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Hit 500 bike builds yesterday, never thought I'd get there
I was just going through my job log from the last 8 years and realized I've built over 500 bikes from the frame up. That's everything from department store fix-ups to a custom titanium road frame that took me 3 days. I started this after leaving my HVAC gig and working out of my garage in Tucson. Most of those were in the last 4 years once word got around. Has anyone else kept a count and been surprised by the number?
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elizabethtaylor16d ago
man I just read something the other day about bike mechanics in Phoenix who hit numbers like that and it blows my mind. 500 frames is no joke, especially when you're doing them from scratch in a garage setup. bet your hands are basically calloused over by now from all those bottom brackets and headset presses. titanium build in 3 days sounds insane too, I heard those frames take forever to weld up right.
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alice_kim16d ago
Got thinking titanium would be faster to work with since it's lighter, but you're right, that stuff takes forever to weld cleanly. Saw a video once where a builder spent two whole days just on one titanium head tube and it still had cracks. Totally changed my view on those 3 day builds, that's some serious skill right there. Can't imagine the patience it takes to get those welds right without the frame warping all over the place.
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