OK, so you probably figured out by now that I closed Centerport Cycles in August of 2007. I'm writing this in mid November 2009.
I had an idea for a long time that I would like to stop fighting the retail wars and find myself an interesting gig, either in research, a museum or the academic world. I have a degree in mechanical engineering technology, and I've been a hobby machinist for many years. So I thought that it might be fun to get a job that utilized my mechanical skills in some kind of stimulating setting. That idea was pretty much a day-dream until a customer / friend of mine put me in touch (thanks Ken) with my present boss (hi Neil) at Webb Institute.
Webb Institute
Webb is a little gem of a school, situated on a hill overlooking the Long Island Sound in Glen Cove, N.Y.. It was founded in 1887 by William H. Webb. Webb was a ship builder who saw the need for an institution of higher education for the ship building industry. So they only offer one degree, a BS in naval architecture and marine engineering. The school is fully endowed. That means if you get in, it's free. That's a big IF, because the academic standards are quite high. They only admit about 25 students per year so the total enrollment is usually around 80.
So, I was lucky enough to get a job at Webb, working 3 days a week as a machinist. I support the various laboratories and teach classes on welding and machine shop. It's a really great place to be.
OK so back to bicycles. I had started taking orders for custom bike frames starting in 2005 and I am continuing, ever so slowly, with that work. When I first set out I had an idea that I might get myself up to building 10 or 20 frames a year. That is a pretty reasonable output for a small custom builder, but so far it hasn't happened... A friend of mine says that "everybody is doing exactly what they want to be doing". I think that there is a lot of wisdom in that saying. It might be a little strong in some cases, but I guess I have to admit that it's true about me and my limited frame building production. So I haven't pumped out a huge number of bikes but I'm pretty happy with the few that I've done. One thing that I've spent a lot of time on has been making my own frame building jig and other tools that help me to a good job. A frame builder friend of mine used to ask me if I wanted to build bike frames or build tools? I guess I mostly wanted to build tools at that point. I just couldn't make really good bikes without really good tools and it caught in my throat to go out and buy them.
Another factor that had a bearing on all this is the fact that I had been fooling around buying and selling used machine tools and machine shop supplies for a while there. After I down-sized my bike shop in 1998 I started dabbling in the used tool business. At first I was selling off surplus tools in swap-meets and flea-markets. But that escalated. Before long I was buying out the contents of defunct machine shops. A friend of mine promotes shows for the home shop machinist / model engineering hobby. I wound up partnering up with him for a few years promoting consignment auctions for machine shop stuff. That was a blast but I couldn't keep it up once I started working at the college. My ex-partner is still going strong, and I lend a hand with the auctions from time to time... Anyway, the reason why this matters to my frame building work is that while I was buying and selling machine tools I was able to get a lot of good equipment for my home shop. That equipment is instrumental in my capacity to make my own frame building jigs & fixtures.
The Cabin Fever Auctions Van
So I've been making one or two frames a year in my spare time... When I first started taking orders I signed up a pretty good number of people who wanted me to make them a bike. That list was growing much faster then I could build the frames, so I declared a moratorium on accepting new orders. I've been slowly working my way through that original queue. Recently I've had a bunch people drop off the list because of the recession. Luckily there are still a couple guys who have some money to squander on a fancy bike frame, so I've still got some work to do.
Oh, my daughter Clementine graduated from Pratt in June (2009) and she has been working as a graphic designer in Manhattan. She lives in Brooklyn and rides her bike over the Williamsburg Bridge to get to work every day. Amelia is a junior at Wake Forest, so Mary and I are starting to see a tiny glimmer of light at the end of the tuition tunnel.
So that's what I'm up to these days. Thanks for reading.