Foresta Frames

[Craig Ryan]

Well said sir, your passion for building shines through loud and clear.....when I am in Indy this year for the Brickyard 400 I just might arrange a visit. Racing for a living doesn't allow enough time for cycling but I still love it and put in miles whenever I can. Fat and Old with lots of bikes and little time but I guess there's always room for more. Keep up the good work!

Yeah! by all means give me a shout if you're in town. And that invite is open to anyone from VS. The Brickyard, if you're here on business I imagine those are busy days.

[Craig Ryan]

Craig,

Will you be in Sacramento this year?

Steve, I won't be there this year. The main reason being my day job. As a teacher I'm expected to be in the room teaching, and take my vacations when the kids do. I respect that and understand it. To go to CA this year would mean at least three days off of school, maybe four. That's hard for any teacher to pull off unless they're in the hospital. What this means for future shows I don't know. It's where I'd like to be, and I'm a supporter. Hopefully next year it'll be closer to home and easier to get to.

[Craig Ryan]

Under my jig.

[EFHeath]

Craig,

Happy New Year, even if a bit late. I love the red bike you posted recently.

Thanks for the picture of the saddle box. It may help when my wife asks me to get rid of the "parts bin".

And thanks again for giving me those wheel boxes last summer, which helped get my old Colnago over to Hong Kong. It's interesting trying to ride a 53/42 up the steep hills around here; it's quite a change from the triple on my other bike!

Regards,

EFHeath

[Craig Ryan]

Awesome, that's why I hang onto boxes like that! I think my next personal ride is going to be a red like that one!

[j44ke]

As another school year draws to a close, and another frame gets built, this is a good question to reflect on. To do anything meaningful takes time, and I use my time carefully. My days start early, and by the time school is out I'm often drained from contact with a zillion high school students. So I ride my bike home, put on a pot of coffee and spend some time in the shop decompressing. On days Susan is not heading off to work for the evening, I'll be in and out of the shop quickly, there's always paperwork, or it's ride night, or a nap to take sitting inside. Susan and I try to spend our evenings together if we're both home. If she's off to work or busy in her own woman cave, I spend time building. I enjoy working alone and find the solitude after a day of student contact welcome. Susan also works at a school, so we have similar needs.

The above text speaks to my daily time management, but the real question revolves around framebuilding as a second career. And this is related to long term time management, as in years. The journey to become proficient in both building, and business isn't easy. It's a slow process, and it needs to be addressed as such. I think there was a time when builders jumped right in and started selling with their second, fifth, or tenth frame. Some of those builders now have a decade or more of experience behind them and are well established as professionals. Times change, and the modern buyer has evolved into a well educated consumer who wants something special from someone with experience. It's difficult for any builder to get experience without cutting a lot of tubes over a long period of time. For a builder to make the leap from a "new guy" to "established pro" takes a perfect storm of time, money, skill, patience, vision, and marketing. Oh, and a heck of a significant other. My long term time management plans are to keep teaching for at least three more years. I'm proud of the years I've put into my career as an educator, and I'm proud of the years I've put into developing my skills as a framebuilder. I'm not hard pressed to get work done, and am in many ways grateful I am not looking at a huge build list. Right now I can promise delivery in a few weeks, which makes me comfortable. I guess the question I would have for any builder getting started would be: Can you weather the storm for 3-5 years, tooling up, and getting your skills together by cutting up 20 or 30 frames? These are the time management issues I see looking out my shop window.
Craig

Nicely written. I used to tell people my job was being a teacher but my career was being a writer. Now I am not teaching but I still have my career. However, the things that came out of teaching were greater than the fatigue. I really enjoyed it.

And I like that red bike too.

[Craig Ryan]

Rust prevention for a respray. Kind of eerie when it's working.

[savine]

i´ve really enjoyed following your frame building since i came upon this site and am amazed at the hours you manage to pack in on top of the day job...respect.

[Craig Ryan]

Thanks Daniel! It's nice to hear words like those now and then. I think you put some long hours in yourself, your work looks great.

[Craig Ryan]

Today we took Julie to the airport. She'll spend the next 30 some hours in airports and the air making her way back to Namibia. As a Peace Corps Volunteer straight out of college she has spent the last 28 months teaching English to kids in the middle of nowhere. Living in a village of mud huts and elephants has taught her much about life; but she went in with a lot. Now, she was home for a few weeks before re-enlisting in a new position. This time she'll be helping other PCV's as a resource over a whole region of Northeastern Namibia. Being the age I am, and knowing the history since JFK set it in place, I can think of nothing else more noble for a recent college grad to pursue. She'll arrive back home again in about a year without grad school, or a plan; but she'll be prepared for life in a good way.

[davids]

That's fantastic, Craig. Congratulations on raising her.

[savine]

thanks craig. i´ve a little paint question for you.....my frames are powder coated and afterwards i´ve always wanted to write something on the inside of chainstay now in your opinion could i use some sort of paint pen you know the thin edding type ones and would i then be able to spray it over with a dose of clear paint, whatcha reckon ?

[Craig Ryan]

Yes, it should work for you. Most permanent paint pens applied in a thin line seem to not react with a clear coat over them. Most clears you get in a spray can aren't very tough though, and they tend to yellow. I'd be best to shoot a urethane clear over it with an airbrush. See your local paint suppliers who sell automotive paints and buy a small amount to experiment. I would stay away from the oil based pens since they don't dry very quickly. You will also be dealing with overspray on the edge of your painted area. You may be able to buff it out by hand. Good luck!

[savine]

cheers craig, will try out next week.

[rellis]

Craig,
What are you using in your rustproofing tank?

[Craig Ryan]

rellis, I use Chem Clean ox-out 526 in my soak tank. This isn't for flux removal or any soaking during the building process. It's the last step before final paint cleanup. I soak it good, rinse with water, dry it, and hang it up for a day. It does a good job at cleaning up the insides. Before paint I then do a final mechanical clean with gray scotchbrite pads and PPG paint prep. I like how it's worked for me and every frame I make, or paint gets run through the process. I use a polyethylene tank just for this purpose.

[Craig Ryan]

Why I find time alone in my shop rewarding. That said, I am most comfortable when I am surrounded by teenagers. I shot this by quickly walking around my room, all the time being certain not to show students faces.

[Craig Ryan]

Julie sent me this short little video from Namibia. She thinks I should modify my bike design and make a model like this. Kind of funny, but as we stress over the latest doodad for our fancy stuff, most of the world is getting by with ingenuity.

[rydesteel]

Why I find time alone in my shop rewarding. That said, I am most comfortable when I am surrounded by teenagers. I shot this by quickly walking around my room, all the time being certain not to show students faces.

My daughter would so so jealous if I showed her this. Our School district cut the Art Program a couple years ago.

Still have 13 coaches of course but that's a different discussion.

Nice interaction with your students I'd say they are lucky to have a Teacher who obviously cares about them.

Frank

[j44ke]

Julie sent me this short little video from Namibia. She thinks I should modify my bike design and make a model like this. Kind of funny, but as we stress over the latest doodad for our fancy stuff, most of the world is getting by with ingenuity.

Bravo to your daughter for her work. And on her bike handling skills! I don't think there were any brakes on that bike.

When I was in Kenya, we went through Nakuru, an nice town with lots of bicycles. There were bike mechanics on nearly every corner, not just adjusting bikes (mostly Chinese Flying Pigeons and similar) but welding them back together and retreading tires. I saw one of the guys going around picking up all the scrap metal and rubber bits, separating them out into paint buckets to be used later. They even had a small forge and anvil. I had been sketching out an NGO project for bicycles in my head, but I had a minor epiphany. As low level as the economy was (I heard an economics talk about "unmeasureable" economies in places like this or Calcutta or Manila,) it was definitely vibrantly active. An NGO, though well meaning, might disrupt or ruin the whole thing incredibly easily.

I am envious that you teach art. That's fantastic. A dream for a lot of people. Perhaps some of your students.