Introduction Thread

[Kitchen]

Thanks @Daniel_Y. Yeah, I noticed there’s a small bike shop in Nova Scotia and some other stuff out there. Turns out anything kitchen related is a bit of a SEO nightmare. I’ve been considering dropping the Party from Kitchen Party, hence the username, but for now I’m just gonna roll with it.

I don’t have a website or a dedicated instagram for bike related stuff yet as I’m not quite ready to turn it into a business. The prototyping phase is too much fun while I don’t have any customers to answer to. I’ve posted about my bikes (I’ve only made two so far) on my personal instagram, @kiefer_jeremy, but the majority of my friends aren’t bike people so I try to keep it light. Anyone should free to follow me if they’re interested though. I figured this forum would be a good outlet to nerd out about all things bikes and provide some updates on the projects I’m working on.

[jimg]

That looks like the same Prototrak mill I use at work – DPM RX3? It’s my favorite machine! What bike parts have you made on it!!!

-Jim G

[Kitchen]

It’s actually the little brother of the RX3, the RX2. It’s a pretty sweet machine! I’ve made a handful of chainrings, bash guards, idler pulleys, seat tube clamps, shifter mounts, linkages, and various frame components. I pretty much only use Fusion 360 CAM and haven’t learned the conversational programming yet. Have you made any bike parts on the RX3?

[jimg]

Nice! We have an RX3 at work, and I absolutely love the machine, except it makes a big sloppy mess when you run the flood coolant. I’ve made lots of aerospace parts on that machine, but nothing bike-related (yet). Probably the most fun thing I’ve made is a replacement key for my motorcycle.

I’m super-interested that you’re programming it via Fusion360! I’m quite comfortable with the conversational programming and importing DXFs and/or Parasolid files, but haven’t delved into programming it via a CAM package. I haven’t found a post that works with either Mastercam or NX – but then again I haven’t spent a lot of time researching. I did try a generic 3-axis mill post, but it added a lot of g-code that the Prototrak errored out on. Did you have to get/find/install a special post for F360, or did it work out of the box?

Thanks!
-Jim G

[Kitchen]

Hell yeah man I bet that that RX3 absolutely rips! I’m on vacation now but when I get back I can get you a link for the f360 post processor for prototrak

[Kitchen]

Here’s a link to the post processor I use for the RX2. The only issue I’ve found so far is with the peck drilling, partial retract. I forget what the exact issue is, but peck drilling with a full retract seems to work so I just use that. Hope this helps. Cheers.

Fusion 360 post processor for ProtoTRAK CNC Mills

[Alphonze]

Hi all.
I’m a hobbyist frame builder, just starting out and found this forum whcih seems like a fantastic resource.

My day job is as a bike mechanic at a small neighborhood shop. We get a fair few steel bikes through our doors and I routinely get a lot of questions about frame repairs and modifications etc, so that got me started down the path of learning more about what goes into actually building a frame from a pile of tubes.

I’m looking forward to being able to post some progress reports as I get started. In the meantime I’ll try to soak up as much knowledge as possible browsing the variuos topics here!

[SkyknightJohn]

Hello! I’m John from Charlotte, NC. I’ve bee a hobbiest framebilder since about 2015 when I couldn’t get any welders to do what I wanted. So, I bought an Everlast and taught myself to TIG vis YT. (with some previous MIG experience.) Now upgraded to a HF Pulse capable rig.

Stumbled into here researching segmented forks and got linked to the Fusion360 tutorial. Guess I’m moving on from C.ardboard A.ided D.esign.

Mostly on RRB for clasic restorations, but have built a number of full frames, even a couple with proper bicycle-walled tubing. Last year a custom cruiser, this year a cargo grocery-getter.

Looks like a great resource as I’ve still got a lot to learn. Thanks for being here!

[PrairieCrowBikeworks]

Hey Humans-
My name is Alex (he/him) and I build under the Prairie Crow Bikeworks name in Minneapolis Minnesota. I build new framesets that I sell as complete bikes, usually with custom racks to go with them. My personal love is for capable commuting, touring and camping bikes. I love useful bikes, and I love useful tools and machines that are also beautiful just for the sake of beauty and expression. Love seeing a bit of whimsy that is there just to be there. My aesthetic and design preferences are informed by the many beautiful old bikes I have seen as a mechanic, from the 80s, 90s, as well as from much earlier. Someone recently told me my bikes looked like antiques but what I’m striving for is closer to timelessness, with plenty of modern details that make these bikes clearly from this decade, but with the best from the previous century. When you look at big old tree, there are more details the closer you go, always more little discoveries to make, I like bikes like that. I also try to build frames and bicycles with future mechanics in mind, if it has worked for a long time and is easy to service I love it. I also offer frame repair, and do a lot of it.

I got my start in the bicycle industry back in 2006 ish when I started wrenching at a small shop (the perhaps infamous if you are local Sunrise Cyclery) in Minneapolis as an after school job in highschool. I kept wrenching, and became interested in framebuilding, leaving college in 2010 to pay Paul at Wyganoski frames to teach me to build. His course was flexible at the time and we expanded it to 3 frames and several frame repair projects over 9 months. In 2013 I registered Prairie Crow Bikeworks as a business and started building frames and doing repairs in the hours I could find outside of my day job at The Hub Bike Coop, the shop I had moved to. The Hub is worker owned, and is a fantastically interesting place, where I got to grow as a mechanic, but also take on other tasks in training and Quality Control, all in a workplace operated by large meetings and consensus governance. It also consumed 100% of my time and left me with no time to build frames, so I left the Hub in the very end of 2019 to try giving Prairie Crow my full attention.

This forum, and the feeling of inclusion that I have so far observed in my limited time here, is very refreshing. Thanks to all the folks contributing and operating it. I am always humbled and in awe of all the things other humans make with their hands and brains.

here’s a couple bikes/frames and then one of me and my dog so you can put a face to the name. I wasn’t planning to include myself but then I saw how neat it was to see the humans behinds the bikes in earlier posts so I’m following suit.

[CharlieSBI]

beautiful front racks!

[ifdogsrunfree]

Hello everyone, I was so happy to discover this forum recently. It’s such an excellent resource to have for the community! : )

I grew up riding and wrenching on all kinds of bikes as a kid, then I started working as a bike mechanic out of school back in 2007. Although I’ve moved on to do other things for work since then, I’ve always kept that underlying passion for bikes in my life and try to ride almost every day. My favorite thing is riding single speed or fixed gear on some flowy section of PNW singletrack! I’m located on Vashon Island, WA.

I haven’t built my first frame yet, only started dabbing in some basic brazing and modifications last year. Still figuring out my workspace. Looking to set a goal of building something for myself over the next year or so. Time is a bit tight right now with work and two young kids running around at home, I’m going to give it my best effort though. Dreaming up a very traditional lugged steel 650b fixed gear to start out. Nothing too fancy. I’m embracing a bare bones approach using only basic hand tools. I’m trying to connect with the process and earn all of my file strokes!

It will likely be some time before I have anything to useful post here, so for now, I’ll just be asking questions and trying to absorb all of the information I can. Thank you all for being here, I’m so inspired by all of your work!

-Andrew

[mark_pmw]

Andrew,
Welcome! You’ll find a lot of helpful builders here who are willing to share. You’re doing it right, make the first one simple, it won’t be your last. Beautiful photo!
Mark.

[CaptainAwesome]

Hey y’all

Most everyone calls me CK. Currently living the SC island life. Big thanks to @SkyknightJohn for leading me over here from another bicycle forum that I admin. Just a hobbyist that loves all things fabricated

Professionally I used to be a CWI and hold several certifications in robotic welding as well. I’m big into custom cruisers, but my heart lies in mountain biking having worked at the Trek factory many years ago. Now I work at a pretty distant end of the spectrum from that and bikes are my release

Much of this is new to me but I’m hungry for knowledge, eager to learn, ready to work

[JMY]

Hey framebuilders,
My name is Jimmy, I registered an account here a while back and have let it lay dormant for a while. Figured it was time to introduce myself.

I’m based in Melbourne, Australia but I’m originally from Stockholm, Sweden. I’ve been a life long bike user but was completely snowed-in on BMX for most of my teen years and early twenties. Got started with frame building under the name “Egress Bikes” back in 2015 (ish) after having done frame and part design for various BMX companies as a hobby for many years. Had aspirations to make framebuilding a part time gig until my other part time job as head mechanic at a local bike company, grew into a (more than) full time job when the pandemic hit, and then later morphed into a role doing product development and design.

So I guess now I call myself a lapsed framebuilder due to time constraints and life choices. But the interest and passion remains. While my days building for others may be over, before long I’ll pick up the torch again to build myself another frame or two.
In the meantime, I’m keeping up to date with what’s going on in the scene via various internet channels, including this forum, and my framebuilder friends.

[Nair]

Hey Folks!
This is Rahul (he/him) from Bengaluru, India…

Stumbled upon this forum, from Daniel’s insta profile. I’ve been more of a wall flower and listening to the discussions and seeing all your wonderful bike-frames here, till now… Thanks a lot Daniel, for creating this space and bringing together the frame-building community!

As for me, I’m mostly into endurance road rides and love rando bikes. Around 5 years ago, a bike shop owner I knew, said he designed and buit his own frames! (He got a batch made in Taiwan & sold them in India.) This literally blew my mind! I mean, I’ve changed components on bikes, but never imagined building a frame from scratch! From them on I’ve been very inquisitive about bike tech, fit and geometry.

Last year, I designed a bike for myself (incl. tubing and geometry specs) BUT got it made at a custom bike shop. The whole “build” experience was beautiful. I did a 4,000 km test ride across India and the bike performed amazingly! From this point, I wanted to build my own frames…

Jumped in and took a place on rent, this August (I call it the cave.) Got an oxy acetylene set up, got some tubes, files and basic tools, started practicing mitering, brazing, alignment etc. There are no big machines in the cave, it’s a huge learning curve and procuring parts are a pain but am enjoying every moment! Practice is indeed making things better. Looking forward to my 1st frame. Hoping to learn more from an experienced hand (from the US or Canada) after that. And let’s see where it goes from there!

But in the meanwhile, thanks a lot for the daily dose of inspiration (especially the discussion about jigs.) It’s beautiful to see the openness & love within the community. (Hope to get great suggestions to a lot of my dumb questions here.) And with all the builders @ CFF, it’s truly a case of artisanal David’s from all over the world taking on the corporate Goliaths in cycling!

https://instagram.com/velopilgrim

[Daniel_Y]

@Nair

This is Rahul (he/him) from Bengaluru, India…

Hi Rahul! Amazing to see frame builders from all over the world, especially from India. Diversity leads to better ideas!

@Nair

It’s beautiful to see the openness & love within the community. (Hope to get great suggestions to a lot of my dumb questions here.) And with all the builders @ CFF, it’s truly a case of artisanal David’s from all over the world taking on the corporate Goliaths in cycling!

I am sure bike-specific tools, materials, and machines are hard to come by in South Asia. If you ever need help sorting it out, we can figure it out together. Just message me. Never any dumb questions!

[Nair]

@Daniel_Y

If you ever need help sorting it out, we can figure it out together. Just message me. Never any dumb questions!

Thanks Daniel!

@Daniel_Y

I am sure bike-specific tools, materials, and machines are hard to come by in South Asia.

Finding it out the hard way!!!
Currently, making a makeshift fixture for tacking and aligning the 1st front triangle… Will post in CFF, once its done… Will appreciate all feedback

[FFTmotors]

Hey All,

I am stoked to be on this site also. I am the CEO of FreeFlowTechnologies.

Based: East Kilbride, Scotland
Makers: Mid Drive ebike motors
Target: handmade frame builders

Personal cycling: MTB XC & Downhill, Road, Gravel, Bike packing, Triathlon

I am a bike nerd 100%. I have been in the industry since 1989. I raced as a professional mountain bike racer through the 1990’s for some iconic brands.

I have also created a few products of my own, the first was a chain guide to keep the chain on for downhill racing and this was called the DCD Dave’s Chain Device. I have worked for brands developing bikes for Marin, Whyte Bikes. I had fun at Cannonade in the early 2000’s running the sale sin the UK and also their motorsports program.

I have gone not to running commercial management at rapha clothing and the Team Sky project then, that set me into a textile spin from 2012 through to 2019. Since 2019 I am back at what really gets me excited the innovation end of the industry in mechanical development, notably the mid drive eBike motor we make.

Happy to tell you all more about that. For now happy to be part of this and happy to let you all know, don’t fear building a ebike . . . you can buy just one unit at a time form us.

Here is a pic or to of doing what I love.

[shovelresearch]

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 !

[Woodpecker]

Andrew, I’m a newer Framebuilder located down in lacey Washington. DM me on Instagram! I’d love to connect with some locals!

Daren