We’re having some fun up here on the Olympic Peninsula. A small group of lifelong cyclists are inspired to start a school, Port Townsend Cycle School. Website coming soon.

A permanent home is proving hard to find and we may decide to build ours. In the meantime, I’m going to start by teaching wheelbuilding classes for the first time in a few years:

Wheel Building 1, Introduction to Lacing and Truing
Anyone can build a bicycle wheel. Obstacles are few and mostly self imposed. Learn a mistake-proof method along with important wheel and component theory. Each student will build their own wheel, receiving one-on-guidance. All tools and parts are supplied for this 2 day adventure. Class size is limited to 12. Dates: Sat-Sun, April 21-22 and Sat-Sun, July 14-15. Cost: $300.

Tried and True.

Wheel Building 2, Attaining Proficiency
Intended for those currently building (prereq of WB 1 or equivalent), to take your skills to the next level. More sophisticated tools, experience, and measurement is necessary to build professionally and profitably. Each will build a wheel and analyze the results. Focus is on process refinement for greater quality and speed. We’ll  be using P&K Lie truing stands and digital tensiometers with download! Class size is limited to 6. Dates: Sat-Sun, June 23-24. Cost: $400.

No shortcuts for these guys.

Wheel Building – Level 3, Wheel Design and Engineering
Decades of manufacturing and building experience are distilled into a 2 day intensive for established builders and students of the category. Wheel mastery can be difficult to attain because data on how and what works is seriously scarce. Join us for 2 exciting days of demystification and full disclosure. Lecture and presentation plus hands-on with special tools, class size is limited to 20. Date: Fri-Sat, May 24-25. Some of you will recognize this as the sort of material shared at the PBMA’s Portland Clinic in February. Cost: $300.

Same as it ever was!

These will be hosted at the Port Townsend School of the Arts at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. It’s a spacious and lovely facility but only available to us through July.

While there are as many ways to build as builders themselves, information and examples add immeasurably to a learning curve. A beginner needs access to a trouble free method and examples from which to build a style that works. These classes are full disclosure from someone who loves the task and has spoken to as many builders as perhaps anyone else. Join the conversation!

Send questions to me (ric@wheelfanatyk.com). For registration, contact Nora at ptcyclingschool@gmail.com.

First time ever, Jude Gerace (Sugarwheelworks, Portland) and I will lead a 2-day intensive wheel class for established builders, Jan 5 and 6 at United Bicycle Institute. Class is limited to 20, a few slots are still available. Enrollment details at PBMA.

Jude says: “If I would have had a class like this when I was first starting out, I would have saved myself years – and many nights of banging my head against the work bench. It is my pleasure to teach this class with Ric… Come join us for a weekend of geekery!”

Ric and Jude at her Portland workshop.

We’ll cover wheel components (tires, rims, nipples, spokes, hubs, complete wheels) in terms of tools, engineering, testing, and especially building. Plus introduce our work with shop systems to streamline otherwise complicated tasks. Most of this information cannot be found anywhere else.

Much tech detail is familiar to experienced industry designers but they cannot share their work for obvious reasons. Rarely, a veteran will open up. Josh Poertner (Silca, ex-Zipp), for example, has recently written very helpfully on testing and design issues from his heyday at Zipp. Otherwise, it takes builders many years to discover so much of what wheel function and construction entails.

It’s Judes and my wish to accelerate the learning track for builders. The world needs more of us at the highest levels to meet the future that’s coming our way.

We plan many hands-on experiences with tools and fixtures rarely seen outside development and manufacturing environments. You’ll gain valuable insight to guide building decisions and better interpret outcomes.

Unlike wheelbuilding 101, we will offer a solid and fairly vast foundation for an enlightened understanding of wheels. Tensioned wheel engineering is an obscure corner of mechanical engineering. Little of it is obvious even to those with ME degrees. As an industry, we develop systems and procedures obscure to the wider world and, needlessly, to many practicing mechanics and builders.

Fundamentally these are answers to questions that plagued us for years and which, once learned, helped advance our building. It will be a privilege to share so much, to have real time questions and discussion, and begin some networking to propel us ahead of the game!

Hope to see you among us, enjoying UBI hospitality and two days of geekery!

For current or aspiring bicycle mechanics, this is an exciting time. E-bikes, advanced materials, fun new categories, more diversity, mobile service, better tools, wow…the list keeps growing.

Check out the, just announced, technical workshops held by PBMA (our fledgling but dynamic mechanic association).

Coming later this year and next to Colorado, Portland, and Virginia. Most of the leading industry players are participating.

Learn with like-minded mechanic nerds.

There is room for just 120 mechanics at each so early registration is the only way to guarantee going. There are scholarships available, so be bold and apply!

Up your game!

Has to be Shasta, the trek’s big visual!

Our white van was rolling south on I-5 to Sacramento to booth 85 at the North American Hand Built Bicycle Show (NAHBS). Missed several years but excited to announce new products and meet many of you lucky to attend (Fri-Sun, 2/26-2/28/16). Press response was great.

The Return of Spline Nipples
Spoke nipples with non-square drive have been popularized by Mavic and DT but nipples with splined engagement were only available to builders for a few years in the mid-1990’s. Many of us loved them, I spec’d them on FSA wheels in 2006 but you can’t find them today. Aha, that’s changed. At NAHBS we announced the availability of nipples (14G, 2024-T6 alloy, 7 colors) and wrenches.

Splines like a freehub body.

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Ever wonder about the mechanics in bike racing? The ones who hang out vehicle windows to adjust derailleurs, jump into the center of pileups, sorting bikes and riders, leap from moving cars to get a replacement wheel to a punctured competitor? Do they live in those glamorous team buses? Are they all ex-special forces repurposed to sport? None of their scene and role is owed to chance.

Mavic, the oldest and still one of the best tech support programs. Photo © velonews.com

One of the longest lasting but least known cycling programs is USA Cycling’s Race Mechanics Clinic. 2015 marked the 28th year and I’m proud to have been along since day one.
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For a powerful dose of creativity, aesthetics, and raw energy, look to Milan. Milan reigns over my world of design not with volume but authenticity and refinement. A good example is the just-concluded 54th Annual Milan Design Week (Apr 14-19, 2015). This trade show and related festivities is a panorama that knows few limits. Dwarfing NAHBS (no insult there) at 2.5 million sq ft, 2300 exhibitors (from royalty to students), nearly 300,000 attendees from 150 countries.

Tapestry, nature, show time. Image from Designboom.

One highly publicized exhibit was a collaboration between fashion designer Antonio Marras and Segno Italiano entitled “Il Sentiero dei Nidid di Ragno” (the nest of spiders). A crazy array of intricate handcrafted objects among accessories, decorations, and furniture. A dizzying assembly of birds nests, woven strands of colored fabric, and baskets made by traditional artisans from the south of Sardinia (Marra’s home). River cane, myrtle, olive, willow with fanciful fabric patterns intertwine.

Of course, as a wheel builder and lover I noticed other details first.
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Chicagoland refers to the greater Chicago area and since before the Schwinn empire it was the heartland of America’s bike industry. The biggest factories, the fanciest shops, the most racing champions, the most overseas bike company offices, and so forth. No surprise how speed skating (as quad centric as any sport) sent athletes back and forth between cycling and ice, a productive dynamic.

Olympic skater, later World Champ cyclist.

The Chicagoland Bicycle Dealers Association (CABDA) hosted years of dealer shows, many I was fortunate to attend. They were big, seminar intensive, and everyone seemed more engaged than at Interbike or the few consumer shows that come and go. They stopped in the early 2000’s, possibly a collateral victim of the collapse of US bike making and Midwest manufacturing in general.

Hard to imagine but, in the late 1980’s Schwinn made nearly one million bikes a year in the US. By the early 1990’s, that number was zero. Nothing short of stunning.

The Show is back!

Last week (Feb 11-12, 2015) we exhibited there and it was great to meet the sturdy owners and staff who braved 19” of snow that fell the day before opening. The dump was worse as you move north (Wisconsin, MN). These brave souls listened carefully and had lots of suggestions. Exhibitors and attendees were happy.

The Show venue from host hotel.

What fun to show P&K truing stands to appreciative and well informed mechanics and shop owners.

Always an admiring crowd for P&K stands.

“Trust me, you’ll build faster and easier.”

Morizumi Spoke Machines attract curiosity.

“It’s really that easy.”

Two finger, one handed thread rolling.

I also gave two seminars on topics I’ll cover in upcoming posts. One, how to succeed with upscale wheels and, two, winning service department strategies. You don’t need to own or work at a shop to benefit from this information. Solutions to these topics remain elusive for cycling, issues shared by other sports and business.

What is a Midwest bike event without Richard Schwinn (of Waterford Precision Cycles)?

Richard checks P&K stands.

Lastly, an extra shout out to Jim Kersten (plus family) and Greg Miller, the show organizers, and other volunteers. One evening it was -6F, so more than a bit of teamwork was needed.

Good luck to CABDA sustaining and expanding this much needed event.

A shipment of P&K Lie stands is on the way. Anticipating the arrival produces a childlike excitement in me that I’m sure is familiar to many of you. Some items have a beauty and uniqueness that never fails to dazzle.

Wish I could have seen the crowd at the P&K booth at Eurobike 2014. There was no hope of my attending but I can imagine the stunned expressions of amazement, appreciation, and lust. A frame as beautiful as exquisite wheels is no surprise. Bike design benefits from a balance of quality. Truing stands to match (and exceed) the beauty of fine wheels are rare.

P&K stands have owned the “Most Beautiful and Effective” title for years now but it still comes as a visual shock to those seeing them for the first time. This year they jazzed up their display at Eurobike. When Kerstin was in the fashion trade, Peter built futuristic furniture for her studio. Wow, right off a film set.

Snazzy furniture at the P&K workshop.

Against these arresting pieces was a colorful array of stands. When our shipment arrives, we will have blue, red, green, and black!

On display at Eurobike.

The best news for many is the return of P&K’s famous spoke wrench. We’ve been without for a full year. The new production includes five colors (green, black, blue, silver and red). Welcome back, trusty 3.25mm model.

Headed our way.

I have recently corresponded with Mike Tierney, a wheel builder and writer from Ontario. He epitomizes one of cycling’s healthiest habits: avoiding high tech glitz. This runs deep in our industry and sport. Bicycles at very modest cost can deliver such joy and function. And wheel builders are among the most rightfully proud as it requires next to no tooling investment to make great wheels. From Mike’s mouth:

I’ve always been the champion of motivating people to build wheels by using the least amount of equipment (less initial investment = more potential Newby wheelbuilders). So I practise what I preach!  Heck it wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I owned a wheel stand!  I used frame and fork for 48 years! 

Mike’s practical view powers cycling across the globe, nearly irrespective of economic conditions. While we dearly hope that never changes, there are good excuses to own fine tools. Wheel building tends to short itself in this department.

In the US, most $2000 wheel sets are built on $200 stands. Nothing wrong,  but for many working hard on their skills and careers, a stand like P&K is justifiable. Perfectly executed as the highest level cycling components, genuinely effective for speeding and improving building, and fabulously good looking.

Builders can’t stay away.

Eurobike 2014 saw Vittoria debut a high end wheel line . Check this artistic video of their service center. Vittoria values both beauty and function.

Let’s finish with a shout out for one of USA Cycling’s oldest and best programs, the annual Bill Woodul Race Mechanics Clinic. The 2014 session was a big success, graduating 64 mechanics. Next years (usually late November/early December) fills up fast, so stay tuned.

I was proud to bring a P&K Special250 stand. Here it provides background to one of the Clinic sessions.

Students learning from the best.

I hope some of you have the opportunity to attend a Clinic or try a P&K stand. Or both!

Last week’s treat was a viewing of Alex Gibney’s much anticipated documentary, “The Armstrong Lie.” It screened at Seattle’s Sundance Cinema, one of their latest remarkable theaters; instantly one of my favorite all-time venues.

Gibney started when Lance announced his unexpected comeback in 2009, the project was suspended as legal battles grew, and was finished following the confession. Gibney’s rare talents combine with a unique opportunity to see the whole story. This is a must-see. You’ll never hear or see Lance, Frankie, George, etc., the special way Gibney presents.

Resonating throughout is how Armstrong’s trajectory so frames much of recent cycling history. In 1993 his World Road Title gave us a big hint at what was to come. In November, we invited him to Wheelsmith. He arrived with entourage, including then-buddy Frankie Andreu. There was pandemonium in the shop, freshly decorated for the Christmas season. The line to meet stretched the length of the store, out the door and around the block.

Turned Wheelsmith upside down for a day!

These images are by Shane Brentham, shop marketing pro. In a world of Enron’s, Savings and Loan collapses, tech and housing bubbles, corporate and environmental crimes, missteps in professional sports should be examined but not magnified. To mete out justice, excuses must be heard. To understand the lessons, we spectators need explanations. Thanks to Gibney and other thoughtful commentators, it is clearer how Lance’s personality + his bionic potential + a drug-infused sport = a trap and journey that no one, especially Lance, can recommend.

Lance and Frankie, inseparable cycling stars in 1993.

Two kids, the shorter probably now has kids of his own!

Doug Shapiro (Motorola Pro), John Ryan (Wheelsmith), Lance, Frankie, Shane (Wheelsmith).

They’re posed with a Serotta Ti bike Ben and we provided as a stipend for the appearance. Wonder where it is now? They’re standing on a fake cobbled path made to look like Paris-Roubaix, in front of a wall of memorabilia riders fresh from EU adventure would share.

The very picture of youth and great intentions.

Fall in the bike world is more than brilliant tree colors and cooler air to breath. For those on the commercial side, it’s show time. Prime among the Fall expo’s are Eurobike in Germany, Interbike in Las Vegas, and Asia Bike in Nanjing, China.

This year (2013) Peter and Kerstin’s spectacular truing stands were on display at Eurobike and Asia Bike.

Elegance at Eurobike.

Their China distributor, Aita Cycle, hosted an ethereal display at Asia Bike.

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