In the end- it’s all about bringing the details together for something functional, unique, and beautiful:
Oh- and a huge thanks to my customers who allow me to really have fun with these bicycles. It’s a great feeling to be able to go to a national or international show with one of my everyday builds and feel like I have a “show bike”. I’m a lucky man.
* blog excerpt- more words and photos in the original post
I just received a note from a customer I first met at last years NAHBS. A year to the week after we met he's rolling around on his freshly built up Winter.
Part of his note read: "When I hear that a bike "rides better" than another, it's hard to know what that really means -- but it's not hard to recognize when you feel it. "
I just received a note from a customer I first met at last years NAHBS. A year to the week after we met he's rolling around on his freshly built up Winter.
Part of his note read: "When I hear that a bike "rides better" than another, it's hard to know what that really means -- but it's not hard to recognize when you feel it. "
Yeah, it's a pretty good job to have.
That's why they pay us the big bucks, Eric.
Good story.
Part of his note read: "When I hear that a bike "rides better" than another, it's hard to know what that really means -- but it's not hard to recognize when you feel it. "
Yeah, it's a pretty good job to have.
That's fantastic to get compliments like that about your work - makes it very worthwhile
A year or so ago Ryan Imondi came by and put together a slide show with audio. The Bespoked folks reworked it slightly and included it in their "Meet the Maker" video series. It's fun to have this floating through some of the European circles.
I just returned home from what seems like a whirlwind tour. Portland, Sacramento, Seattle, Bristol.
Bespoked was a fantastic show- roughly 80 exhibitors and 4000 attendees. I had a great time, left less one frame set, and plus one award for "Best Randonee".
Beautiful venue. Great story. Congratulations. I've admired your work for some time. Your builds look so elegantly executed, yet their simple styling capture for me the simple joy of just riding a bike.
Your recent trip seems to have been so fantastic, I wonder if you could have seen something like this coming?
To the first part, thanks- I think that sums up part of "what a Winter is". I really enjoy rich and layered detail, but details in support of a cohesive and unified design. I want the consummate bike geek to enjoy discovering new details about their bicycle, but to not be overwhelmed by them. At the end of the day I want it to be a cleanly executed machine that disappears in use. Great riding bikes first, pretty bikes second.
To you point about my warm reception- no, I had no idea. I went to Bristol to support what they are doing with the UK scene, but no expectations on how the show would go for me personally. I was overwhelmed to find out how many of both the builders and attendees followed my work, and I was completely blind sided by the award (after all, the Rando category didn't even exist before the judging).
Fantastic is the right word for the trip. I had a lovely time, and I was truly humbled and appreciative of the the reception and experience.
Josh at The Bicycle Story is putting together a series he calls "My First Bike". The articles are a Q&A with builders about their first build and their entry into frame building. For extra fun he encouraged me to crawl up to the rafters and bring down Numero Uno to take a few shots.
After hanging it up and not looking at it for a long time it was fun to be reminded of how that frame taught me so much about what I didn't know. Being proud of the effort but dissatisfied was a great motivator (and still is). The "finish work" that took forever is more rough then my raw bikes now, but all in all not to shabby for the first go. I rode it until I needed to pull the parts for another step along the way.
I had a journalism student come by for the morning. He shot some video, stills, and did a bit of audio work. We had a great time. Shortly after he left (of course) I knocked out this little gem.
Thanks- I try to get these rolling in small groupings for the platers or powder. I have a small list for the next group- if anyone wants in shoot me a note.
Likes: 
Rolls with style
Re: Winter Bicycles
Originally Posted by Eric Estlund
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