Well, things are finally starting to settle down here. All the excitement from the show has died down and now I can get back to building frames. We got three frames back from paint on Thursday. Two were shipped out and the other was a mistake/repair that I’ll be selling. If you are interested in it, the frameset normally sells for $2300 but I’ll be selling it for $1150. Feel free to contact me if you want more info.

This week I’ll be starting a Lugged Randonneur frame. Not something I normally do so I’m really excited about it. Sometimes it’s fun to do something different just to keep things interesting. I used to do quite a lot of lugged frames up until about 10 years ago. Then I slowly started to specialize more and more on TIG and lugged construction fell to the side. I still love to build with lugs and have done a couple here and there over the years but for the most part don’t take lug work except in the very rare occasion. I’ll be posting pictures of the process over the course of the rest of the week.

In Indy there was speculation that we were all drugged with happy juice.  If you were there you’ll know what I am talking about.  One of my favorite things about the time of the show is that we are coming out of a long, dark, cold winter.  The show rejuvenates the soul in our business.  All the glamor and the bling that is attached to our industry is intoxicating.  It usually takes a few months in the shop getting back to normal to bring us down from such a great high. Yesterday morning, the snow was wet and coming down steady clinging to branches and anything else it could stick to.  On days like this town is silent and still, maybe because all the locals are standing in the lift line at the hill trying to get first tracks, but it’s these days that make winter worth it.

Well the buzz kill came with lights out followed by the loudest, strongest BANG! I have ever heard.  The bike leaning on the shop door flew into the parking lot, so fast we didn’t know what hit us, and we really thought something just hit us.  Once outside all you could hear was the bustle of folks trying to figure out what just happened.  We could see the start of a fire, station trucks heading out with sirens on, but they didn’t go far.  Just a few building from the fire station, in the heart of our historic district there was a mess!  Suspect of a gas leak, three buildings were completely leveled! For those not privy, Bozeman Montana boasts downtown as a unique experience to visitors from all over the world.  With as much history we can offer, the building themselves are a legacy.  I ran down the block to where you could get a better idea of what happened and  realized the devastation.  It really shook us up, here are a few photos.

Loretta

So a lot of you may have heard that along with seven other builders I’ve been involved in the development of The Framebuilders Collective (TFC). Well NAHBS was our big coming out party so to speak. We’ve been trying to develop a framework for the TFC for almost two years and finally we felt we were far enough along we could make it public. We still have lots of work to do but I’m sure there will be something for anyone that is involved in the custom framebuilding world either as a builder or aficionado. Below is our press release from 2/26/09;

For Immediate Release
26, February 2009
Indianapolis, Indiana

Eight professional framebuilders from three countries have spent the last 24 months
working together to create an international organization which they hope can strengthen
the trade, pay homage to its past, and work towards ensuring that its future is bright
and profitable. The Framebuilders’ Collective is a now a reality. The group includes
Curt Goodrich, Sacha White, Nick Crumpton, Dave Kirk, Carl Strong, Dario Pegoretti,
Darrell McCulloch, and Richard Sachs.

A website http://www.framebuilders.org has been created as the holding place for
the group’s mission statement and FAQ list.

All founding members are enthusiastic about the Collective’s potential and are now
looking forward to finally being a public entity after 2 years of planning. Efforts are
underway to expand the names involved so that the The Framebuilders’ Collective
will be a true representation of the talent and the commitment that is part and parcel
of the professional framebuilding trade.

Business is all about people and people are what this show is all about. At these shows we see other builders and vendors, aspiring builders and customers. They’re all important and it’s fun to be able to see each other and catch up.

99.9% of my sales are done on the phone with out of state (or country) customers. Most I’ll never meet face to face. One of the fun things about the shows is that I finally get to meet a lot of my customers face to face. Indy was no exception, in fact I met more customers at this years show than any of the others I’ve done over the years.

Talking with other builders is a big part of this show. We all have a lot to learn from each other. It’s also nice to kick around experiences that we share. In a business like ours there aren’t a great deal of others to share stories with so when we have the chance we jump on it.

Below are some of my customers along with a couple pictures of other builders, vendors and aspiring builders.

So I’m back from the show and man was it well done. I have too much to report in one blog post so I’ll be doing blogs on the show for the next several days. I plan to dedicate a day to each of my show highlights.

Meeting lots of my current and future customers
The Framebuilders Collective
Winning Best TIG Frame

I’ll also post a bunch of random show images as well. There was a ton of cool stuff to see and cool people to meet. Us framebuilders are kind of like a little tribe. We all really get along well and if you haven’t been around us when we’re together you may be surprised to see we are very open and sharing with each other. You don’t find the competitiveness you can find in other businesses. That’s one of the things I like most about this business.

I’d also like to give a big Kudos to Don Walker for doing such a great show. This year the show was very well managed and organized. Don is really getting good at this gig and it show’s. I think all the  exhibitors had similar experiences and were very happy with the show as well.

Another big surprise is that one of Loretta’s pictures  of our shop was used for the cover of the show guide. For those of you that haven’t seen the guide it’s a very slick, perfect bound magazine with bios on all the builders. It’s very well done and a collectors piece for sure, so we were honored when they selected Loretta’s image and our shop for the cover.

Every year there is an award given for frames in each of several categories. I have to admit I’ve been a critic of the way the frames were judged and who judged them. Well, this year I won Best TIG frame for the assmebled Ti bike in my booth (http://handmadebicycleshow.com/awards2009.htm). Unlike previous years this year they did use a panel of judges so they are improving the method by which they judge. But in all honesty I feel a littel humbled winning an award after being so critical. It really is an honor and no matter what the award methods are you can’t help but be flattered by the recongnition. Also for anyone interested the show winning frame is for sale for $3000 with the King InSet. You can see an earlier post for details or contact me at strong@strongframes.com.

Here are some pictures, check back tomorrow of another installment of show news.