Bicycle Making

• A Lug Primer - What is a lug? A sleeve of metal that surrounds the frame tube at the joint, strengthening the joint. Most modern frames don't have them. How come?

• Frame Materials - Weight, strength, safety, and frame materials It's been said that most people care about three things: sex, money, and food; and that cyclists care about four more

• Graphics - Model names should be readable but not huge. It's hard to think up good ones. Birds and mammals have been popular. So have mountains and cities or regions in Italy.

• How Lugs Are Made - We (Rivendell Bicycle Works) traveled to the Long Shen factory where our lugs are made. Here is a video of the process

• Repaints, Repairs, & Re-Brazeons - Several options here, listed in order of cheapest to least cheap: Stay local. Find a frame builder who’s comfortable and experienced.

• Chasing and facing - Why we generally don't do it and why we don't need to

• The Big Picture - A bike should fit you. Most riders today are riding bikes that by our standards, are too small. They make you lean over too far, which puts too much weight on your hands, and too much.

• The Top Tube Ruse - There is continuing widespread, rampant, epidemic, pandemic, titanic-like misunderstanding about the actual influence of a one or two or even-as-much-as three count 'em!
• Toe Clip Overlap a.k.a. Toe Overlap a.k.a. "Toeverlap" - when your foot hits the front tire. Not as big a deal as you might think.

• Trail, Wheelbase, & Other Considerations - Wheelbase should never be a design criterion. It is a dependent variable, the result of other criteria (independent variables)