Hulsroy's Hustle

Anyways this is the current mock up we are going for:

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Please do the math. The effort you put in these is priceless but I can see it comes from making something you love for someone you love so maybe doin' something you love for someone you don't know can be monetized

incredible - where can i get something like this for someone 183cm

Is this not just a Surly Karate Monkey with custom bag and paintjob?

I am really trying to figure out how to make a living doing this. But as @carlosbrown is saying it comes from a place of love and interest. I have touched on this bricoleur idea in here before but basically it comes down to "my art" being making what I want/need with the means available to me + my styling... I guess. But how do you sell that? (I have tried youtube but I can't find the time).

In your case: you build up bikes you obtain with means available to you and you build with parts you have/can afford. That is what makes it awesome. It's both a process and a final piece and you are experimenting with it and it becomes what it becomes and then you change it to fit your new feelings/needs.
I could build you an ATB. And I would love to. But am I making you a frame you then adapt to your dream? Or do I help facilitate that dream? Because what I enjoy is the obstructions in helping make the decisions. It is deciding colours, materials and textures and doing the visualisations and adapting the design to obscure bike parts.
It is ALSO about trying to figure out how to make the bloody thing nice and straight. But that can't stand alone because I am not just a maker/craftsman in the contractor kind of way. I am also the narrator, designer and stylist. And so far I haven't met anyone fully commited to paying me to be that.

The narrative you make yourself and the bike any framebuilder can do. That seems to be the way for most custom bikes.
I am not interested in making crown jewels for rich people. On the other hand I need money to make a living. So here we are.

I need a business partner. Same with the cargo bikes

Is this not just a Surly Karate Monkey with custom bag and paintjob?

you know i can't read bike numbers, they all ride the same

but yes the broarder point - i think it's difficult.

i do think largely people making people frames, either completely bespoke or a style sized to fit is a particularly mundane approach for both the artist and the consumer, additionally, amey is right, most frame makers cannot make a better riding bike than trek; to sound contreversial here, most frame makers can't make anything which looks distinquishable from one either.

i've aways apreciated the approach of say, a consumer spotting a frame maker they like due to their particular style, design language or ethos and working with them to develop a frame which allows them to express those things for a bike one would actually ride. i think the person who left breadwinner recently mentioned this, ira ryan, they just wanted to make bikes for people again, taking in a variety of influences from the persons life and proposing them a frame they think would fit that. to me that seems a reason for a custom bicycle frame.

but as you say this all costs time and money and quickly you get into the world of building boring bikes for boring bankers.

i'm not a business person, im a consumer, but if i would a frame builder with cnc and 3d modelling skills i'd design the frame makers bits and bobs or the consultancy on making them like lugs, yokes and dropouts to larger makers or smaller ones to bring most the money and then have 5 slots a year at a price you're comfortable with for one on one projects with bike clients.

I know the reason i went to ande is because i wanted his design language, the unfinished fillets the patchwork jumper of new, old, repurposed and the fuckit' diy punk vibe to it all. noone else could have made that bike in the frame builders i'd been looking at.

in the hypothetical, if i came to a person like you it would be because i could say "look, i cant ride any faster than 10mph on flat ground, i cant ride up gradients more than 9%, and i'll never ride anything longer than 80k, i want something to ride to and from the forrest and bosh out blue trails while feeling fun" and your brain, i assume would whir and oscilate between headtube angles, tyre sizes, wheel sizes, seat tube angles and stand over and you'd eventuay make something which would look relatively modern and proportionally perfect (something which is rarely achieved). with the added bonus of a low stand over while reaching my stack needs, without needing a tower of steerer

There’s a lot of feels in this post, and parental inspiration

This is utterly adorable

Yes to everything

Thanks @lt and @stelfox

What you‘re saying reminds me of the Ciavete paint option that Pegoretti offered for his frames:

Each Ciavete is a unique composition, and, as the nature of the artwork suggests, arrives unseen – a complete surprise. However, the Bottega will happily note down your colour likes and dislikes, or any starting point of inspiration you wish to communicate, before starting work. Naturally, there’s a lot of trust involved in handing over complete artistic freedom, which is why the Ciavate scheme, like our painted graphics and panel schemes, is an optional add-on chosen at the time of ordering.

It became a success but I reckon he only got into a position where he was able to offer his work as an artistic package deal because of his stellar reputation as a framebuilder.

Yes. Something like that is the dream. I just need to keep going

I have thought about making a rental business tho. You only have kids bikes for a period of time and the bikes get scruffed up but never destroyed so You could lease a kids bike for a couple of years and then have it fixed up and passed on... But I haven't done the math yet

Islabikes used to this, not sure if they still do. Always thought it was a great idea.

Uhh I didn't know. I will look into it. thx

Looks like they've stopped doing it:

https://www.islabikes.co.uk/pages/imagine-project

I'm pretty sure Thunderfist Cykler has a buy-back scheme for frog bikes as well.

There’s Hope Academy that does the kids rental - is that still going?

Bike Club are a kids bike rental/subscription service. Seems like a great idea to me.

Progress on mini mtb.

Front 140mm post mount was successful after some initial trouble. Still have the rear to do. It's all good practice for doing Tijmens next week.

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OMG !

Super nice especially around the top of the seat tube.

Thanks!

I love this detail on caad10s. This is my homage

Hmm..

I never thought I‘d had the desire to be adopted until I saw what kinda bikes you build for your kids
👼🏻👼🏻👼🏻

As long as I don't need to change your diapers or wipe ass :)

And thank you

this looks so adorable