A little life lesson to carry with me on my journey in frame building:
My daughter had a pot luck lunch for the parents at school to celebrate the classes first success at writing a story. They were all individually made up and written by each of the students.
(warning: you have to turn it up to here the story, but beware of the clapping at the end.)
As I listened to my daughter's story, I started to realize that there is a lesson to be learned in the innocent thoughts of a seven year old. She told of a jewelry store that she owns and make beautiful pieces that she would hope that everyone would want to buy. She then continues to say that know one does because they are too expensive. What causes prices to go beyond standard comprehension? Why do things that are seemingly the same cost so much different from different sources? After the story was over, I said to myself that I can solve that problem for her. She would just have to find a different way to offer her jewelry to her customers at a less expensive price if they were going to be able to buy them.
Thus, my epiphany! I want to be able to sell my frames to people. I want them to be able to afford them. How? There has to be a way. Everyone that builds frames has the potential to source things from the same companies. This makes it surprising to me that so many different builders can demand such different and elevated prices. Don't get me wrong. If you can do it, it just one more reason that we have such a great country. The real question is why would you want to spend more. No one drives around looking for the most expensive gas to put in there cars. Everyone is always looking for a better deal. There is no real reason that if you love what you do, that you would need to make people pay exorbitant amount for those people to have it. I am a furniture maker and cabinetmaker by trade. I only build custom, one at a time, designed for the purpose intended. I will take that mentality with me into building custom bikes and not at the expense of any of those people that may wish to have something a little bit more than ordinary.
