Hi all! My name is Sal. I just started browsing the forum a few weeks ago as I get ready to build frame no. 2. Took a framebuilding class in the fall of 2021 (taught by Megan Dean at the Center for Metal Arts) and got a little brazing set up in my garage in the following months to do some practice and build a fork for the frame I built in class. Then I got busy learning machining and starting a business, so just getting to the second frame now. I’ve been a real bike nerd for over a decade but was totally new to working with metal before the framebuilding class. Now it’s what I do every day, funny how that works.
I have a background in packing artwork for both local transport and international shipment, which is sort of like high-stakes small-scale construction with a fair amount of improvising. I’ve found the wide range of skills I gained from that transfer well to anything that involves making stuff, from visualization to quick fractional math.
I now split my time between being an employee at a local industry-adjacent machine shop and running my own business (out of that same shop and my home). I try to share the work as I do it on instagram, so feel free to follow along there: shovelresearch – will post bike #2 progress on this forum as I get underway – I love to see others’ processes, shops, and tools so I will share as well. Thanks for the cool platform, @Daniel_Y !
Hello,
I’m Romain, building under the name of “Air Cycles” In Paris,
I’ve been framebuilder at Cycles Victoire, then studying industrial design, and now hobbyist building frames !
I read the forum since almost the start,
Happy to introduce myself
Hi, I am here for one year and have not put informations about me yet. But I am eating all of informations which people are puting here. Thank you for starting this great forum.
Nothing interesting about me. I live in Czech Republic (EU) and I am teacher at technical high school. My university educational background comes from theoretical economy but I am teaching IT and my secondary job is IT also.
I am author of this thread: First build: Bulding carbon frame in the the summer house garden
Jesper here, hobby bike builder from Sweden. In between two jobs a few years back I took some time off and went to Frome to attend the The Bicycle Academy’s training under Tom Sturdy and Robin Mather. I have built a few bikes for family members since then and while it’s an important part of my life, I have no ambitions for it to become anything more than a hobby.
Hey everyone - I’m Jackie (she/her/hers), and I build under the name Untitled Cycles. I like building bikes that can traverse mixed surfaces and terrains, mostly gravel, all road and cx. Some of the bikes I make take inspiration from fine art, often from particular paintings or artworks. I like the puzzle of translating the concepts and colors from a 2d plane into a 3d object. Even if there’s not a specific piece to muse about, I like to challenge myself to try something new in each bike I build.
One of my favorite bikes to ride right now is my CX bike, it’s light with a carbon fork and Life and Zona tubing; it’s nimble with CX geo, and as a 1x with eTap it can be configured with a different drivetrain/cockpit - which I’ve enjoyed switching over each year between a large mtn cassette and derailleur and wider gravel tires, and then back to a 10-36t cass/derailleur with knobby 33’s for CX. I’ve also got an incredible custom bag by my friend Ronnie (@bagbagsphl on insta) which really seals the deal.
I built my first bike at UBI Portland in 2015, a few years after which I started working at Breadwinner. After a layoff at the start of the pandemic, and moving back to the east coast, I launched Untitled Cycles.
I’m excited to join this community, excited to learn and see what others are up to - and also hope I can contribute some of what I’ve learned along the way!
I’m going to hype Jackie up a bit and mention that this frame of hers was one of the things that propelled me into framebuilding. Just so perfectly executed with a delightful blend of artistry and whimsy!!
I have a very modest shop theses days, with just a bunch of files, a hacksaw, a vice, bench top drill press and belt sander. Arctos frame jig, bringheli fork jig, and various other mostly self made or hand-me-down fixtures.
As far as photos of my work: here are some examples:
Hello,
I’m Lucas from beautiful South Tyrol, Italy.
I love riding all kinds of bikes, and when I’m not out riding, I’m thinking of bikes (or skiing in the winter ).
Looking at the stunning work of all the frame builders on here, there’s so much inspiring stuff to see that I’m motivated to finally start my own journey. It’s great to have a place to learn all the details from people who really know what they’re doing.
While I don’t have any hands-on frame building experience yet, my interest in bike design started in high school when I designed this thing in 2016 (I know it’s not perfect, but I’m still proud of it).
I’m already looking forward to not just drawing bikes, but actually building something bike-shaped sooner rather than later.
Welcome Lucas, we need more Italian presence in here. I have spent many summers in my youth between Fiera di Primiero and Canal San Bovo in a little known village called Prade. I used to know that area very well.
Hi there! My name is Carlos Martell. Thank you for opening this site and for sharing more knowledge and skills on this wonderful craft. I am a small frame builder and painter from San Diego, California. I enjoy building bicycles with traditional steel tubing and geometries. I like to shape and sculpt my own patterns in blank lugs. I like all bicycles and joining methods, but love traditional techniques. I like long rides under our southern California skies. My hope is to join the SD Randoneurs and train for PBP. I’m excited to learn sound framebuilding skills, especially some home machining operations. I hand miter my tubes, but just bought 2 Nichols mills and would like to equip them for certain operations.
I am a full time teacher of languages at a small school in SD and mainly build and paint during the weekends and the summer. I learned my craft as a full time apprentice to Mr. Robert Brian Baylis. I completed a 3 year apprenticeship under him and also worked as a full time restorer for him at Vintage Cycles Studios in El Cajon and Santee. I have been building under my own name for some time now and I’m happy to be here. You can see some of my work on IG: @slowcraftcycles. Thank you!
I learned many lessons from Brian. He was a consummate artist and craftsman. I was a young man when I worked with him and wish I could have had the foresight to see it all in its wonderful complexity. Brian was a great friend, he was unique like many craftsmen that carried the torch; he was humble, generous, and very complex. I miss him dearly. Like a couple of local San Diego friends, I carry his torch and keep his flame alive.
I apprenticed under master framebuilder Andrew Puodziunas, who built all EB frames since 1974, but sadly passed away in 2014. I’m a staunch traditionalist, I like lugs thinned and filed to the nth degree and I have plenty of strong opinions on the subject I’m also a great believer in nailing the fundamental skills before you push your abilities too far!
Of course I prefer rim brakes and QRs! However I have had to succumb to the cycle buying public and cater for discs and thru axles ho hum. I just try to do it without it looking too out of place on a trad steel frame.
As you would expect, my workshop is mainly benches, vices, files, other hand tools and a surface plate/alignment table/fixture. Although I do have a small ancient lathe too and loads of shop made fixtures. Most my tools are basically Ellis Briggs heirlooms at this stage.
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