Made by hand - frame builders?

Hello people of the internet.

I'm working on a book titled 'Made By Hand' (I works for a publishing company) which profiles small companies and individuals who earn their living making things by hand. The book profiles UK makers of a given object alongside international makers of the same.

Can anyone recommend non- uk based frame builders? the smaller the better.

Equally, if anyone has friends or just knows of a cool made-by-hand company, please post recommendations! Some examples of other inclusions already acquired-

violin maker
coffin maker
spoon carver
saville row tailor
hat maker
book binder

Thanks for your help people.

Non-UK?

Maybe have a look at Alex Singer? French frame maker with an almost century of history behind the marque.

Made by Hand / No 5 The Bike Maker

"A project from bureauofcommongoods.com, Made by Hand is a new short film series celebrating the people who make things by hand—sustainably, locally, and with a love for their craft.
Our fifth film turns to bike maker Ezra Caldwell (Fast Boy Cycles), who was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. When the cancer threatens to shatter his love of bikes, Ezra survives by documenting his illness as thoroughly as his craft."

Although the series shares the same title as your book this guys story is quite a good one.

yeah these films have cropped up repeatedly in our research for the book. They're beautifully made. I don't want to accentuate the problematic of the share title by profiling the same makers!

Ideally looking for young/emerging frame builders. Need two, both non-uk. Focusing on cycling centres is a nice idea, so if anyone knows a Frisco frame builder and Tokyo frame builder, for examples, that would be ace.

Looking into Alex Singer now. Amazing

here's a Dutch frame builder I like:

http://www.stjoriscycles.nl/

and one from Hungary

Kurtz

nice! thanks guys.

Other hand makers, even people from the forum (planning on contacting 31Trum, for example), are appreciated too.

Had you contacted Velocipede salon?
http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/forum.php

The American "constructeurs" are doing some amazing things now.

There's Victoire Cycles in France
http://www.victoire-cycles.com/en/

Masil / Velosil in Lousa (Portugal)

They're the makers of Rodaplana and Masil bicycle frames. They won 1977 Volta a Portugal (portuguese tour) from Lousa Team: Adelino Teixeira was the winner.

The frames are of great quality, made with italian or english tubes, Columbus or Reynolds.

They don't have a website, but you can contact them using Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/bicicletas.masil

http://www.cycleexif.com/rodaplana-lousa
http://www.cycleexif.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/rodaplana-lousa-1.jpg

And mine:
http://imgur.com/a/K6jhh

llllllll

this guy here, hulsroy: https://www.lfgss.com/thread108881.html

Here's 3 ,
only one made it to Rapha/continental approval
http://salamandre-cycles.com/menu.php?page=presentation
http://julieracingdesig.canalblog.com/
http://edelbikes.com/ (Raphaed)

is there anything this forum cannot do.

Ryan's on the forum and his bikes are sweet! http://www.oakcycles.com/

^ He's after non-UK frame builders.

http://www.vogel-rahmenbau.de/

Ryan's from Canada Jono, I thought you would know that by now

http://www.rychtarski.com/

there's also the polish rychtarski.
http://www.bikes4you.pl/

There's me,

here's my latest fgss




I'm at the ex simoncini factory, in Italy.
My name's emanuel, hi.

http://revanchebikeco.wordpress.com/

is there any way to check frame geometry? some standards, or norms ?

Wood, well, geometry should be rider based on a custom bike.
There are some geometry norms set by the EU, there's a pdf from the German standards that sets some parameters, google it and you'll know more than you ever wanted to about handlbars, cranks, wheels and frames.
Most bicycle designs fall well within that.
There are also tests, to ensure the integrity of a frame.

But the best test of any bicycle, is 15 years hard use.

Here we've been building since 1949, we've built for a lot of brands, being a contract builder for brands in Italy, Austria, Uk, Belgium, Germany and The US, brands like Nilor, Schauff,Viner, Capo, Viscount, Benotto, Sloughi, Guerciotti, and heaps more.
I still do contract work for a handful of niche brands, in Italy, Germany and the Uk, can't say whom, obviously.

Production is not what it was, all that contract work went to Taiwan, then China,
so we've gone back to building bespoke frames.

This Revanche brand is my personal take on frames.

hi emanuel, great website, lots of great pics.
What are the big hydraulic things on your Lugged Jig, what do they do ?.

Hi Gereonb, thanks!
They press the tubes together, it's a pneumatic Jig, saves quite a bit of time, as a lever opens and closes everything, once it's been set.
Unfortunately, it can only be used for lugged frames, so I've got another jig for lugless.
And an Anvil type 4 on the way...