I like what everybody has said about the five day frame building class. I'm hoping that my two cents may add to the general flushing out of the subject.
Over the years, two employees at my bike shop undertook building a frame, did so, and made useable bikes. I'm leaving out Leo Castellon, who had built some frames before honoring our shop with his work and influence. Leo went from our shop to be a major contributor to Tesch frames. I've lost touch with Leo.
Back to the two maverick frames and how that played out. The two hombres adventurous to build their own frames, Brian Lucas and Mike Varley, bought some tubing, lugs and such and used the shop's torches, vises and files and mostly on what they read, and the influence of being around the bicycle shop environment, made frames.
Both of these guys are still in the bicycle business. They are the only two who ever worked for me who started their own bike shops and that is what they still do, operate their own bicycle shops. Brian operates Off the Chain bike shop in Hollister, Calif. and Mike opened Black Mountain Bikes in Pt. Reyes, Calif. about four years ago, after working in management at Haro in the years between leaving my shop and starting his own.
Both of those first frames were a rite of passage in the lives of dedicated bicycle men. I would say that the workmanship of both of them was at least as good as a 1970's Raleigh International. Remember, these guys did not take a class. They didn't have a sophisticated shop at their disposal. They built usable frames, first try. "Desire fans the fire." That small poem is the summation of my thoughts on this subject.
Chuck Hoefer
Pacific Coast Cycles
Oceanside, California