Anyone who鈥檚 owned a bike for any length of time knows the satisfaction of doing your own repairs.
From the first time you change a flat to trying something more complicated like pulling off a rear cassette, there鈥檚 a big sense of accomplishment in carrying out the work yourself rather than paying a bike shop to do it for you.
From doing your own repairs it鈥檚 a short step to planning your own build, where you buy a frame and then hand-pick the components to make an entirely unique bike.
But imagine that you could take that one step further.
magine that you could actually design and make your own frame, the basic building block of your bike, tailoring it exactly to your size, shape and riding goals. How great would that be?
The exciting news is that for those of us in the 麻豆传媒映画area, this isn鈥檛 just a dream 鈥� it鈥檚 something we can actually do, thanks to the University of the Fraser Valley鈥檚 Frame Building 101 program.
For someone like me, who鈥檚 pretty inept with tools, it鈥檚 particularly encouraging that the course welcomes students who have no previous experience in metal work or welding.
All you have to do is have a clear idea of the kind of bike you鈥檇 like to build when you enroll.
It鈥檚 not a completely blank slate, as the course focuses on building hard tail mountain bike frames. However, with the right fork and components, a steel hardtail can be perfect for all kinds of cycling, from trail riding to commuting.
Course instructor Paul Brodie promises to take students through everything from the history of mountain biking to frame design, geometry, tube selection and mitring, welding and brazing, and the detail work of finishing the bike.
It takes a surprisingly short time to learn how to design and build a bike frame.
The course takes two weeks and currently there are six different sets of dates available for 2014.
All shop supplies and the use of any tools required are included in the course fees, and students have the option of buying a gruppo (from the Italian for 鈥済roup,鈥� the component set required to complete the bike) at wholesale pricing. For anyone who doesn鈥檛 feel fully confident in their welding skills after the first part of the course, the instructors can help with the final assembly of the frame.
To my mind, the most exciting things about this program is that you get to build your own bike frame and take it away to ride on 鈥� how cool is that? Plus, you gain a whole bunch of very transferable, useful shop skills along the way.
Frame building 101 costs $2,800, which isn鈥檛 a bad deal at all when you consider that you get to leave with your own brand-new bike.
For more information, check the promotional videos at
But be careful 鈥� once you鈥檝e watched them, you鈥檒l want to sign up for a class right away.
Kay Cahill is a cyclist and librarian
who believes bikes are for life, not just
for commuting.
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