Lighthouse Cycles

[lighthousecycles]

Great to hear from you Justin I still have a picture of you and your new bike on the shop wall.

[lighthousecycles]

Here are a few shots of the most recent Lighthouse New Sequoia.
This is a superlight version madP1010707.JPGP1010708.jpgP1010710.jpgP1010711.jpge with Columbus Spirit

[Vlad Luskin]

^^^ That's plain gorgeous. Happy Birthday, Tim (tomorrow). Keep on building!

[fixednwinter]

Stunning work!

[lighthousecycles]

I am happy to say Mike Sinyard has given his blessing to my recreating the iconic Expedition touring frames. Custom fit and built from over sized steel these frames have plenty of clearance for fat tires and fenders. More info and photos at The New Expedition — Lighthouse Cycles

[Andrew Hague]

Tim,

You had and Andrew Hague jig? And I had one of his sew-up bags - who was this guy, Andrew? Anyone?

So Tim, you and I both pursued cooking and bicycle frames, although in slightly different directions. What parallels would you draw between the two subjects - how are they similar? I remember Tim Isaac showing me how to braze and saying that brazing a frame is like cooking an egg: when it's done, more heat won't make it better. Your thoughts?

And I sure look forward to the next time we can cook and ride together - seems like it's been a while!

By chance I was reading this blog and saw my name so feel I owe you an explanation.

In the mid 1970s I started making cycle components. From the age of ten, I have always cycled and rode with the Cyclists’ Touring Club in Bradford in Yorkshire, England. My degree is in Geography and Sociology so the engineering was self-taught and I designed everything according to how I knew it had to be on a bike. I also had to design the components to be made; no sense in a design that is impossible or expensive to make.

The frame jigs were a great success. I made everyone myself, not the lads in the factory. The frame builder started with a scale drawing of the frame to be built and drew only the centre lines. From those dimensions, adjust the jig. The big clamps for the tubes acted as heat sinks reducing the expansion. This resulted in a frame that was built true, not buckled. Asymmetric frames could be built to accommodate an undished wheel although I never heard of anyone doing it. The flat plane of the jig was verifiable by holding two of the square tube members together and checking that they were flat. Turn one around and they should still be flat to each other. Should one get bent it could be replaced by making another from 5/8th inch square tubing.

I set up Andrew Hague Cycles Limited in the early 1970s and very soon we were exporting to the USA. By the late 80s the Far East was dominating the cycle industry and most of the European manufacturers closed. I moved into property and telecoms and those profits are now invested in CellSonic Limited making advanced medical equipment with a factory in India.

The lesson learned from the cycle business was that it is essential to make in the lowest cost place in the world otherwise the Chinese will copy you. Cycles are not high tech. The companies that survived were not mainstream in the 1980s, notably Brompton who is now the largest manufacturer in Britain.

Steel frames have given way to other metals and carbon fibre. For me, I prefer steel and having cycled almost every day for the last 60 years am satisfied with the reliability of steel. All my regular bikes now have Rohloff gears.

[dasams]

Resurrecting this old thread. I asked Tim to build a SS CX bike for me back in the spring of 2010. Lovely bike and the only one that I ride these days. I never did meet Tim and I haven't spoken in years but I'm always grateful for what he created. Here's to you! Thanks, Dave

BTW, we just got back from a 3-1/2 month trip to Alaska. Here's a goofy pic of her with a shower cap covering her seat :)

[Mark Walberg]

Hello Tim,
I thought that you might enjoy knowing that one of your old bikes is still going. I bought one of your Specialized Allez frames in the early 1980s from Ric and Jon when Wheelsmith was in the garage behind NorthFace.
I bought the frame for my wife, but I'm riding it now when I'm in Palo Alto. It rides wonderfully. Very nice lug work. Neat fork crown that puts the blades in front of the head tube, allowing that sexy short rake fork. Although there is a bit if rust, I hate to repaint it Still riding the hills of the Bay area. You clearly made some nice bikes and you were there in the midst of things early on when the bike industry was in a lot of flux, so to say. Fill us in on what you are doing now, bikes or not bikes. We are interested here.
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[hampco]

Here are a few shots of the most recent Lighthouse New Sequoia.
P1010710.jpg

Pretty sure that's a 3Rensho sticker on the stand - for you trainspotters...