After ten years of teaching framebuilding, designing and selling frame jigs and generally being a force for good for British framebuilding, the West C ...
By chipps
Get the full story here:
https://singletrackmag.com/2022/11/the-bicycle-academy-closes-its-doors/
start a thread later than the one forum and close the thread posted before you. 👏
I think it's an automatic thing, @bruneep. Plus, there wasn't a thread when I started writing the story. 🙂
There's not currently a way of writing a forum post, then folding it into the story that we then write, though that would be a handy feature for breaking news to avoid double posts.
It’s because it’s an article, that I imagine took longer to produce than my dozen or so words. I’m cool with it (And expected it).
There's now a link from the closed thread to here.
I still use my Grinduro bottle opener regularly. Andrew even got Scot Nicol from Ibis brazing one - the first time Scot had picked up a torch in decades, he reckoned.
With Downland Cycles also not teaching building any more, this won't be good for anyone wanting to get into the money-burning occupation of building custom frames.
Ah man....
It's always been on my bucket list to do one of their courses - never had the spare time & money to dedicate to it.
Hopefully they, or similar will be running again when I retire....
Good people.
Sorry to hear - I’d always hoped to do a frame with them at some point.
I went looking for brazing rod on their site a couple of days ago - guess this explains why there wasn't much stock.
I met Andrew on a framebuilder meet-up back when they were starting up, and then a few times at Bespoked when they seemed very established and successful - he was a very enthusiastic and interesting guy. I never got round to doing a brazing day with them (just bodged at home / made it up as I went along) but still very sad to see them go.
Would be interesting to see just how many brands have started off the back of them. Fingers crossed they all move on to something good.
With Downland Cycles also not teaching building any more, this won’t be good for anyone wanting to get into the money-burning occupation of building custom frames.
I suppose the market for ~£2.5k steel frames to the top 1% is fairly recession proof whereas the market for ~£1k courses( *indulgent holiday for most?) to the ~top 50% isn't.
Ahh I had my eye on their frame building course once I’d saved a few quid and had holiday days from work. Hope I can find a well regarded one closer to Yorkshire for next year.
I was one of the original Kickstarter backers 😁 still have my bag, some badges (too hot, more rod) and even my 'we built this' t-shirt.
Had a great week with them and learning brazing from the master Brian Curtis.
Sad theyre closing, but they had a wide ranging positive impact.
Shame but also this:
I suppose the market for ~£2.5k steel frames to the top 1% is fairly recession proof whereas the market for ~£1k courses( *indulgent holiday for most?) to the ~top 50% isn’t.
It's not all that surprising really that doing a reasonably costly frame building course is on lots of people's 'one day' (but probably never) lists, and as we hit a recession, following 2 years of social distancing and lockdowns the outfit offering that very course closes down...
Doesn't bode well for the old "skills based economy" eh?
Cheers yet again again Brexit/COVID/Tories...
wonder how many creditors, (companies and customers) out of pocket...
knock on impact to quite a few.
I backed the original crowd fund and did a brazing course which was a good day out.
Never got the chance to do a whole frame, does anyone know what happened to all the early Africa frames that TBA student built and then were destined for Africa?
"..well regarded one closer to Yorkshire..."
Other courses
https://www.bicycles-by-design.co.uk/courses/frame-building-courses/
https://www.lafraisecycles.com/framebuildingcourse
https://www.cycletraining.ie/courses/5-day-frame-building-course/
https://noviceframebuilder.co.uk/links/framebuilding-courses/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGliC3AaRNk
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGliC3AaRNk -
assume the TBA frames went into the wider bicycle relief / buffalo bike / Qhubeka builds given they share frame design.
Andrew is a friend of a friend so had a tour of the workshop and saw the attention-to-detail on the jigs.
Came away very impressed by the whole operation and vibe of the place.
He was pretty handy in a go-kart too!
Sounds like he's got something planned for the new year and I'm sure he'll do well and look forward to following along!
I suppose the market for ~£2.5k steel frames to the top 1% is fairly recession proof whereas the market for ~£1k courses( *indulgent holiday for most?) to the ~top 50% isn’t.
I'd say you couldn't be further from the truth. Burf (of BTR) makes no secret about how shitty things have got over the past few years.
They seem to have gone from £0 to £174k in “intangible assets” (goodwill / brand value / IP) in 1 x financial years (2019 accounts were restated after the appointment of a new Director in June 2021.
On face value that seems a bit odd and a challenge to the materiality of the Intangible Assets would likely tip the company into insolvency.
I'm not sure I like the smiling goodbye photo given that appears quite a few people/companies appear to be taking a hit financially (if I have read the liquidation statement correctly).
Possibly a photo from happier times.
Part of what The Bicycle Academy business was to supply tools and equipment for frame builders.
This included frame fixtures, but others have tried to supply affordable fixtures.
Don Ferris at Anvil
https://cobraframebuilding.com/
https://bikemachinery.it/bicycle-production-lines/frames-manufacturing-assembly-2/hydra/
https://bikemachinery.it/bicycle-production-lines/frames-manufacturing-assembly-2/
http://www.sputniktool.com/frame-fixture/
That's a real shame to hear as I had a great week with them learning how to build a frame. I felt like I had learnt a real skill and it has allowed me to build a few other frames. Good luck to them all
https://m.facebook.com/100063634475174/
Geoff Roberts cycles still do frame building courses.
