRE ESTARA EN NUESTROS CORAZONES

ÑECA Y FAMILIA

[Anthony Mezzatesta]

I would meet Mr Quevas, at the Zeus importer and sometimes at his shop, when I first began building back in the early 70's, What a guy, he would let me pick his brain for info. Mr Quevas had great patience and never once was judgmental, always kind, not to mention his beautiful craftsmanship.

[Michael]

Wow!! Out of the blue I decided to search for a bicycle company that used to be right on the corner of my block on 14th street in Astoria. It was my first job that I had. I used to help sweep up & did errands & stuff for the co. I remember the old guy (Dad) & the son.. I can't remember their names, I think it was Andres & not sure of the Dad's name. I am so happy to find this link. My name is Michael, I still live here on 14th st after 41 years. I opened my own business now with an invention I created which is the world's smallest fishing rods & reels. I wish I could see the old man that owned Cuevas again to show him what I created. He inspired me. I watched him file & create each piece ( looked like crown mouldings where the tubes met & joined the bike ) inch by inch then weld them on the frames. He was very old back when I was a kid. From what I read he is no longer with us.
:(
I wish I could show him my creation, I owe it all to him. Here is my youtube link for my invention, I hope someone forwards this to the son & hopefully he is stil alive. He will remember me. To Cuevas!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvXbbUxoWk

[Pete Hummers]

I bought a built-up Cuevas bike from Stuyvesant Bikes down the street from y'all around 1980. It was a black Columbus-tubed track bike with Campy and Cinelli components. Soon I accompanied a young lady to Cuevas' shop to inquire about a frame she had ordered.

My bike had no decals, but when Francesco saw it he gave me a white signature decal for the chainstay. It was a beautiful bike, one of the best I had ever ridden, to this day.

I sold it in the late '80's and it was stolen from the new owner. That'll teach me.

[Julie Lerman]

Thanks for this. I have fond memories of Paco who built my Bottecchia for me in the mid-80's. I also ran into a bunch of Cuevas (family??) folks on the BTC (Bike Tour of Colorado) in either 97 or 99.

[JOHN JAIRO QUICENO]

SALUDES A TODA LA FAMILIA CUEVAS,RECUERDO CON AGRADO Y NOSTALGIA LOS AÑOS QUE COMPARTI CON DON FRANCISCO Y SU FAMILIA CUANDO COMPETIA ALLA EN NY.UN SALUDO SINCERO A LA MEMORIA DE ESE GRAN ARTESANO QUE FUE DON FRANCISCO.
TODAVIA CONSERVO LA BICICLETA QUE ME HIZO EN EL AÑO 1977;HACE APROXIMADAMENTE 33 AÑOS,Y SIGUE INTACTA.
SIEMPRE ESTARA SU RECUERDO MUY DENTRO DE MI;YA QUE FUE COMO UN PADRE EN UN LUGAR LEJANO A MI PATRIA.
PAZ EN SU TUMBA.
JOHN JAIRO QUICENO

[scott mccall]

Hello,

I was lucky enough in 1979 to have a bike store in Madison, Wisconsin, The Yellow Jersey, where the owner Andrew Muzi, knew about Francisco Cuevas. I wanted to buy a custom bike as I was riding 200+ miles a week and thought I needed something made for me.

My initial thought was a Colnago but Andrew let me know that a guy named Francisco Cuevas was building gorgeous bikes that would be a perfect fit for my riding style.

I am not a sprinter but can ride all day long and that is why I got the Cuevas. Andrew suggested that Francisco could build me the perfect fast touring bike. Was Andrew right!!!

The bike was built with Campy drop outs and it is the prettiest red bike with gold highlights that you could ever find. I will send you a photo soon.

Frankly I have been on many rides where the people with Pinarellos, Colnagos, etc. are staring at my Cuevas. Andrew had it equipped with a Laprade seat post, Cinelli stem and bars, Campy Rally in the rear and Phil Wood hubs on Weinmann concave rims with 40 spokes in the rear. And a Chris King headset which was another stellar choice of Andrew's in building my Cuevas. The goldrn yellow signature of Francisco Cuevas on my top tube is in perfect condition and adds some real "vintage feel".

I recently started riding 2-3 hour rides with groups of Carbon Fiber bikes and was looking for some more speed. I had some 1978 Tru American Wheels with new out of the box Campy high flange hubs made for the Cuevas. I actually found these vintage parts at the Yellow Jersey where Andrew was still helping make biking joy come true!!!These wheels weigh about 9 ounces less than the Weinmann's and even my 18 year old son is amazed that an old steel bike can be such an amazing ride.

Ha ha ha to all of the people who tell me the new bikes are so much better when the are all trying to replicate the feel of a great steel bike, like my Cuevas.