When I turned 18, my mother bought me a bike… it was probably the most expensive birthday present I’d ever received, and it cost over $300.

Reading this article, I learned that that was hardly anything.  If my mother had chosen to buy me a custom-made bicycle (which she wouldn’t have, because that just wasn’t in the budge), it would have cost upwards of $2000 when fully constructed.  The frame alone normally costs at least $1000.  But, evidently, it has to be worth it, because there are many, many custom bicycle shops out there, and they still appear to be doing well, even in the midst of this economic climate.

Handmade Bicycles: The Custom Experience- Meet The Aluminum Frame Builders

March 10th, 2009 by Guitar Ted

Editor’s Note: In this series, Grannygear introduces us to some custom frame builders and takes a closer look at the process of making and delivering a custom, handmade bicycle to a customer. In these e-mailed interviews, you will learn a lot about some of the best frame builders in three different materials.

We continue our series on the Custom Framebuilder Experience with a talk with two of the premier builders in aluminum. Aluminum….it is not just for beer cans anymore.

The Aluminum Guys:

The Master – Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster Cycles.

“Let’s see if we can get America building stuff more than importing stuff from far away places.”

Twentynineinches.com – So, who are you? Please introduce yourself.

Paul – Who am I? My company is Rock Lobster and I am Paul H. Sadoff. I built my first frame in 1978 and went fulltime in 1988 as a framebuilder in Santa Cruz, California. At the time I started I was racing on the road and was working in a bike shop as a sales/service person. I wasn’t much of a racer but I did win one race in 1980.

TNI: Who is your typical customer?

Paul: Most folks who come to my shop for a frame are avid riders and/or racers. I don’t get collectors or the folks looking to have some sort of ‘object du art ‘….trophy bikes as I like to refer to them. Arty bikes are really great and I initially thought that was what I wanted to build but the riding was much more important. The idea that I could build a bike that would put smiles on people’s faces when they rode won out. Fulfilling a need in your cycling community is the framebuilder’s first job and that is what keeps me employed.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Meet Gary Fisher – he Created the Mountain Bike – the Mountain Bike Industry, in fact – and has contributed to creating a culture of mountain biking enthusiasts, me being one of them.

On Sunday, my buddies, Long Chain John, Surfer John, Dr. Eye and me met at our usual spot next to I-15 north of San Diego on the banks of Lake Hodges we ended up parking on a portion of the ladies mountain bike skill training track they set up– It was so cool @8.00 am they were meeting to do an off road riding clinic – One of the ladies came over and told us to move! (we did)

We got suited up and rode over to the Trek/Gary Fisher demo compound. I noticed this dude that had a cool look and I could tell the way he was talking to the bike mechanics that he knew what he was talking about. I told my riding buddies I thought that was Gary Fisher.

I went over and asked a question about the pedal he chose, and he looked up and said “Hey man I’m Gary Fisher what’s your name!”

We talked about suspension and frame geometry – I was impressed with how passionate and technical he is. One of my friends asked him a question about his GF Cake bike that suffers from chain suck (that’s technical way of saying the chain comes off). Gary was very informative and had some great tips for his issue, and for general bike set up and maintenance.

When I asked him if he was a fabricator – at first he snapped back, “No. I wanted to build a big company. I wanted to build and sell great bikes. I didn’t want to be the one man shop.”
Later, however, he did admit that you do get a great feeling of release when you’re fabricating a nice part, “but I wanted to do something big so we sent all the production work out to established shops,” he said.

We talked about Arc-Zone and soon began talking about precision TIG/GTAW Welding and before long we were talking about TIG welding Titanium.

Gary said then when they started with titanium, it was like black magic, very few people had the expertise to weld it — and in fact, developed the technique and then taught Sandvik Metals how to do production TIG welding of titanium.

We went on to talk about the industry, and the component suppliers – it was great because he shares many of the same views I do about product quality and how the consolidation of the industry, and shifting production has had a negative effect on most products.

Bicycle manufacturers experienced the same thing we’re experiencing now in the Welding industry — too many reverse engineering companies too few innovators. . .

Gary demonstrated the differences between manufacturers by comparing the front forks on the four bikes that me and my friends rode. I had the one he liked best, a Trek Fuel 9 Pro I Series with its fork manufactured by Fox– the best engineering, manufacturing, technical support and best repair facilities — the whole package. (by the way, that’s what we strive for at Arc-Zone!)

I asked about the new 29″ wheel full suspension bikes or 29er’s – about the performance advantages.

“When you ride there is a pecking order, some people are much faster and they are always out front, with this bike you can be out front,” he said.

With it’s 29″ wheels you roll over the bumps better, corner better and climb better with less wheel spin (11.5% more tire contact patch)

After our 16 mile (25.75km) ride we stopped at the compound where there were a couple of VW Touregs with large trailers filled with bikes – but no 29ers! We should have demoed one first thing in the morning!

It’s not like me, but I went back later with my daughter Siena to get a picture of Gary Fisher so I could write this blog post.

I didn’t see him at first and was ready to leave when I saw him in a chair under the ladies demo trailer canopy. I was nervous and Siena said “Daddy I want to meet Gary Fisher.”

In the photo above, that’s Siena wearing her favorite Race Girl T-Shirt signed by open wheel racing champ and soon to be Nascar star AJ Alimendinger

Siena’s already seen her share of top performers in many fields, we are blessed.

This blog offers a fresh and brutally honest perspective on welding industry news, reviews of innovative companies and products, and profiles of those who are making an impact in the metal fabrication industry.

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This Blog is primarily written by Jim Watson (aka Joe Welder), a master fabricator, welding equipment designer, industry professional, online distributor, and owner of Arc-Zone.com, Inc.

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