Loretta has added a new feature to our site we’re calling “Back from Paint”. There is a link under the navigation on our home page. “Back from Paint” will be where we post all the frames with cool paint jobs once they return from our painter. Hopefully it will offer some inspiration when you’re choosing your own paint job and of course it’s fun to look  at cool frames. There isn’t much there right now but  we’ll  load it up as soon as we have a chance and add frames as they come back from paint from this point forward.

No pictures today, just a mini-rant.

I do a seminar every year at NAHBS on the business of building frames. Most builders get into Framebuilding because they love bikes and they love building frames, I know I did. For whatever reason, it seems anyone that can manage to get a frame built feels compelled to make a business it of it. When a builder first starts a frame building business they more often then not have very few frames under their belt. Most of the new guys have less then 100 units worth of experience and many more far less. What the means is that it’s all the builder can do to get a frame out the door no less manage their business. Also bookkeeping, writing, ordering, checking in, calling and all the other business activities usually aren’t part of the fantasy they had when they decided to go into business, they were thinking about long hours at the bench, not long hours at the desk.

The truth is, that you have to pay as much attention to business as you do Framebuilding. For most running a successful  business building frames will take about half of a work day of things like customer management, marketing, sales, bookkeeping and administrating . Many will just blow off things like entering checks into their journal, email replies, call backs or cleaning the shop, others will work very long hours but the smart ones have a secret weapon, organization.

Organization is the key to being in front of the bench  instead of the desk. It may not be very  glamorous but often times spending money on tools like Quickbooks, BikeCAD or Outlook can have a far greater impact on the success of a Framebuilding business than buying an new milling machine. We all build tools and process to make frames but it’s equally as important to build tools, process and systems to run the business smoothly so you have happy customers, a sustainable business that can support you and of course time to build frames.

So what does organization mean to t he customer? It means you get call backs when you call and email replies when you email. It  means the builder writes down what you say and writes down what they say. It means you get what you ordered when you were promised it and it means it’s right when you get it. Of course we’re all human and even the best make mistakes and fall down from time to time but for the best professionals it’s the exception, not the rule.

So in an nutshell organization isn’t that anti-creative thing that left brain people do. Organization creates more capacity to be creative, most just never figure that out.

From time to time I’ll take on an apprentice. I’ve had two actual apprentices over the years as well as a handful of employees that I trained to build in more of a production environment. My current apprentice is Erik Rolf and he’s doing an outstanding job. before Erik was Nic, Nic worked with me from about 2003 to 2006 roughly. Nic is very talented in many ways and it showed in his Framebuilding. He was doing (and I think, still will if you beg) beautiful lug and fillet work. He has a great aesthetic and his creativity really showed in very subtle details that only the most discerning eyes might catch.

Subtle sophistication  is the sign of a mature builder. I’ve always preferred the quite confidence of builders like Sachs, Weigle, Kirk and Gordon to the over the top so called “arty” bikes you see so frequently these days. I think a lot of builders are trying way too hard.

At any rate, as it turned out, Nic was ready after about three years with me to go it on his own. he moved to Seattle and set up shop. Unfortunately we (the Framebuilding community) lost him to the professional world where he now works and an engineer. Luckily though, he is still involved in creative endeavors. Not only does he do a little Framebuilding on the side but he also plays music and does art. Below is some of his work. The two guys “Let there be Doom” he did as a going away present when he  left. I’m the one on the right, him on the left. The other two are concert posters he’s done for a Seattle band. We have several other pieces as well. Loretta is currently in the process of framing them and they will be added to our art wall.

Here are a couple cool pictures Loretta took yesterday of me welding a steel frame.

I got a package the other day from a  guy we know in Jackson Hole, WY. Jackson is kind of a sister or kindred town. It’s pretty close, just below Yellowstone Park which sits about 90 miles south of us. Bozeman is a ski town but Jackson is a ski town plus one, so lots of locals go down there quite frequently to ski. It’s also under the Teton range, which, if you haven’t seen them they will take your breath away. They come straight up out of the river valley and are very tall, sharp and steep.

At any rate Drew sent a Wilton Vise Care Package of sorts along with a tee shirt. Thanks Drew! Drew is a machinist and apparently he had to tune up some vises of his own so he made the parts he needed and also sent us two pair of AL jaws along with a custom lead-screw plate that will tighten up the action of the vise. I just thought I ‘d take this chance to thank Drew and show all of you the cool parts and Tee he sent. Also if you ever have a chance to go to Jackson Hole, take  it.

ps. Speaking of skiing, we got about 7 or 8 inches of snow in the valley last night and it’s still falling. Thought I’d add a picture of that too.