There were some well run shops in the UK in the '70's but none more rigid in their structure than the Dick Johnson frame works in Todgely. Not a humble man , Johnson was known to heavily promote his brand to anyone within earshot. Unlike some other frame shops, Dick Johnson was on the line , building frames- he was not in the office on the phone with his feet on the desk. You knew that if you had a Johnson , Dick's hands were on it at one time or another. It has been said that Johnson learned his trade at the Stoolsworthy as his work is quite similar . There has been talk of a young Johnson apprenticing at the shop of German frame building legend Horst Schittner , but others maintain that the entire Schittner story is a load of crap
The frames that came out of the Johnson shop were stiff racing rigs , made to win the race and not concerned with the long haul. This foreshadowed the fate of the Dick Johnson frame works- it didn't have as long a run as one would think. Toward the late '70's business petered out and only a few Johnsons leaked out in the final years. Maybe if Johnson had not been such a hard man and difficult to get along with , he would have lasted into the next decade. Such is often the case with artisans like Johnson who in the beginning stand tall , only to crumple and wither over time.
The over inflated bike market in the first boom kept Johnson's business firm for most of the '70's but as the market softened, so did the Johnson shop. There is little that remains of his work but at Cycles Heroic we do have this beautiful example of his work in remarkable shape considering its age. This was a fast , stiff bike in its day. Perhaps this one will see the chalky backroads of central California in the coming year.
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