Passion.
That is the common word I heard from everyone I interviewed at the first Texas Custom Framebuilder’s Show in Fricso this last Saturday. It was obvious from all my discussion that no one gets into custom frame building for the money. It is an often hand to mouth affair that many must hold a day job to support. And yet there are signs that the hand-built bicycle industry is growing in presence and product offerings.
Now, my title is a little misleading. Custom frame builders have been around Texas for over two decades, best exemplified by Southwest Frameworks owner, David Cheakas. He has been building quality hand-built bikes for 23 years as a full time business and doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. However, Cheakas and a smattering of others on again/off again builders around the state have carried the flag quietly in the last couple decades.
True Fabrication owners and builders Cody Baron and Clark Davidson
It appears that the custom bike market shows no signs of going away. Indeed, Cheakas recently had to suspend orders for custom road bikes due to high demand and the long lead times associated with that. (He still builds and sells stock mountain frames.) Now, there is a new generation of builders on the scene to take up this slack.
Traditionally, the custom bike segment has fallen into two categories. First is an individual with an unusual body type (very tall, very short, short legs & long torso, etc) who can not find a stock bike that fits them well. The other category is a rider who wants something different from the mass produced bikes in most stores. These customers appreciate the artisanship, detail, and ride quality a custom bike can provide.
Utility Bike built for Doug Fattic
The growing popularity of cycling in general is creating a market for custom builders as well. This is evident by the fact that all but two builders set up shop within the last five years. All of the builders expressed the belief that stock, mass produced bikes are generally pretty reliable and provide a decent product at an attractive price point, but that some people want a bike made just for them, like a tailored suit. With the Bicycle Retailer & Industry News estimating over 20 million bikes sold each year in the U.S., there is plenty of room for bike makers that are only producing between 10 and 40 bikes/year.
Glenn Thompson of DalTex Cycles
Having said that, only three of the seven builders at the show build bikes as a full time job. It is tough to build hand-made bikes and make a living. Which brings us back to passion. Everyone I spoke to found bike building a blast; something they would do regardless of the money. They were also all pleased to have the Texas Custom Framebuilder’s Show to promoted custom built bikes and showed a real willingness to work together to nurture this market.
So if you want a distinctive bike made with an artisan’s eye instead of cookie cutter corporate bike, check out one of these great builders.
Carbon your style? Check out the sleek lines of a Crumpton
Builder: Nick Crumpton
Location: Austin
Material: Carbon
Style of bike built: Road
About: After working for Bike Friday and building steel bikes, Crumpton decided to jump to carbon and go after the high performance racing bike market. He’s never looked back since. He builds them sleek with very nice paint jobs.
DalTex
Builder: Glenn Thompson
Location: Dallas
Material: Steel
Style of bike built: Road, Mountain
About: While he spends his days as a mild mannered accountant, frame builder Glenn Thompson unleashes his inner passion for the bike by building frames for customers in his free time. Glenn also is working to promote framebuilding in general by organizing the first Texas Custom Framebuilder’s Show.
Gallus Cycles
Builder: Jeremy Shlachter (contact at galluscycles@gmail.com)
Location: Ft. Worth
Material: Steel
Style of bikes built: Road, fixie, commuter
About: Coming off a period of working under famed framemaker Doug Fattic building utility bikes for Ukraine Bicycle Project, Jeremy is just starting to build frames under his own brand, Gallus.
KirkLee
Builder: Brad Cason
Location: Austin
Material: Carbon
Style of bike built: Road
About: In business just a year, builder Brad Cason scored a real coup by landing U.S. Road Race champion Tyler Hamilton as a customer. While Hamilton was forced to ride his sponsor bike for the championship, he did ride a KirkLee to victory at the Tour of Qinghai Lake. After toying with titanium, Brad focused on carbon as a building material and wants KirkLee to remain a boutique brand.
Massengill
Builder: Tim Massengill (contact at tmmass@charter.net)
Location: Dallas
Material: Steel
Style of bike built: Road
About: A part time frame builder since 1989, Tim Massengill has also done work with Doug Fattic’s Ukrainian Bicycle Project.
Southwest Frameworks
Builder: David Cheakas
Location: Dallas
Material: Steel
Style of bikes built: Road, Touring, Dutch style, Mountain
About: David Cheakas has been making bikes for 23 years and has built about every style of bike out there including hand cycles.
True Fabrication
Builders: Cody Baron, Clark Davidson, Cole Thompson
Location: Austin
Material: Steel
Style of bikes built: Road, 29ers
About: This trio thought up their frame building venture while on a long road trip to Colorado. They returned to Austin and worked to build a business around the under-served 29er segment. They also build road bikes and the occasional fixie.
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
A little shoutout to the late Tom Boyden and Fastab Cycles, building custom bikes in Garland, Texas nearly 40 years ago.
on Nov 7th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Man, lots of builders here. Plus there’s Willits.
I have three custom steel frames, one from the local boys at True Fab. I gotta say, my experience with them was the best. And that’s saying something when the other guys are Toby Stanton at Hot Tubes and Ted Wojcik (at Wojcik cycles).
Thanks for the post.
on Dec 16th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Just for the record: Jeremy Shlachter of Gallus is in Fort Worth, not Dallas.
on Dec 16th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Bernie,
Thanks for the info. I’ve corrected the story.
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 10:01 am
My mother had a Fastab bike from Tom.
But my real comment is why no mention of Hans Schneider in Huntsville?
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
This article covered the bike builders who attended the Texas Custom Framebuilder’s Show in Frisco. Hans Schneider was not in attendance.
on Jun 11th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Very interesting article. I had no idea there were so many people building custom bikes. I was also surprised that while they are expensive, they are still cheaper than some of the more expensive road bikes on the market–judging from the builders who actually quote prices on their websites.
on Jul 13th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
I still have a bike from Tom Boyden. I ordered it to fit in ’71 and rode with the Lubbock County Wheelmen club for many years. Tommy Hutchison and David Mayer Oaks come to mind as a couple of our best riders back then.
Tom also organized a yearly race, Tour of Garland. As I remembe, a road race on Sat. and a criterium on Sun. Great memories of some pretty cool bikes, Bottechia, Raleigh Pro and even one Hetchins in the crowd!!!
on Jan 17th, 2011 at 5:54 am
I am selling a Fastab frame with about enough parts to make a usable bike. It has been in my family for about 10-12 years. It is rather small “49cm” and I got it mostly for my wife who never really warmed up to a road bike. Pity… She had no idea just how cool this is. I am not asking much for it. If this is a mistake, I would like someone to tell me. Not just take advantage of my (perhaps) lack of market sense… If there is collector status in it, I would like to be aware of it before this is gone… You can call me or E-mail. 253-250-3033 or redaxeguitar@gmail.com Thanks!
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