Bicycle Design and Frame-Building (DCB-I)

This course is aimed to any person interested in learning to design and build their own bespoke frame and acquire in the process a better understanding of the bicycle. At the end of this one-week course, the student will not only have completed a custom steel fillet-brazed frame, but also acquired a solid knowledge-base and the essential manual skills to continue learning and progressing in this field by his/her own means.

 This course offers a comprehensive overview of the bike design and frame-building process (either for custom or production bikes) paying particular attention to its most relevant aspects: from the initial BikeCad frame design, the selection of the steel tubes, different brazing techniques, the essential workshop tools to the paint design and the final bike assembly. As a first incursion in the area of frame-building, there are no particular prerequisites for this course; you only need to have a good disposition to learn and do some work with your hands.

 The course is designed to provide students with a set of knowledge and skills on frame-building but also (what we believe it’s more relevant) the capacity to learn and improve on your own after its completion. Most of the content taught in other courses like Introduction to Bike-Design and Frame-Building or Oxy-Acetylene Welding are included here as well. 

 All students who attend this course are offered the possibility the hire one the working spaces at the workshop to pursue futher projects under staff supervision. It is possible to book an additional day to include a fork-building course at a cost of 300€ plus fork materials.

• Introduction of Bike Design: the most relevant parameters for bike-design, the cyclist position on the bike and the cyclist anatomical dimensions.
• Selection of Frame Materials and Bike Components.
• Definition and Examination of the Materials: The tubing catalogues of the different manufacturers Columbus, Reynolds and Dedacciai. Selecting and ordering the appropriate tubes for your frame. 
• Frame-building Basics: tube cutting and mittering, preparation, jig pre-assembly and frame tacking 
• Frame alignment checking: different techniques for frame alignment and industry tolerances
• Frame welding: different brazing techniques and working welding temperatures. Frame distortion and the effects of brazing temperatures.
• Frame Facing and Prepping before painting.
• Frame Painting: Overview of different paint techniques and tips for paint designs. 
• Course Recap and Useful Information for sourcing frame tubes, welding equipment and consumables, workshop tools, etc…
• Basic tools and Recommendations to start your own frame-building workshop.

➝ For more information you can contact us here.
If you do not see any scheduled date, please send us an email and we will try to arrange a course on your preferred date.
NEW DATES FOR THE BICYCLE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION COURSE, IF YOU WANT TO PRE-ORDER YOUR PLACE, JUST LET US KNOW IT HERE