What do you need to get started?

You don’t need to have built a bicycle frame before.

We’ve already had people with very little workshop experience successfully build their first frame through the online course.

Others come with a well-equipped workshop or have even built a frame on their own before joining. They want a clearer process, to improve their skills and to learn from someone who has been building and teaching for years.

You don’t need to start at a particular level. You just need to want to build.

You don’t need a large or professionally equipped workshop to build a bicycle frame.

Martin built his frame in a small shed in his garden without electricity. When he needs power, he runs an extension cord down from his second-floor apartment.

What does matter is having a safe, well-ventilated space. Brazing means working with an open flame and very hot metal, so your workspace needs good ventilation and must be free of fire hazards.

You will need some specialist tools to build a frame, but you don’t need a workshop full of expensive machinery.

If you’re starting from scratch, expect to spend around €1,500 for the basic setup. That includes a brazing torch and our Fixter framebuilding fixture. If you already have a workshop with a good selection of hand tools, you’ll probably already own some of what I recommend.

And you don’t need to buy everything at once. You can add tools as you progress through the build, buying them when you actually need them rather than making the entire investment before you start.

I’ll also show you some specialist tools that can make certain jobs easier or faster. They’re nice to have, but they’re not necessary to build your first frame. I didn’t have most of them when I started building frames.

You’ll also need the materials for the frame itself. Tubing, dropouts and the other frame parts are not included in those figures, and you should budget at least €500 for your first frame.

One of the first things we do in the course is go through the tooling together, so you know what you really need, what you can do without, and when you’ll need it.

Building a frame at home takes time. More time than building one with me in the workshop.

If you come to Potsdam for the in-person course, you’ll build your frame in five intensive days. At home, I would expect your first frame to take at least twice that amount of working time, and probably more.

But for many people, taking five days away from work and family, and traveling to Germany, simply isn’t an option. With the online course, you decide when you work and how quickly you progress. An evening here, a Saturday there, or an intensive week if that’s what suits you.

And taking your time has an advantage. You have to understand the process, make the decisions yourself and solve more of the problems along the way.

It takes longer. But by the end, you haven’t just built a frame. You’ve learned how to build frames.

Can you really learn framebuilding online?

Yes.

But I wondered about that myself. I’d thought about creating this course for years, but wasn’t sure it would work.

But people have been teaching themselves to build frames for decades. Everything you need to know is out there in books, videos, forums and conversations with other builders. The difficult part is knowing what matters, what comes next, and what to do when something goes wrong.

That’s what I wanted this course to provide: a clear process, support when you get stuck, and a group of people working toward the same goal.

And now I’ve seen it work. People have gone through the course in their own workshops and come out the other side with bicycle frames they built themselves.

The goal isn’t to start building a frame.

It’s to finish one.

This course can take you there.

I’ve taught hundreds of people to build their first frame.

Learn the skill everything else builds on.

If you’ve never built a bicycle frame before, brazing can feel like one of the biggest unknowns.

How much heat do you need? How should the joint fit before you start? How do you get the brass to flow where you want it? And how do you know whether the joint you’ve just made is actually good?

We’ve got you covered.

The Online Framebuilding Course includes complete access to 5 Day Fillet Brazers, my dedicated course for learning the core skill behind building a fillet-brazed steel frame.

And we start from the beginning. You don’t need previous brazing experience, and you don’t need to know which torch, filler material or equipment to buy.

You’ll learn how to set up your torch, prepare and fit your tubes, control the heat and guide the brass where you want it. You’ll practice building and finishing fillets, and learn how to look critically at your own work so you can understand what went right, what went wrong and what to change on the next joint.

The goal isn’t simply to watch me braze a bicycle frame.

It’s to give you a structured way to practice, understand what you’re doing, recognize your mistakes and improve.

By the time you’re ready to braze your own frame, you won’t be starting from zero.

Everything you need to build your first frame.

Building your first bicycle frame is a big project.

There will be moments when you aren’t sure what to do next. A joint won’t look the way you expected. A measurement won’t quite make sense. You’ll probably make a few mistakes.

That’s part of learning to build a frame.

But you won’t be figuring it out alone.

You’ll have the lessons to guide you through each stage, a group of other builders working through the same process, and experienced help when you get stuck.

You don’t need to know how to build a bicycle frame before you start.

You just need to be willing to learn.