I am about to start on a new project, and thought I would try something a little different. I hope this thread proves enjoyable for you and informative for me.

To date, I’ve built five or six keeper-bicycles. Three or six garbage-bicycles. The numbers depend on who’s counting. In any case, I feel like I’m at a point in my hobby-ism where I’ve established a beginner’s routine. The last couple bikes I built went (oddly) according to plan, which was not the case for the first four-or-eight that I built. At the least, I’m no longer (grossly) intimidated by the idea of building a simple bicycle. Learning-curve progress, I think.













And so, I figured it was time for a little reflection; I think I need to really check-in on my budding processes.

I’m going to document a project here in this thread. Start to finish. With photos and explanations. To this point I’ve taken photos and made notes as I’ve gone along, but not in a real, comprehensive way. I think it’ll be interesting to get it all down in one spot, here. To the pros and more experienced hobbyists: I’d love your thoughts and feedback as I go along if you’re willing to share them. To those (like myself, previously) who are just trying to figure out how to slap a frame together: please note that is not meant to be any sort of hack’s how-to. I’m doing this to open myself up to criticism in an effort to improve upon an activity that I’m finding I truly enjoy. I don’t know anything. Take this for what it’s worth, which is very little.











So here we go.

The project, briefly: I’m going to build a pair of kinda-matching bicycles, for my daughter and myself. Mathilda turns four in February and is ready for her first pedal bike. Her only request is that her new bike be “pink... like a giraffe”. I like the sounds of a pink-life-a-giraffe bike, too, so I thought I’d build both of us new rides. I’m looking forward to cruising alongside her, each atop our own single-speed giraffe. As I type this I’ve little idea what these bikes are going to look like outside of a few key details. So--come along--we’ll find out together.







If nothing else, enjoy the show-and-tell. I owe this forum more enjoyment than I can repay, but perhaps this will relieve some of my debt.

Back with more soon.

-Chris



PS. I’ve started this thread in The Path because I think it’ll be more fun if I open up the heckling to everyone. That said, if--as I go along--certain things warrant their own Mentor thread, I may start new ones over there, too. We’ll see how it goes. I personally know which voices carry what weight in this place, but I’ll try and make things useful for those reading this ten years out.