A few times a year we write down what has been happening in the workshop. Mostly for ourselves, partly for anyone waiting on a frame.
Workshop
Autumn, lights and the annual dynamo clinic
The clocks go back soon, and every October the same thing happens: a queue of bicycles with lights that worked perfectly in March. This year we are keeping Saturday mornings free for lighting only. Bring the bike, we check wiring, connectors and hub contacts, and most fixes are done while you drink a coffee.
The most common culprit, again, is a corroded spade connector at the hub. A dab of grease when it is installed would have saved most of them. Consider this the reminder.
Frames
The cargo bike that delivers tulips
Pakezel left the workshop last week, five months after the first sketch on the back of an invoice. Its owner runs a small flower stall and needed a front-loader that could take a full crate of buckets over cobbles without the flowers arriving as soup.
The answer was a lower platform, a slightly longer wheelbase than we usually draw, and a stand that we redesigned three times. The third version is now standard on every cargo frame we build. You can see it among the recent frames.
Restoration
A 1950s roadster, and a lot of patience
It arrived in two bin bags and a shoebox: a black upright roadster with rod brakes, last ridden somewhere around 1985. The owner's grandfather had used it to ride to the factory every day for thirty years.
Almost everything was saveable. The rods were straightened cold, the bearings were repacked with new balls, and the original transfers were photographed and traced before the frame went to be re-enamelled. Only the tyres, cables and saddle are new. It now rides more quietly than most new bikes we see.
Rule of thumb: if a part has lasted seventy years, it deserves another try before the bin.
Workshop
A new hearth, and the winter waiting list
The old firebrick hearth finally cracked beyond repair in September, so we spent two quiet weeks building a new one with better ventilation and a proper extraction hood. Brazing is calmer now, and the workshop no longer smells of flux by four o'clock.
The waiting list for new frames is currently about three months. If you would like a bike for spring, now is a good time to write to us and book a fitting.
