You may be wondering… Who is this ‘young upstart’?
Well, my career started with a mechanical engineering apprenticeship at a small Birmingham-based cycle frame builders. It was here that I learned the craft of bicycle frame building – making semi-production cycle frames to supply specialist shops across the UK including Harry Hall, Dolan and Madison cycles to name a few. Being situated a stone’s throw from the renowned tubing manufacturer Reynolds in Tyseley, Birmingham, meant that I was able to hang out in the factory and was fortunate to see, hear and understand a lot of the tube and fork manufacturing processes first-hand.
In the late-1980s I secured employment with the prestigious South London frame builder Chas Roberts at Roberts Cycles. Under the guidance of Chas Roberts and master frame builder Phillip Maynard, my repertoire expanded to building the full range of bicycles Roberts Cycles offered and undertaking many of the frame repairs. During my 26 years at Roberts, I have built everything from low profiles to trikes, created frames for many celebrities and well-known customers, and built an award winning Roughstuff-styled bicycle with custom pannier racks.
Following on from Chas’ decision to take a “sabbatical”, I spent two years at Reilly CycleWorks, where my responsibilities included frame building, frame repairs and leading the frame building courses. It was a great experience, and I was able to guide many happy customers, including a Bespoke award winner, towards realising their dream. Taking them through the specialised process of building their very own bespoke bicycle.
After building more than 1700 custom bespoke frames, spending more than 50,000 hours in the workshop at Roberts alone and also building trade frames for other well known frame builders, I think I have earned the right to class myself as a master frame builder. But more importantly, I love the creative process, the craftsmanship, working with my hands, designing and building bespoke bicycles.
The knowledge and experience I have gained over the years led to my decision to establish Six four Frameworks. The aim is to bring my personal approach to frame building. At Six Four we are not trying to reinvent the wheel or be ‘FRAMEOUS’, but simply provide the highest quality frame sets/bike-builds that are not just pleasing to the eye, but perfectly suited to the customer, perform without compromise and are a joy to ride.
Master Frame Builder: Adrian