So I have a run of road frames on the board.  Ten  in a row. That’s a good time. One is a titanium carbon blend, five are titanium and four are steel. I have no preference over which material to build with although I find the super thin, hard steels to be the most challenging technique wise. Framebuilding, like any fabrication can be broken into two areas, technique and process. Simply explained, process is how things are done. What you do, the order you do them in and the tools you use. Process is very objective and can be documented and taught quite easily. Technique is another thing altogether.

Techniques is what really separates the top builders from the rest when it comes to fabrication skills.  Technique takes experience and there is no substitute for experience. Experience isn’t measured in years, it’s measured in units. You can be a framebuilder for 20 years but  if you only build 15 frames per year you won’t have much experience. Not only do you need to build units to develop experience and technique. You need to build units repeatedly, one after the other so you don’t forget what you learned on the last unit before you start the next. Technique shows up most in two areas. Joining and alignment. TIG seems to show poor technique most readily since it’s out in the open (especially on titanium).  With lugs the technique is hidden and with fillets you “finish off” your work. Ultimately you won’t see good technique if it’s there. Bad technique is hidden and good technique is invisible.

so I guess in a nutshell, unless you have access to the frame before it’s finished or painted you can’t  tell the quality. The best way to guarantee top quality is to choose a builder with lots of experience. That should really narrow your choices.

I finished Cyrille’s frame yesterday and  started Tim W’s. Things are going smoothly and I’m in a nice rhythm. On Fridays I like to focus on frame design so that’s what I’ll be doing today. What that means is that I reserve the morning for sitting in front of the computer with customer files and talking on the phone. I’ll start my day by reviewing all the files for which  I’m waiting for information from the customer. I’ll contact the customer if it’s been a while since I’ve heard from them just to touch base and make sure they don’t have any questions.

The next thing I do is review and process all the information  I’ve received from customers during the week. I “run” all body measurements, review current bike measurements and go over their order form to evaluate where they are compared to where they want to be and come up with a general design direction. After working with the files in “design process” I go to the designs that are “ready to draw”.

After  examining all the data and going through the extensive interview process I draw the preliminary design for the frame on BikeCad and contact the customer for review. I may be drawing the design for the first time or revising it after further review. Often the first draft will illuminate a lot of areas of discussion that will lead us to design modification. After the designs and revisions are drawn I contact the customer to discuss. This process will go on until the customer and I are both happy with the design. The process takes place in the weeks leading up until  the customers turn (“their day”) rolls around. By the time I’m ready to start their bike, if all goes according to plan I will have a completed and approved design and all their material will be in their box ready to start their frame.

Here are some shots of Cyrille’s frame in process. It’s a titanium road frame for a small light rider. When done it will weight a little under 2.5 pounds. It’s coming out very nicely and I’m excited to see what it looks like with it’s assembled and ready for the road. I’ll post a few more of the finished product tomorrow.

So today I’m working on a Ti frame for a customer in FL, Cyrille. I hope to have it done and ready to ship tomorrow. As soon as I’m done with her I’ll start another Ti frame for Tim W. with a carbon seat tube and seat stay. Both customers are return customers. Cyrille is on her second frame and Tim is on his fourth.

As I  said in my last post I like to build frames “One at a time from start to finish”. When a  customer orders a frame I start my 10 stage order process with them.   As we move along the process and design their frame we get to a point when we choose their tubes. Tube choices can be overwhelming and some customers after having done a lot of research really worry about how we can ever narrow the choices and find exactly what they need.

When choosing tubes, although it can seem daunting it’s actually pretty straight forward. Customer priorities point me towards the tubes pretty quickly. Using the process of elimination I can eliminate 95% of the choices right off the bat. First is material. One of the first discussion I have with my customer (typically in their research phase) is about which material  will best suit them. Once we center on the material we focus on mechanical properties and tube spec. I only build with “best of breed” so I like to cherry pick all the major manufacturers top of the line tubes depending on the customer. Each customer has a preference for their balance of weight vs. durability and stiffness vs. compliance. They also have aesthetic preferences. Each tube on the frame is selected specifically to meet these preferences. We work together to define and balance these considerations and allow the process to direct us to the tube choice.

Once the tube have been selected we incorporate them into the frame design. We may still have work to do on other parts of the frame design such as fit, geometry, braze-on’s or parts specs but as soon as we settle on tubes I order them so they are ready to go when the customers frame design is complete and approved and their turn rolls around. Once the material arrives it is placed in a box with the customer name on it. Each customer has their own box and when it’s their turn I pull that box and that is the frame I work on until it’s complete. I like to focus on one frame at a time for a lot of reasons but the most important is that it allows me to focus on that customer without destraction or confusion. That way I’m buiding a bike for a person and not just a bike. I think it’ s the key differentiator between a true one man custom shop and alternatives. Knowing your framebuilder and woking directly with them is why people come to me and and my customers deserve the single minded attention they get when I build frames “One at a time from start to finish”.

For the most part I’m pretty much over the cold thing I had last week. Sorry to those of  you who I couldn’t work with while I was down. I’ll be available this week so call when you can. I did get some work done while  I was sick but I had to keep it simple. This week I’ll continue on and will be finishing three MTB’s.

Usually I build a single frame at a time from start to finish but in this case these three frames are for friends that all need them for a trip coming up soon. Since I was sick and couldn’t really see well enough to weld,  I broke my rule and mitered and tacked all three “production” style. Anyone who knows me knows I’m completely against building  batch or batch style because there is very little time savings and it creates a lot of opportunity for error as well as taking the focus off of the individual customer. In this case I made an exception but I rarely do. Frankly, too many custom builders think batch building is the way to go and you see partially built frames hanging all over their shop. In  my opinion a shop with partially built frames hanging in it is a poorly managed shop. With the rare exception (like this one now) a one person custom shop should only have one partially built frame at any one time and that  is the frame that is currently being built.

So, now that I’m better and I can continue opperation as I normally do I’ll get these three frames completed sequntially and out to paint. Then back to my one at a time, from start to finish and off to Cyrille’s titanium road frame.