Each year I try to give back a week of my time to a
professional who wants to take their skill to the next level; learn paint, tig,
new materials, etc...
This year I had the pleasure of hosting Daan from 11 Ants Titanium Bicycles. The owners have focused their bicycle design
on Pinion and Rohloff builds in titanium, a market segment that has room for
growth in Europe. Their builds for the
last three years have been commissioned in China, but due to the stresses of
working long distance and inability to control quality, spec, and manage
expectations, they want to move the production home to Holland. Daan came to me with 20 years fabrication and
machine shop experience, but no bicycle work.
It was our goal to expose him to the fabrication process and begin to
understand the unique difficulties in working with Titanium.
Over the next 5 days, we worked through language and machine
familiarization barriers to reach a level of competency that will build a
strong foundation for this companies future success.
Bill and I were also able to get an Accuset fixture into
their hands, only the third fixture we've sent out, nice to see it go to a good
home that can truly use it's accurate set up, repeat-ability, and massive
access for joining.
Best wishes to Roy, Jeroen, and Daan as they move to the
next step in their journey...Made in Holland!
