Last December, Jimi joined the framebuilding course and built a very special bike:
a stainless steel gravel frame with S&S couplers.

Jimi travels a lot for work.

Not just occasionally.
He has already visited more than 100 countries.  I think I am probably older than he is, and I turned 50 last year.

When you travel that much, taking a bike with you becomes complicated. Airline bike fees, large boxes, transport logistics. It adds up quickly.

So Jimi decided to solve the problem in a different way.

He would build a bike that could split into two pieces and fit into a normal suitcase.

A Bike Built for a Life in Motion

Jimi is originally from New Zealand, now based in the Netherlands, and works as a telemetry engineer in the sustainability field.

His work takes him to many different places with very different road conditions.

“I travel a lot for work & wanted an all purpose travel bike as the places I work tend to have differing road qualities.
A gravel frame was the natural choice & coupled so I can split the frame, put in a suitcase for free air travel.”

A gravel bike gives him exactly that flexibility.

Fast enough for long days on the road.
Stable enough when the pavement disappears.

And with the S&S couplers, the frame can be separated into two halves and packed into a regular suitcase.

No oversized luggage.
No bike box.

Just a normal suitcase and a bike waiting on the other side of the world.

A Personal Reason to Build

For Jimi, building this bike meant more than just creating a travel tool.

After finishing the frame, he wrote me a message that explained it beautifully.

“Building it meant a lot to me personally too. My dad was an engineer and welder, and since he passed away recently it felt really special to make something with my own hands in that tradition.”

As a kid he spent time in his father’s workshop, surrounded by tools and projects.

Later he restored classic bicycles and built up many bikes over the years.

But building the frame itself felt like the next step.

Something deeper than assembling parts.

Making something with your own hands.

The First Day in the Workshop

When Jimi arrived at the workshop, one small detail stuck with him.

“Arrival was cool, to see my name on the welcome chalkboard & the group ride/drinks were a lot of fun.”

He came together with his wife, and they turned the trip into a small holiday in Potsdam and Berlin.

The workshop during the day.

Berlin in the evening.

And a bike slowly taking shape over the course of the week.

Designing the Bike

For the geometry, Jimi started with something familiar.

“I used the geo chart of an existing bike as a start point and Robert helped me refine the geometry.”

That approach often works very well.

Start with a bike you already like.
Then adjust the details until it fits perfectly.

When he finally rode the finished bike, the result was exactly what he had hoped for.

“I finally rode the bike, and it feels absolutely planted. The geometry is spot on and I’m super happy with how it turned out.”

The Beauty of Imperfection

One of the nice things about building your own frame is the freedom to adapt along the way.

During the course, Jimi even changed an important decision and switched the tubing to stainless steel.

And when the frame was finished, it carried something that factory bikes rarely have.

A bit of imperfection.

But the good kind.

“As I built this frame with my own two hands, it is not perfect. There are some little purely aesthetic imperfections but I love the ‘wabi-sabi’ aspect. If I wanted a perfect frame, I’d simply have bought one.”

Handmade objects always carry a small trace of the person who made them.

And that is exactly what makes them special.

A Name for the Bike

The bike even ended up with its own name.

“The academy being called Big Forest, I ended up naming the bike Gump, which still makes me smile every time I see the forest head badges.”

There is only one small detail missing.

“Only thing left to do is paint a little single track between the trees on the head tube.”

The Next Project Already Waiting

After finishing their first frame, many people immediately start thinking about the next one.

Jimi is no exception.

“Already looking forward to the next build.”

And he already knows what it might be.

“A steel apocalypse-ready single-speed mountain bike with rusty patina.”

That sounds like a project worth watching. 🚲🌲