Albert Eisentraut

"A" Frame build and finished frameset - Courtesy of the web

Thanks to Brian Ignatin - Bicycle Guide Sep-Oct 1987

Eisentraut Limited - 1000 "Limited" model produced between 1974 and 1976 to provide a lower priced alternative to the custom ‘A’ frame. Some were produced by Bruce Gordon.

1977 Eisentraut 'A' frame #100377 with short lived cast lugs & bottom bracket

1973 Track Bike courtesy of Brian Ignatin

Custom made for Bill Best for use in the 1973 Detroit & Los Angeles Six-Day races, the last such professional races held in the United States. Belgians Ed Demets and Willy De Bosscher won in Detroit; Australian Graeme Gilmore and West German Klaus Bugdahl won in Los Angeles.


Was: Bicycle Ensemble, 543 East Eleventh St., Oakland, California

A great podcast interview with Albert Eisentraut by Diane Lees on the “Outspoken Cyclist” Sept. 2014 HERE

Albert Eisentraut acquired an appreciation of hand built bicycles at the elbow of legendary Paramount maker Oscar Wastyn in Chicago, and Albert, in many ways, is the dean of modern (post Korean War) USA custom frame builders. His frames, especially the famous “Model A” frames of the 1960s and 70s, had a special sculptural aesthetic and unorthodoxy in their shaping. This set Eisentraut bicycles apart from the European mimicry that influenced other builders at that time. Albert Eisentraut grew up with cycling in his blood.
Following in his father’s footsteps, he began racing in 1955 on the Kenosha Velodrome. He gained an appreciation of hand built bicycles working as a mechanic in the shop of legendary Schwinn Paramount maker Oscar Wastyn in Chicago. According to Albert, Wastyn didn’t teach him the craft, “More than anything, I learned from Oscar that one person could make a bicycle by himself.”
Albert built his first frame in 1959 in his father’s basement aided only by a frame jig that he machined himself. In 1969 he became a full-time frame builder, working for Velo-Sport in Berkeley, CA.
Branching out on his own in 1971, his clients include world class racers George Mount, John Howard, Mike Neel, Tom Prehn, Tom Schuler, Connie Carpenter, Miji Reoch, and Sheila Young.
Albert has also taught dozens his craft; his notable students include Bruce Gordon, Joe Breeze, Skip Hujsak, Mark Nobilette, and Bill Stevenson – making Eisentraut the American godfather of modern day frame building. Albert commented, “The only constant in my life is the forever changing bicycle business.”
His sons also worked in the shop, “if the frame has the Eisentraut name on it, an Eisentraut had his hands on it”. The business is now close

Pages featuring Albert Eisentraut in The Custom Bicycle - 1979

1979 Model A Eisentraut courtesy of Robert Freeman