I came across this while browing and thought it would be right up the STW drive way. It is wonderful to watch such a thing of beautry being so exquisitely crafted together.
Enjoy.
Meh.
All over the UK, in every little bike shop, people were making bike frames. The whole idea that it is somehow the pinnacle of artisan craftsmanship, that it is a magical and secretive and wondrous procedure is a load of old cobblers. You could buy the lugs, you could buy the tubes, you could rent the cylinders. My mate, who had a Dad who made frames for many, many years, built a frame in his kitchen. He didn't put it on youtube, but the frame was good anyway.
I'm massively unimpressed by people making bike frames and then assuming that it is some kind of amazing ability; it's just sticking some tubes together...
Crikey you're a cheery soul. Must be hard being you with so much joy in your life!
But I do take your point. To balance the above, today I found out that you can still buy a fully bespoke Brian Rourke frame and it will cost you less than £800!
LOL!
I'm not actually a miserable old git, current evidence notwithstanding, but I do struggle with the largely US perspective that bicycle frame building is some kind of black art. It's just not. It's a skill, but one that was extremely widespread and relatively easy to do with the right kit.
Maybe I'm just old enough to remember the days when it was easy to walk into a bikeshop and say 'Build me one of those'...
Maybe I'm just old enough to remember the days when it was easy to walk into a bikeshop and say 'Build me one of those'...
You can - Chas Roberts, Brian Rourke, Mercian, Curtis, 18 Bikes, Shorter, Enigma and there's a whole load more.
Besides, a thing of beauty is a joy forever and the Cielo is still a thing of beauty even if it is made in the USA.
In contrast to grumpy Mr Crikey, I really enjoyed that, thank you. As I am in the process of building a lugged stainless road frame it was very interesting and had some good little bits of info in it.
Cheers
That's a nice video,
But yes, there is also a bit of "black art" waffling about frame building and wheel building. And I say this as someone who has been building frames and wheels for 15 years. Quite often there seems something quite "cargo cult" about it - many people who build frames or wheels have no proper physics or engineering training, they just follow what they were taught or what worked in the past.
it's just sticking some tubes together...
yep absolutely no design principles or skill at all displayed by folks like jones/wolfhound/blackcat etc.. 😆
crikey, you make me smile, you're like a grumpier victor meldrew. xx
I'm massively unimpressed by people making bike frames and then assuming that it is some kind of amazing ability; it's just sticking some tubes together...
Totally agree, even more so for carbon. I did that a few years ago. I got a kit of parts, carbon tubes and lugs. I had to make a jig, but it was just sticking bits together. Ended up with a road frame I still use.
The trick is getting skilled enough at the sticking together - you can definitely teach yourself (I did) but it is a skill to be learned and practiced.
Then there's the shape the tubes are stuck together in - unless you just copy someone else's design, you need to work out what goes where and why.
Maybe I'm just old enough to remember the days when it was easy to walk into a bikeshop and say 'Build me one of those'...
That's an interesting comment actually partly because it is true to a degree in frame building but mostly because you're actually describing a general trend towards engineering in the UK versus other places like Germany.
Don't get me wrong; the UK has many very talented engineers, but there are two types of engineer in this country.
There are those that have studied engineering at university (perhaps the hardest under-grad course you can take) and can tell you mathematically why something is right or why it will work, and there are those that call themselves engineers who have become machinists or lathe operators by watching someone else, who learnt their trade in a similar fashion.
In Germany, you don't get to call yourself an engineer unless you've worked really hard for it and the terms confers a high degree of status on the indivdual. It's not quite like that here, but it should be.
The guys building beautiful frames in the UK are craftsman and artisans but they are unlikely to be design engineers with the relevant qualifications.
The worst thing a bike mechanic can hear from a customer is "I'm an engineer" 🙂
The guys building beautiful frames in the UK are craftsman and artisans but they are unlikely to be design engineers with the relevant qualifications.
I don't have any engineering qualifications, but I do have a degree in Physics, so I can do the sums. The problem I find quite a bit is that the artists and craftsmen have a huge amount of experience, but don't do so well when it comes to thinking outside what they've done before.
