There is much written about the German school of frame building of the last century , enough to fill many volumes of books on the subject. Not enough has been written about the German school of not frame building with no non-builder more prominent than Horst Schittner. Horst's early employment was in a cycle shop in Scheizenhof named Veloscheizen - a purveyor of the highest quality bicycles from all over Europe but specializing on German built frames. A mere mechanic at that time, Horst was not impressed with the frames in the shop- no matter the pedigree. He was heard to say " I could build a frame- yes, but that would be too easy...." . Horst would go on to spend countless hours theorizing on bicycle design and engineering , all the while not involving himself in the actual building process. It is because of this Horst's frames are the most rare- not only had he never built a frame, it would appear that he never intended to.
Horst rationalized the absence of any completed frames as the building process would get in the way of the design process. Furthermore, He asserted that the design process would get in the way of pre-design theorizing and discussion. Little did Horst know that he was setting the course of many non-builders in the future , most of whom are currently quite conspicuous on the internet . Horst felt that not enough study had been given to frames that would not be built. He wondered why all the attention and energy went into frames that would be built and ridden. It was his opinion that bikes that are built are no more important that bikes that are discussed but not built. Horst would often state " What is the point of engineering if the process is going to be interrupted by producing the design ? "
For decades Horst would hold court with his disciples , the league of non-builders . An entire non-movement sprung up around him and he really came into is not-own espousing the merits of lengthy theorization and in depth dissection of the bicycle frame as an idea, if not a practical reality. Horst attempted to get grants and a fellowship to expand his studies from the university in Scheizenhof but the requests were never processed. It seems that his influence of non-action had not only permeated his local non-building community, it had crept into the administration at the very university he was attempting to get to back his studies. Not realizing that his stubborn commitment to inaction was in effect getting in the way of his ambition to spread his concepts , Horst blindly followed his non-ambitions in circles and eventually his followers got weary of the whole absence of product mantra and one by one they left his side. He continued on alone until his untimely death - something that in spite of his amazing ability to postpone any action - he was unable to delay.
There was a plan to install a plaque to honor Horst in the town square of Scheizenhof put forward by one of his former followers but the town council was mainly filled with Horst's disciples so naturally, they talked on at length about the plaque- it's size and design for many months. Years later the council has yet to install the plaque as they are in continuous discussion about it and there does not seem to be any action to finish the job. I'm sure that Horst is looking down from the heavens in approval saying : " It appears that my hard non-work has paid off . "
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