I¹ve been enjoying the week end at Cirque so I haven¹t had a chance to answer Kevin¹s post about how long it takes to learn how to build frames until now.
It was almost exactly 35 years ago that I went to Ellis Briggs in Shipley (near Bradford, near Leeds) to learn how to build frames. There is not a week that goes by where I don¹t think how lucky I was to have gotten that opportunity from them. I was beyond fortunate. They were a bigger 10 employee operation with a general bicycle retail section, 2 painters, a couple of bicycle mechanics, a pro shop and Andrew was the framebuilder (still is). Jack Briggs oversaw the entire business but everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing so he had time to show me how to build frames. His extra attention really benefited me. He was not dependant on the frame business to keep the lights on. Their finely made frames added status to his entire organization. Jack started making frames in 1938 and learned from his father.
I was a full time high school teacher with several degrees in education when I went to Briggs. My objective for going was to learn the procedures so I could teach those methods back here in the States. I taught my first framebuilding class in 1976. In the last few years learning to build frames has become so popular that I do it almost full time now. I get many more requests than I have space to teach. Here are some of my observations.
Of course a 5 day class can¹t teach you to be a decent framebuilder but it is possible to leave the class with a satisfactory frame. When I first started classes most just wanted to just make something rather than buy it. Now almost everyone has bigger ambitions. While there is the occasional apprenticeship or bicycle factory job available somewhere, there is not nearly enough of those opportunities to meet the current demand. The only practical way for the majority of people to enter the craft either as a hobby or business is through a class. The alternative is messing about with the Paterek Manual and trial and error. The major teaching centers (myself, UBI, Yamaguchi and Bohm in the States) offer a 2 week course. This is primarily because that is how much time and money that an average student has available. Once or twice a year I teach a longer class that allows me to show more refinements. There are some classes on the east coast (of the US) that are shorter but the instructors do much or most of the difficult work. The idea is to have a good experience and take home a frame when finished rather than learn all the skills.
A framebuilding class is designed to to properly teach the foundation skills and methods to get one on the right path. It doesn¹t take you to the destination but is like a road map to show the way. In a 2 week class most finish a complete frame with some finish filing and a braze on or two left to do at home. Most students make a quality frame at least as good and often better than the classic frames from the 70¹s. Some are as good as anything I¹ve seen on the market. What they can¹t do is make it nearly as fast as a pro. In the beginning a student takes about 4 times longer to do something than me and by the end of class it is around 2 or 3 times longer. The accuracy depends on the talent of the student. Fortunately perseverance and determination trump talent - which allows some with lesser natural abilities to do a nice job. Unlike other schools, I allow students to work as late in the shop as they want so they can either do a better job or catch up if they are slower.
Brazing is a skill that most people can learn adequately with a reasonable amount of ability in a 2 week period. Beginners have consistent tendencies and I teach how to compensate for them with various specific exercises and 10 pages of instruction in the brazing chapter of my class manual. You can get some idea of my thoughts on how-to-braze by typing in my name and the word ³brazing² in the subject line in the Phred search feature. I teach 3 students at a time (which I think has a lot of advantages) and my assistant Herbie and I rotate around among them. The one free student can watch and listen while the instruction is taking place with the other 2 students. I often hear them say they learn as much watching this part as doing it themselves. I spend a lot of time teaching filing techniques as well.
Really one of my primary jobs as a teacher is to keep students from getting discouraged and on track. They come with a huge amount of excitement and the imagination of a beautifully completed project and discover it is hard work requiring talent they have not yet learned. I organize the steps to achieve little continual successes. It is handy that my masters was in educational counseling. I am always willing to do any of the brazing for them but most never want me to use a torch on their frame. Occasionally I have to bail someone out of a hard spot before things go too far south.
Originally I thought that CR members weren¹t part of my framebuilding class market. However a couple of years ago I discovered at Cirque that there was quite a bit of interest. For example Gabriel Romeu took my class last summer. I welcome inquires where I can pass on a lot more information.
Doug Fattic Niles, Michigan USA
From: "kevin sayles" <kevinsayles@tiscali.co.uk> Subject: [CR] framebuilding in 5 days!!! To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Message-ID: <F7D1CD13DB814700844CAA553003EA5D@UserPC> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Having just come across another one of these ...'build your own frame'........in 5 days! classes......I wonder what the list, or individuals think of the Idea [I won't disclose the name of the class out of respect] Now I know there are some good classes out there, like Doug Fattics, but I would imagine the length of the course would be somewhat longer than 5 days?
I don't know.......maybe its because I've been a framebuilder since 71......and I was taught slowly, methodically and became 'in tune' with working with metal.......I just can't see how anyone can produce a decent [safe] frame in 5 days.
If I were to teach someone the skills in framebuilding [actually something I may seriously consider in the future] I wouldn't try and rush them into producing a frame within such a short timescale. I just can't imagine when I first started at Bob jackson's in June 71 that at the end of the first week I would have made my first frame!.........I remember we had Matt Assenmacher come over from the states to learn, and Danny Foster [the master builder and my mentor] 'rushed' Matt through the basics, but from memory he was with us for at least 6 months! [and went on to be a very accomplished framebuilder]
I seem to remember it was several months before I was allowed to use a brazing torch, before then I was filing lugs, cutting tubes........going for the fish and chips on a Friday!...filing more lugs and so on.......until finally, with Danny supervising me, I brazed up a pair of Campag dropouts into the chainstays......
I think some of these courses merely skirt around the basics.........I mean, in 5 days your going to learn how to;- cut and file lugs....... cut and mitre tubes [to the correct length!] learn about the geometry, angles, clearances etc, and what is and isn't the best set up for a particular frame........ learn how to braze, be it capillary or perhaps even more tricky, fillet brazing....... learn how to keep the frame in alignment!...... Then there's the cleaning up, filing and finishing.......as well as cutting & reaming etc. Any one of those tasks would take more than 5 days to become proficient........oh, I don't know maybe I'm just having a whinge......but it does touch a 'nerve'
sorry for the rant.........
Kevin Sayles
Bridgwater Somerset UK