So is your relationship with your dad why you didn't start out welding frames? You had said in another thread that both him and your grandpa were welders, made me wonder with that in your background why you would fillet braze bikes. Frankly I hate brazing so more power to you for rocking it out
In saying that they were "welders" doesn't give then adequate credit. they were "metal guys." - you name it. I srarted Brazing because when i started riding there were two kinds of bikes in my world: Mtn bikes, and fillet brazed Mtn bikes. I never had a fillet one until i built my own. I still have those end of day sit back, crack a brew & stare wonderment on how much i like them! - Garro.
Thanks you for being the guy who gave me the insight and inspiration to take my framebuilding to the next level.
I owe you big time brother man!
*snipped* - your first statement is adquate payment for the second. to surpass the master is to repay the debt. I expect nothing less from you. keep kicking ass, esp in the CD race coming up! make us proud! - Garro.
I remember you telling me that you sold your first bike for $500 and that's about what it was worth. Was that the first frame you built, or the first frame that came out of your business? When you say Coconino took off after you built the 4 with Wade, did you already have the business set up and insurance, or did that come later? I'm curious about the specifics of your transition from amateur builder to professional builder.
I love your work, you are probably the biggest single influence on the way I do things.
thanks! when i went to UBI I had all my resale accounts from being a bike shop, so all i had to do was change a bunch of them over to OEM. the cycling comunity was very, very supportive of what i was doing, no one in Nor-AZ was building, and cycling is huge here, and Mtb 1-speeding esp. so, so people were pretty jazzed that Flag was going to have a framebuilder. people had genuine trust in me who had known me for awhile, they knew i would do the best i could, no apoligies. I was very well known in cycling circles, I had been kicking ass racing for years, my touring was the stuff of legends & magazine articles & i reclon I have been on the cover/photo spreads of just about every bike mag in the USA & many abroad Mtn biking as well as ads for tons of companies from Nature Valley to sierra designs, patagonia, black diamond.......So, i had a head-start on just having my name out there. while i was at UBI I was getting my licenses, insurance, ect. then we built the shop from scratch. I sold my first 10 frames for $500.00ea. as that is what the materials cost. I made nada, but learned LOTS. the price kept creeping, creeping up until i started to feel like i was being compensated for my labors adquately. I sold my 4th frame. it's still rocking it, although it makes me cringe athetically. square wishbone & all........I have a standing offer to trade any of my 1st 20 bikes for free to a current issue, but *no-one* will take me up on it, they are very loved.........hope this helps - Garro.
I have been on the cover/photo spreads of just about every bike mag in the USA & many abroad Mtn biking as well as ads for tons of companies from Nature Valley to sierra designs, patagonia, black diamond.......
I think it would be really cool and well received if you were to scan a few of those and let us see them. What do you think?
Yo Steve! I've always admired that you have made your living in the mountain bike world. I view that niche to be pretty difficult for a number of reasons. I think it's testament to your mad skills and bikes that hard-core riders can identify with.
Speaking of your mad skills, I also admire that you now offer a "non-filed" fillet brazed frame. That was a long time coming. Do you ever get customers saying "surprise me" when it comes to showing the raw fabrication and fillets?
I think it would be really cool and well received if you were to scan a few of those and let us see them. What do you think?
i'll bust out the treasure chest when i get some metal work done today, Craig. I found a secret stash of some race #'s the other day & went nuts on then with a staple gun. I wish i would have kept them all - there were 100's! - Garro.
Yo Steve! I've always admired that you have made your living in the mountain bike world. I view that niche to be pretty difficult for a number of reasons. I think it's testament to your mad skills and bikes that hard-core riders can identify with.
Speaking of your mad skills, I also admire that you now offer a "non-filed" fillet brazed frame. That was a long time coming. Do you ever get customers saying "surprise me" when it comes to showing the raw fabrication and fillets?
Thanks, Zank! - well, really you have to look really close at one of my bikes & you may start to see tiny ripples in places like around the Cs's, or the back of the seat tube where it's just been hit with some 80 grit........the thing is that NO ONE has called out a no-file frame! I was so stoked to make a few {done four} and have people say "look! these aren't filed at all!!" but nobody ever has. if you are going to do a no-file fillet you do about a 2/3rds size fillet - about the size of one that has been filed, so it "cups" the "V" made by the tube junction - "flashing out" the edges is absolutuly key, no cold edges. I am kind of underwhelmed at the # of people ordering the no-file option, everyone wants to pony up for the full monty, but that's totally cool. I'll try to take a pic of my wife's commuter to show you what i mean. I think just having people know i'm capable enough of it to sell one as-is is enough to show i know my brazing & maybe clinch the deal. the old no-file Ritcheys & especially the Salsas done by Ross Schafer were uber-cool. One thing about building mtn bikes in the custom market is that there is a rich history of guys just totaly flaking out & just walking with everybody's $$$$$ {so much so i feel no need to name names} and that has hurt everyone in this buisness. that sucks. - Garro.
Yeah. tough shit, there. lots of emotions. . .(SNIP). . . Denise asked why i was doing this. "because this is the only part of the old Steve Garro left" I told her. there was no decision. I told poeple i would do it. pay no attention to the tears on the keyboard, OK? - Garro.
Steve thanks for the reply, it's experiences like that that few of us can relate to and your ability to come back after it was, is, amazing. The attitude sounds like the same bad-ass attitude from the Team Mutant days.
Can you speak a bit on that decision and also how, or if, the whole experience has focused or changed your outlook in reference to building?
I thought about this more, and i tried to explain it to Dazza @ nahbs-pdx, but it gave me empathy. empathy for people being jacked up & trying to un-jack-up them. empathy for the fact that not everyone want to ride just like me. that they need to be addresed on their own plane. I have Prosthetics. I have been through 4 legs {KAFO's}. I have worked with a guy who listend to me about my needs as my abilities and needs & physiology changed, and helped me out, and he learned, too - and we actually made it fun. I see bikes as being just like that. I hope you all don't mind if i return to certain posts as i think about them, I live in my head allot, and i will ruminate upon some points as I now go to make bikes. - Garro.
As others have mentioned you've been an inspiration both on and off the bike and I just want to state that I whole heartedly agree. I've been through some stuff, pain-wise, and while it was bad it's not nearly what you've been through. You took the time to talk to me on the phone and help me through it and I just wanted to say I really appreciated it.
Sometimes a little perspective is what's it's all about.
Regarding bikes, I remember a few years ago several of 'us' were telling you to raise your prices and ultimately you did. Have you found that pricing for what you do is more or less elastic than you may have originally thought? By that I mean is a more expensive frame harder to sell or since it's got you name on it (along with blood, sweat, and mojo) do they just sell regardless of price?
Regarding bikes, I remember a few years ago several of 'us' were telling you to raise your prices and ultimately you did. Have you found that pricing for what you do is more or less elastic than you may have originally thought? By that I mean is a more expensive frame harder to sell or since it's got you name on it (along with blood, sweat, and mojo) do they just sell regardless of price?
Conor
I don't know - I am trying to work smarter, not harder. I can make a bike fairly quickly, but i have to spread it out over more time. I have to take allot of breaks & strech. I feel like I charge a fair wage. I make allot less per hour then almost all my customers, but that is a tax i willingly pay for being able to live as i please/am able to. I know that I am a very tiny fish in a big sea. I find most of my clients have followed my blog for awhile, it has every build I have done for the last five years. It shows the quality, quantity & form of my general body of work that when someone contacts me they often have a single bike that has just been bugging them for awhile & they either know that's what they want & know the flow of the shop o& they have specific questions. I'm not a big "sales pitch" guy. My prices are on my site, as is the wait. If someone contacts me out of the blue I ask that they peruse the site & please get back to me if they are not familiar with what i do..........I'm good at saying "no", too. I don't know that I have a "mistique" I just think that i'm a known quantification when an order is placed..........does any of that help at all, Conor? Please let me know if you have any other questions! - looking forward to working with you, Steve Garro, Coconino Cycles......
When you were racing did you like bikes that oversteer, understeer or were almost impossible to steer and why?
I liked bikes that didn't steer. bikes that just "were" - ones that would find the way when you were waaayyyy deep in the back of your head thinking about your happy place looking out of the stinging salty portholes that were your eyes.........those, and short chainstay + layed back seatube trials-y bikes that put you on your ass if you let them, but would ride up & on to picnic table, too. like an Ibis Mtn trials, for example. - Garro.
Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't know - but maybe not.
What does Coconino mean and why is it your company name? Inquiring minds need to know.
Dave
because i live in Coconino County, in the Coconino Natl. Forest, which is on the Coconino Plateau......... I love the Coconino. I think it is one of the most beautiful places in the world & I wanted to do it all justice, and I wanted a name that had local meaning. there has been a Coconino Cycling club since the 1890's. plus, I like the alternating vowels & consonants, and it looked good when I drew the logo. - Garro.
Rolls with style
Re: Coconino Cycles
Originally Posted by abbeyQ
what did he eat. Back in a few gotta open a window.
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