Rookie Cycles

I have dreamt of building my own bicycles since I first discovered back issues of Mountain Bike Action as a teenager. Over the years, the finer points of frame geometry and construction materials made the temptation too great, and during a protracted COVID-19 break I tried my hand at framebuilding. Thus, Rookie Cycles was born.

Rookie One

My first frame is a brutish klunker frame. As with all good projects it began with the building of a lot of tooling, fixtures and jigs to provide the level of accuracy required for a straight frame. Made from straight gauge 4130 Chromoly tubing, this frame served as a testing grounds for my welding, machining and ultimately, my design decisions. In the end this has served as my daily driver for a year and I can say that nothing I have built has ever filled me with such pride.

Rookie Two

My second frame was a gift to my partner. For this build I was looking to create a more nimble, balanced ride feel than my first frame. I was looking to echo the frame styling of a classic Mixte while updating the aesthetics to match with the more utilitarian design language I prefer. For this build I began with the rear of the frame, where the complex weldments and joints determine the bulk of the alignment challenges. As with all builds, the second is always quicker than the first, and I was able to complete the construction in 2 weeks. This frame features a custom machined head tube, seat tube and dropouts.