The business of Framebuilding is not an easy one. Its incredibly demanding in the sense you need three essential skillsets: Business and marketing acumen, practical applied design and fabrication skills and financial resources. If you’re missing any of those three, the uphill road that is framebuilding gets exponentially steeper. Experience occurs over the course of time. With time comes proficiency. With proficiency, you begin to approach mastery. Very few reach mastery of all 3 skillsets; it’s an exception, not a given. “Success” is often a moving target because of this diverse set of stacked skills required. I put that first word in quotes because success is often measurable but in unconventional means. Successfully completing a frame with no mistakes is often the initial measure of ones success. Completing a sale is another. Gathering a clientele that responds to your wares is another measure of success. Getting that same client base to put down hard earned cash for those same wares is yet another. Now actually making a living building competently fabricated bicycles built to a standard above bar and making a living doing so where the business is self sustainable? That is a completely other level of success. All of this takes time, patience, personal do diligence, determination and again finances. But finances are contingent on actually selling bicycles and successfully marketing your “brand”. Outfitting a frame shop to build bicycles is not a cheap endeavor!
“All bikes are handmade!” But we all know what we mean when we say handmade bikes, and importing from overseas factories ain’t that. You can tell what handmade is when all the tiny companies and one person makers are super keen to tell you where they’re based, how their local riding changes their building approach, what tools or processes they use…” “So in this climate of massive financial insecurity for the UK handbuilt scene, mass produced imported goods companies showed their wares and captured a certain amount of the precious media spotlight and the glow of association with the handmade.”
And second:
“This blurring of the meaning of handmade, combined with escalating costs, feels like a new low for frame building.”
This is a subject, despite the distance, that I too have been thinking about of late and with my ear to the ground, it sounds like a bunch of my fellow US based builders are wrestling with the same thoughts. Let me assure all those reading: This is nothing new. The industry at large has forever been looking to the framebuilder community for direction, for inspiration and for what is “trending”. This is always been so and so it will always be so. And if I may, let me add that this alone does not devalue each framebuilders worth and contributions. At times I know it can feel like an uphill battle, but again: They are not us and we definitively are not them. And to that earlier point of the industry at large looking to the framebuilder community for inspiration, let us not forget that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. But every industry goes through periods of ups and downs attracting new customers, shedding customers, going through dry spells, having periods of immense growth and so on. News flash: The cycling industry is currently in one of those “down” cycles. Now how we each navigate those ups and downs and how we sustain ourselves in those valleys or bridges between the ups and downs is a challenge and a measure of your business sensibilities. So its natural to look to events as that outlet to capture our collective audiences attention.
The difficult part of the conversation is the mixing of the two at events billed as “handmade” bicycle shows. The barrier to entry is greater for most framebuilders. Budgets are limited. The client base we serve is smaller and we’re all focused on trying to grab a small portion of a very small slice of the market. So any point of difference that sets apart, for example my own brand over another’s, is incredibly important. Telling a cohesive story about ones brand is an art all by itself. I don’t have a large marketing team working 5 days a week to tell this story. I’m the one telling it day in and day out while I’m also building the bikes, sweeping the floors and somehow managing to find time to ride the very bikes I’m producing which is where I find my own source of inspiration: out on the trails. Time and finances are precious and how you delegate those is also a challenge. So when you mix these two, the “handmade” by the framebuilder with the mass produced by the industry or larger shops, we’re both also vying for the spotlight of a selection of media on hand to record the event. Fostering personal relationships goes a long way at events and shows but there’s only so much a framebuilder can do. And lets be clear: Money trumps all. The more you have at your disposal, the more opportunities you have at product placement. You have more mobility and choice for who sees your product and when and by what means they see that same product. Many of these shows leverage the handmade aspect as the sizzle to sell the proverbial steak. Those larger company’s, although integral to the industry at large, leverage that lure of the handmade to gobble up what little spotlight can be present, whether thats intentional or unintentional. The financial burden, time spent and the investment it takes for someone like myself to actually bring a selection of bikes, which are all personal builds, to a show is exponentially more difficult for a small framebuilder like myself and others vs the vast landscape that is the industry.
In a way, the framebuilders’ relationship with the industry at large can feel transactional at times. But despite those feelings, remember that they need us as much as we need them. Let me be clear that I value all of my OEM accounts. I alone cannot make the bikes I make without the help, dedication, knowledge and support of all of my OEM accounts. I literally cannot build the bikes I build to the high standard I build them without their support. However, without a rich and robust framebuilding community, their path leads to ever more sameness, more blandness, less choice or uniqueness, let alone the crucible of ideas we provide to the industry. I don’t like to think of this conversation of one where we decide “who” can or “should” attend bicycle shows. The diverse collective talent of all companies large and small within the industry makes for a more robust and fundamentally sound industry moving forward.
The question really is “how” this is all presented to the end consumer, which we happen to share, and “how” the formats by which we present play out, so things are mutually beneficial while being mindful of the hurdles that the framebuilding community faces. That I don’t have any ready answers for in the moment. I certainly have ideas that are percolating. However, let me warn all of my fellow framebuilders reading this missive: Do not rely on what we have come to know as “shows” for framebuilders’ as the end all be all outlet for business. Yes, these are incredibly important events that occur either at a local level or at an international level. But ones business cannot lean solely on the show format for brand awareness, traction in the market and sales. To put it lightly: This is a fools errand. My best advice goes back to what I stated earlier which is to foster relationships and build community. As much as we work in vacuums we cannot allow our businesses to exist within a vacuum. A tree DOES make noise in the forest but someone has to actually be there to hear it. So make yourself heard. Make yourself seen. Foster relationships. Keep your eyes peeled, your ear to the ground and your nose to the wind for any kind of opportunity. I’ve heard from some framebuilders in the past they don’t like marketing themselves. Let me tell everyone reading this: Every one I’ve heard this from no longer is in business. So if you’re not into marketing yourself, figure out how to work on and improve this skillset. Its just as important as learning to braze or learning to TIG weld.
Does something need to change with the show format? Maybe. Maybe not. What I do know and have known for some time is that any change that needs to happen needs to happen collectively where the framebulding community works with the industry at large and not against the industry at large and vice versa. There’s power in numbers and there’s strength in collective action when solving difficult problems.
You may ask what is my advice to all of my fellow framebuilders reading this? In the present: Simply to do your best work. Let that work reflect a higher standard that is infused with the integrity we offer to the community. Your work can speak for itself. Have the patience and the determination to foster that actualization. Do not place all of your eggs in one basket that is the show format. Support and attend the shows you believe in and reach out to the organizers how we can collectively make these shows better. But also foster new relationships and rekindle old relationships moving forward. And for those of you in the industry at large? Become familiar with, understand and respect what it is the framebuilding community brings to the table. Let us not collectively devalue what “handmade” has come to represent within the framebuilding community. We can do this and be mutually successful so long as we work together.
Post Script: We all spend a lot of time developing our skills that build a better bicycle. This is a very rewarding and exciting aspect of ones craft. In a way its the essence of “craftsmanship”: That endless pursuit of perfection. To build the proverbial better mouse trap. To remove the same amount of material with one file stroke as you do with 10. But this is only one aspect of running a business. Knowing ones craft and building to a standard above bar should be a given. What we often lose sight of are the other facets of running a business which could arguably be even MORE important that the actual act of building a bicycle. Those are the skills of marketing and most importantly: Selling. If you do not know how to get your name out there, aka building “brand awareness” (that term is bandied about with little explanation about what it actually means, and it means getting eyeballs on your work), you cannot begin to even go about the act of selling your wares. Sheer talent does not sell bicycles. I can count on one hand who has achieved this and this primarily is being in the right place at the right time and that business owner catches a tremendous break. Let me repeat that and add an important thought: Sheer talent, proficiency, or even mastery of one’s craft should not be conflated with one’s ability to make a sale. These are entirely DIFFERENT skills, all of which are required to run a “successful” business. Just as you pour tremendous amounts of time and effort into progressing those skills required to build a bicycle to a standard, so must you pour that same time and effort into the other skills required of running a business. I’m talking about marketing. I’m talking about sales. I’m talking about design. I’m talking about brand building. If you lack any of those or some are rusty: You need to work on those skills and develop them just like you foster and quench that desire to build a better bicycle. I don’t have all the answers. No one does. But I do know this: Just as there’s an art to building and selling bicycles, there’s an art to knowing where to find answers too.
The Business of Framebuilding
The business of Framebuilding is not an easy one. Its incredibly demanding in the sense you need three essential skillsets: Business and marketing acumen, practical applied design and fabrication skills and financial resources. If you’re missing any of those three, the uphill road that is framebuilding gets exponentially steeper. Experience occurs over the course of time. With time comes proficiency. With proficiency, you begin to approach mastery. Very few reach mastery of all 3 skillsets; it’s an exception, not a given. “Success” is often a moving target because of this diverse set of stacked skills required. I put that first word in quotes because success is often measurable but in unconventional means. Successfully completing a frame with no mistakes is often the initial measure of ones success. Completing a sale is another. Gathering a clientele that responds to your wares is another measure of success. Getting that same client base to put down hard earned cash for those same wares is yet another. Now actually making a living building competently fabricated bicycles built to a standard above bar and making a living doing so where the business is self sustainable? That is a completely other level of success. All of this takes time, patience, personal do diligence, determination and again finances. But finances are contingent on actually selling bicycles and successfully marketing your “brand”. Outfitting a frame shop to build bicycles is not a cheap endeavor!
Recently, a show in England named Bespoked occurred and a builder, Pi of Clandestine, wrote a missive that caught my attention over here across the pond. Two quotes stood out for me. First, which I’ve broken up a bit for sake of reading, is the following:
“All bikes are handmade!” But we all know what we mean when we say handmade bikes, and importing from overseas factories ain’t that. You can tell what handmade is when all the tiny companies and one person makers are super keen to tell you where they’re based, how their local riding changes their building approach, what tools or processes they use…” “So in this climate of massive financial insecurity for the UK handbuilt scene, mass produced imported goods companies showed their wares and captured a certain amount of the precious media spotlight and the glow of association with the handmade.”
And second:
“This blurring of the meaning of handmade, combined with escalating costs, feels like a new low for frame building.”
This is a subject, despite the distance, that I too have been thinking about of late and with my ear to the ground, it sounds like a bunch of my fellow US based builders are wrestling with the same thoughts. Let me assure all those reading: This is nothing new. The industry at large has forever been looking to the framebuilder community for direction, for inspiration and for what is “trending”. This is always been so and so it will always be so. And if I may, let me add that this alone does not devalue each framebuilders worth and contributions. At times I know it can feel like an uphill battle, but again: They are not us and we definitively are not them. And to that earlier point of the industry at large looking to the framebuilder community for inspiration, let us not forget that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. But every industry goes through periods of ups and downs attracting new customers, shedding customers, going through dry spells, having periods of immense growth and so on. News flash: The cycling industry is currently in one of those “down” cycles. Now how we each navigate those ups and downs and how we sustain ourselves in those valleys or bridges between the ups and downs is a challenge and a measure of your business sensibilities. So its natural to look to events as that outlet to capture our collective audiences attention.
The difficult part of the conversation is the mixing of the two at events billed as “handmade” bicycle shows. The barrier to entry is greater for most framebuilders. Budgets are limited. The client base we serve is smaller and we’re all focused on trying to grab a small portion of a very small slice of the market. So any point of difference that sets apart, for example my own brand over another’s, is incredibly important. Telling a cohesive story about ones brand is an art all by itself. I don’t have a large marketing team working 5 days a week to tell this story. I’m the one telling it day in and day out while I’m also building the bikes, sweeping the floors and somehow managing to find time to ride the very bikes I’m producing which is where I find my own source of inspiration: out on the trails. Time and finances are precious and how you delegate those is also a challenge. So when you mix these two, the “handmade” by the framebuilder with the mass produced by the industry or larger shops, we’re both also vying for the spotlight of a selection of media on hand to record the event. Fostering personal relationships goes a long way at events and shows but there’s only so much a framebuilder can do. And lets be clear: Money trumps all. The more you have at your disposal, the more opportunities you have at product placement. You have more mobility and choice for who sees your product and when and by what means they see that same product. Many of these shows leverage the handmade aspect as the sizzle to sell the proverbial steak. Those larger company’s, although integral to the industry at large, leverage that lure of the handmade to gobble up what little spotlight can be present, whether thats intentional or unintentional. The financial burden, time spent and the investment it takes for someone like myself to actually bring a selection of bikes, which are all personal builds, to a show is exponentially more difficult for a small framebuilder like myself and others vs the vast landscape that is the industry.
In a way, the framebuilders’ relationship with the industry at large can feel transactional at times. But despite those feelings, remember that they need us as much as we need them. Let me be clear that I value all of my OEM accounts. I alone cannot make the bikes I make without the help, dedication, knowledge and support of all of my OEM accounts. I literally cannot build the bikes I build to the high standard I build them without their support. However, without a rich and robust framebuilding community, their path leads to ever more sameness, more blandness, less choice or uniqueness, let alone the crucible of ideas we provide to the industry. I don’t like to think of this conversation of one where we decide “who” can or “should” attend bicycle shows. The diverse collective talent of all companies large and small within the industry makes for a more robust and fundamentally sound industry moving forward.
The question really is “how” this is all presented to the end consumer, which we happen to share, and “how” the formats by which we present play out, so things are mutually beneficial while being mindful of the hurdles that the framebuilding community faces. That I don’t have any ready answers for in the moment. I certainly have ideas that are percolating. However, let me warn all of my fellow framebuilders reading this missive: Do not rely on what we have come to know as “shows” for framebuilders’ as the end all be all outlet for business. Yes, these are incredibly important events that occur either at a local level or at an international level. But ones business cannot lean solely on the show format for brand awareness, traction in the market and sales. To put it lightly: This is a fools errand. My best advice goes back to what I stated earlier which is to foster relationships and build community. As much as we work in vacuums we cannot allow our businesses to exist within a vacuum. A tree DOES make noise in the forest but someone has to actually be there to hear it. So make yourself heard. Make yourself seen. Foster relationships. Keep your eyes peeled, your ear to the ground and your nose to the wind for any kind of opportunity. I’ve heard from some framebuilders in the past they don’t like marketing themselves. Let me tell everyone reading this: Every one I’ve heard this from no longer is in business. So if you’re not into marketing yourself, figure out how to work on and improve this skillset. Its just as important as learning to braze or learning to TIG weld.
Does something need to change with the show format? Maybe. Maybe not. What I do know and have known for some time is that any change that needs to happen needs to happen collectively where the framebulding community works with the industry at large and not against the industry at large and vice versa. There’s power in numbers and there’s strength in collective action when solving difficult problems.
You may ask what is my advice to all of my fellow framebuilders reading this? In the present: Simply to do your best work. Let that work reflect a higher standard that is infused with the integrity we offer to the community. Your work can speak for itself. Have the patience and the determination to foster that actualization. Do not place all of your eggs in one basket that is the show format. Support and attend the shows you believe in and reach out to the organizers how we can collectively make these shows better. But also foster new relationships and rekindle old relationships moving forward. And for those of you in the industry at large? Become familiar with, understand and respect what it is the framebuilding community brings to the table. Let us not collectively devalue what “handmade” has come to represent within the framebuilding community. We can do this and be mutually successful so long as we work together.
Post Script: We all spend a lot of time developing our skills that build a better bicycle. This is a very rewarding and exciting aspect of ones craft. In a way its the essence of “craftsmanship”: That endless pursuit of perfection. To build the proverbial better mouse trap. To remove the same amount of material with one file stroke as you do with 10. But this is only one aspect of running a business. Knowing ones craft and building to a standard above bar should be a given. What we often lose sight of are the other facets of running a business which could arguably be even MORE important that the actual act of building a bicycle. Those are the skills of marketing and most importantly: Selling. If you do not know how to get your name out there, aka building “brand awareness” (that term is bandied about with little explanation about what it actually means, and it means getting eyeballs on your work), you cannot begin to even go about the act of selling your wares. Sheer talent does not sell bicycles. I can count on one hand who has achieved this and this primarily is being in the right place at the right time and that business owner catches a tremendous break. Let me repeat that and add an important thought: Sheer talent, proficiency, or even mastery of one’s craft should not be conflated with one’s ability to make a sale. These are entirely DIFFERENT skills, all of which are required to run a “successful” business. Just as you pour tremendous amounts of time and effort into progressing those skills required to build a bicycle to a standard, so must you pour that same time and effort into the other skills required of running a business. I’m talking about marketing. I’m talking about sales. I’m talking about design. I’m talking about brand building. If you lack any of those or some are rusty: You need to work on those skills and develop them just like you foster and quench that desire to build a better bicycle. I don’t have all the answers. No one does. But I do know this: Just as there’s an art to building and selling bicycles, there’s an art to knowing where to find answers too.