I fancy myself as a frame builder

So, I fancy myself as a frame builder! Great article about different frame building courses on the Always Riding website. Was wondering if anyone from lfgss has any reccomendations from courses they have done. Ta in advance.

I've done three courses with Geoff Roberts, two while he was doing the courses at Enigma, one after he started doing them on his own. Highly recommended. I'm off down there again next week to use his equipment for a week. He's based in Boreham Street in East Sussex.

Cheers. I'd shortlisted him in my head and he's local to me.

Another recommendation for Geoff. Give him a ring for a chat. He's a really nice guy

Thanks.

It's something I've been thinking about for a while. How much is Geoff's course?

£1.2k plus materials.

I did the 7 day course with the bicycle academy. It was really great, the guys are super nice, i left with a frame and so much learnt. Couldn't recommend them enough. They are based in Frome, Somerset. Not too bad to get to, cute little town, air bnb wasn't crazy expensive, there's even a masonic hall if you're into that kinda thing.

I think all the courses are always only 2 students to atleast 1/2 people teaching. I did mine with a really nice guy called Rory who had travelled all the way from New York state to do the course. A couple weeks ago i was thinking about contacting him to see how his frame came out. But i forgot his surname...bummer.

They have a nice setup where andrew or someone else cooked lunch each day, everyone sat and ate together. BTR fabrications are based in the same building. Listening to them discuss the details of framebuilding and other engineering/fab work really demonstrated the vast array of knowledge and skill available to us.

They have a very "modern" approach to teaching. There's no mystery framebuilding magic that can only be learnt with 10 years of framebuilding. Robin Mather did most of the teaching on the course i did, with a bit from Andrew the founder. Both are great teachers and I quickly became confident with the fillet brazing technique.

Overall really awesome, highlight of my year. Highly highly recommend

Speak to Gary at Curtis bikes he will point out to you where the magic is and people who take knowledge from others to pass on as their own operate. Fascinating conversation

Anyone in the north can feel free to Bob in to my workshop you can learn for free especially as there's plenty of people charging for stuff they basically learned through trial and error or info from forums. I'm going back to full time bike building next month.

I think there's a lot to be said for being taught by people who've actually worked as frame builders. If I was going on a course I'd go with Geoff Roberts, he's very experienced and very miserable, which is what you'll end up being if you're a frame builder ;)