Hey all–happy January. I don’t know how you feel, but to me this time of year always feels like a giant exhale. We’ve been treated to a couple weeks of sunny skies up here in Oregon (not unusual for January), and that–combined with wrapping up the holidays and getting back into the swing of things here in the shop–has us all feeling positive and energetic about the year. I hope you feel the same way.
Speaking of the swing of things… I’ve got a couple of fun announcements this month as we continue to build out our team here in Portland and make progress toward opening our shop doors for framebuilding classes later this year.
First and foremost…
Welcome Tom La Marche!
Firsthand's New Shop Manager
Guess who is officially a part of Firsthand? Yep... Tom! Tom La Marche moved from Philly to Portland about a year ago and has been our shopmate inside Chris King since then. After watching Tom design and build frames, make tools and fixtures, and solve problems throughout the past year, I decided there was nobody better to help us develop our student-focused shop and class processes than him. Tom is now officially our Shop Manager, and has been working with B and I since the fall. He’ll be an in-house instructor when we start classes (obviously), and lend his endless talents to everything we do down at the new space.
And hey, not to worry… the role Tom is filling here leaves him juuuust enough time to continue to build his own bikes and brand. Tom is an exceptional builder, and I’m pumped that the arrangement we have allows him to continue growing his business. If you’re unfamiliar, check out La Marche Bike Co… Lot’s of good stuff.
Course Catalog Release
Sneaky big news! We’ve just published our initial Course Catalog (and projected prices) to the website. Go check them out. To summarize, we’ll be offering three primary, intensive classes (Modern Framebuilding, Framebuilding 1, and Framebuilding 2) and supplementing those classes with a series of shorter “Foundation” seminars (TIG Welding, Brazing, and Manual Machining, to start). The long-format courses will rotate on an annual basis; the Foundation series will be offered monthly-ish.
We’re waiting to release the schedule and open sign-up until we get more confident in our construction timeline, but the shop build-out is going well and we’ll let you know when slots are available. In the meantime, reach out if you have questions.
Next Reynolds Shipment
One final heads up… We have a large Reynolds shipment due to us in the next few weeks. Anything that is currently out-of-stock should be topped up nicely when it arrives. If you’ve inquired about a tube (you know who you are), not to worry… We keep a log of all stock requests and will send individual email updates before the stock hits the web shop.
That’s all I've got for now. Back to work! Happy building, and cheers to a fantastic, sunshine-filled year.