September 16th, 2025
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A few September updates for you...
Some Light Reading
We’ve had a few articles published recently about what we’re up to. If you’re looking for some early-week distraction, check out these pieces:
I penned an article for The Radavist about a recent trip to the Reynolds factory.
Josh from Escape Collective stopped by the week of MADE to chat about our school project, and wrote a really nice piece about our plans.
Matt from Bicycling did the same, and also visited a couple other shops around town. Super fun.
And our local bike blog, BikePortland, shared some writing and a video about our plans.
If you’re curious about our motivations here in the shop, I feel like these articles get to the crux of our project's what and why. Go check ‘em out.
Speaking of reading...
Firsthand Journal, Issue 1
If you’ve placed an order with us (ie. if we have your address) you’ll likely be receiving a print piece we mailed out last week. We’re planning on distributing this physical Journal a few times a year. (Hey, I still appreciate a nice piece of junk mail from time to time–maybe you do too?)
If you’re only subscribed to the email list but would like to receive future physical mailings, well, you’ll just have to place an order with us. I’ll add a sticker pack or something small to the shop, for anyone who doesn’t need titanium tubes or jars of brazing flux. Stay tuned…
And last but not least...
We've got Paragon Parts!
Firsthand is now a stocking supplier of Paragon Machine Works small frame parts and tools. As we inch closer to opening the doors of our new school and warehouse, we’ll be adding more and more to the PMW offering up here in Portland.
This relationship is a big deal to us. Over the summer, we looked into setting up accounts with other frame part manufacturers from all over the world. In the end, though, importing cast items or machined parts from another spot just didn’t sit right. Much of that offering is already available in the US, and we didn’t want to step on the toes of the other US-based supply shops. Besides, PMW has been nothing but encouraging as we’ve worked to get this project off the ground and they make the best frame parts in the world. Why would we sell anything else?
If all you need are Paragon parts, there’s no reason to buy them from us… just grab them direct from Calvin, Coco, and crew. (Our prices match theirs after all.) But if you’re local, or you’re picking up some tubing, or Paragon is out of an item, well... now you can get some of your favorite PMW bits from Firsthand. Pretty neat.
Much, much more on the way this fall.