Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Poser.
Hi Brandon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My rekindled love of cycling started in 2013 when a friend of mine had suggested that we get some road bikes. After a brief thought (about a millisecond), I said yes. Having ridden road bikes a lot many years back, I was immediately hooked, and I was all in. I loved it! I took my bike with me everything I went with work so I could ride as much as possible on my off time. I started reading anything and everything I could find on cycling. From workouts to health benefits, racing, and frame building. It was the racing and frame-building part that really sucked me in though. During this time, I was cruising YouTube and came across The Vegan Cyclist. In one of his videos, he talks about entering your first race and said that if you want to race but you’re scared, that you just need to sign up and go for it. He also mentioned the fact that you’ll likely be crushed. Well, I entered my first road race and got smoked. I was next to last to cross the finish line, but I didn’t care. I loved it! I quickly found another race to punish myself in. I then searched out a cycling club/race team (Big Orange Cycling), so I could continue my racing endeavors. I’ve been racing ever since. Thanks, VC!
It was while I was racing that I became really intrigued by all the different bikes that I’d see at the events. I started researching and studying frame building. I read about the history, the different frame materials, joining techniques, geometries, components, etc. I was a sponge. Then in 2017, I had this crazy idea that I could build my own bike. When I told my wife, she looked at me like I was nuts. I found a few books and jumped right in. A great friend of mine gave me an oxy/acetylene torch set up, I found some tubing and lugs to practice with, and I started making some of my own fixtures for sub-assemblies. To make room in my shop, I sold my beloved 1964 Cadillac Deville and picked up some tooling to help makes things easier.
Fast forward about 6 months, and after a lot of practicing, I decided to take a crack at my first frame. I’m a little biased, but it came out fantastic! I would stare at it for what seemed like hours and examine everything that I would do differently on the next one. What I could make better, cleaner, more efficient. Then I made another frame, then another, and another. Every frame I made, I tried to make it better than the last. On our local rides, I had a quite a lot of folks really appreciating my bikes, and a few even wanted me to make them one. So, I did.
By now, I really thought I could do this. So, I looked at some frame-building schools around the country and decided to go to Bohemian Frame Building School in Tucson, AZ. It was taught by the master himself, Dave Bohm. I had heard that it would be better to go to a frame school before you even make a frame, but I’m glad that I had made quite a few beforehand. It enabled me to make a lot of mistakes along the way. I was able to try new things on my own and see how it would either help or hinder my progress. I had gained a fair amount of knowledge on my own that when I was at school, I was able to take what I had learned previously and completely expand on it. I was one of a maximum of two students, and I learned so much. Much more than I would have ever thought was possible. It was such a great experience, and I highly recommend it even if you just want to build a single frame for yourself.
BAHL Cycle Works was born in September of 2019. People always ask me how I came up the name. It is the first initial of each member of my family; mine, my wife’s, my son’s, and my daughter’s. I wanted something that was personal and had meaning to me. I was once old that I needed to have an Italian-sounding name for a bike company if I wanted to be taken seriously. I would tell them, “But I’m not Italian.”.
So far, it’s been very rewarding and challenging at the same time. With the pandemic happening about 6 months after I started, obtaining product has probably been the biggest hurdle. Whether it’s been building materials or components there have certainly been delays. I’ve had to overcome this by being painfully honest about lead times. I feel that most people realize that it wasn’t going to happen overnight and as long as I continued to update them along the way that they were happy. I don’t like starting multiple builds simultaneously but have had to put builds on hold because some of the tubing was either delayed or had stop being produced for whatever reason. Almost all of our frames that come back from paint than have to wait what could be months for build kits. It has started to seem like it’s getting better as of late, and I hope that trend only gets better with time.
To me, the best part of making bikes is hearing the feedback from my customers and seeing that they are riding their bikes like crazy. One customer told me that it was the best bike he’s ever ridden. And he’s ridden a lot. Heart strings pulled!
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
For the most part, it’s been fairly smooth. My timing to start the business wasn’t the best. Soon after BAHL Cycle Works was born, Covid happened, and that certainly made things challenging with regards to procuring parts for my builds. Whether it was tubing for the frames or components for complete bikes, everything has taken a hit. Even today, some items are still months away from coming in stock. While, in general, the bike industry exploded, getting a bespoke bike maker that no one has ever heard of some recognition has been tough.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
From one of the past questions, you may have gathered that I make custom steel bicycle frames. Whether my customers want a bike for racing criteriums and fast group rides, a gravel bike for some dirt riding, or a bike for long days in the saddle, I make them all.
I would say that I specialize in bikes with drop bar handlebars or more road-oriented bikes. I’m more of a road bike purist as I love rim brakes and mechanical shifting. I believe that it’s because I grew up riding those bikes and watching them on TV. They are easy to work on and look awesome. Simple and clean! Although I’ve recently been discussing a really cool project for a customer that will be far different than what I’ve done in the past. It’s really cool too!
My bikes are known for having an amazing ride quality and simplistic designs. I’ve received messages from some of my customers telling me that their bike is the best they’ve ever ridden. Others will send me a picture of their bike after having washed it. The fact that my customers love their bikes as much as I do is really rewarding and something that I’m very proud of.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I think that the best advice I can give to anyone starting out is to just keep going. Keep grinding and working hard, and eventually, things will start moving in the right direction. The other bit of advice I have is to not think that it will happen overnight. It will take time to everything to work out.
Pricing:
- Framesets start at $2,349.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bahlcycle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bahlcycle/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bahlcycle
Image Credits
Kevin Talley
Jeff Witthans
Jason Frost
