I have been a life long cyclist, which started at the age of 4. Since 1984 my life has revolved completely around the cycling industry which will probably never change. I raced amateur for 15 seasons which ended in 1999. Racing and logging all the miles over the years gave me the most insight into frame performance and how frame geometry is critical for every frame especially racing frames. While most racers were running generic road geometry’s, I was racing a specialized geometry frame set. This gave me a easier time during the majority of races I was in due to the frames ability to hold a steady, stable tight arc while cornering. many times I found myself 15 or more riders back and after a single corner in the front or one of the first 3 riders, simply due to the fact the bike could hold a tighter corner at higher speeds with little effort on my part. The frame I built was built after discussing it at length with my predecessor Tim Paterek. I had to mull it over for a few days deciding whether to go with a traditional road geometry or a criterium geometry. My decision ultimately came to that of the criterium frame geometry since the vast majority of racing I was doing were criteriums.
I began servicing bikes and wheel building in 1984 when I became immersed in the sport and I have been working professionally in the industry since 1989. I got my introduction to frame building in 1985 when I met my predecessor Tim Paterek. I started hanging out in his shop where Tim soon put me to work on little projects helping him around the shop. In 1989 I built my first frame with Tim, which I still own today and was the frame I raced and trained on for 10 years. It is on its 4th and final paint job after I restored it to its original braze-on configuration it had in the early 90s. It had three top tube cable housing guides (traditional Italian type) when it was first made because I did not like the way Tim did his early through the top tube guide. I installed a stainless steel tube as a through the top tube guide in 1992. these have been my signature way to do guides ever since. I leave the brass top tube guides to the amateur builders.
In the mid 90s I got introduced to building unicycles after a request to make an improved version of the Miyata unicycle that was at the time the hallmark of the freestyle frame. My original freestyle frame became the ideal standard for freestyle use as I had all the requirements for the perfect freestyle frame. Due to my proximity to The Twin Cities Unicycle Club I was the one to first develop the touring unicycle and all the features now found on them today working with Andy Cotter. I also got involved with modifying Tom Miller giraffes making them pull apart for travel and soon after began my own designs of giraffes and two wheeled unicycles. Being I have no issue working with round cro-moly tubes my giraffes come in at a fraction of the weight of other manufactures giraffes and significantly stronger due to the steel being alloyed and heat treated.