Bike Forums - Considering a custom frame with Circle-A Cycles

E: For those unfamiliar with Circle A can you explain what it is you do?

C: We like to describe ourselves as Rhode Island’s only anarchist sporting goods manufacturer. OK, in terms of the bikes, we are a small custom bicycle frame builder. We hand build about 50 steel frames a year. Every bike is totally unique; sized to the customer but also geometry, detailing, and of course paint are discussed at length. Although we use some power tools and mills and such, no part of the process is mechanized; one person builds and paints each frame from start to finish. Mostly we’re building commuter & courier single-speeds, but also some touring, racing and cyclocross bikes.

E: How did you come around to starting your own business, and why is that
business building bikes?

C: I got into mountain biking years ago, and while helping to found an intentional DIY community in Worcester, Mass, I started working at a local bike shop doing repairs. Through that I got hooked up with a local frame builder, Toby Stanton at Hot Tubes. I apprenticed there for about three years, where I made the first ten Circle A’s. I always had it in mind to set
up Circle A as it’s own entity, and that’s what I did when I moved to Providence in 2001.

E: Circle A is worker owned. How many workers are there and what are the unique challenges and rewards of being worker owned?

C: Well, I should say a few things about that. When I opened up shop in Providence, it was just me. I’d done collective living for years, and started an infoshop in Worcester (Firecracker, RIP), and also worked with the community bike program there, so I had lots of experience doing and even owning things collectively. But a business like this that requires highly developed and specific skills presents some of it’s own problems. It’s not like retail where anyone can sit behind the counter, or like housing where everyone can wash dishes or whatever. In the context of custom bike frames our stuff is very reasonably priced, but it’s still a chunk of change – around $1000 for a frame and fork – so it has to be perfect, or damn close.

I knew I wanted to have more folks involved in this from the start, but there was no one I knew who was also building bikes at the time. And the learning curve for a lot of this stuff is very steep, so it takes a while to train people, in addition to that being a ton of work in it’s own right. So at the moment I have one apprentice, Emily, and a couple other folks who help with the website and other projects. But long term I definitely see sharing more of the shop with these folks.

So that being said – well the rewards are pretty self-evident; assuming you’re able to pay the bills – no small feat – you can choose your hours and share your resources with other folks in the community and nice stuff like that. And just in general it’s just another level of doing it yourself, which is just fun and exciting and helps you get out of bed in the morning.

As for the challenges – well, there are those bills to pay. It has to function as a business so that means all sorts of business-related crap. I mean, I think we have it pretty easy; we’re making bikes for friends and friends of friends, so we’ve yet to be screwed by anyone. But there’s a lot of paperwork and such that’s not particularly sexy. And of course there’s no boss to complain about. Not that I’m complaining, but that’s a luxury of a sort.

E: When it comes to the business aspect of things like you mentioned, do you think there are things you could do with Circle A, or other small businesses could do, to become even more community based and further remove it from the capitalist business model?

C: I guess just to literally become more community based – if more of the raw materials we get could be locally produced, that would be great. Most of the tubing we use is from Italy; lugs might be from the US, or Italian, or Japanese; the sanding belts we use are made in Worcester. But we try to get as much stuff locally as possible; our head badges are laser cut one town over, and the cups we mix paint in come from the paper supply place down the street.

E: How are you putting your ideology into practice by building bikes?

C: Well, I mean bikes are a pretty cool and appropriate technology – human scaled, human powered, etc. And of course we try to run the shop in an efficient and responsible way. But I think the actual ideology comes out more with work we do locally, with our Recycle A Bike program and other local community activism.

E: You’ve mentioned community several times already and it seems to be a large part of what you are doing at Circle A. Why do you feel that community is so essential?

C: For me, that’s the revolution. Bottom up. Start small, start local, and grow from there. It’s at these levels that true democracy works best, so there’s that; but also, it’s distance, especially in manufacturing, that allows for all sorts of atrocities. You wouldn’t tolerate a sweatshop down the street, but if it’s thousands of miles away, there’s more deniability, and less you can do about it.

E: How does what you do fit into the bigger picture of culture and society?

Actually if you could clarify this – radical society, or mainstream, or both?

E: I suppose both. A lot of people talk about choosing bikes as a primary form of transportation as being a radical decision, a rejection of “mainstream values” -- the luxury, bigger/faster culture than seems to be extremely pervasive. It also seems like the mainstream sees bikes as playthings that you either quit riding when you grow up or ride on weekends for some exercise. Do you see what you do as being in direct opposition to that and the effects of such a lifestyle? Is Circle A itself a form of activism? Can bikes be radical? Sorry for all the questions at once.

C: In terms of the bikes-as-toys ethos, sure, everything about this shop is opposed to that. The experience of buying a high end bike at a boutique-style shop is similar to buying jewelry or a plasma tv or something; you go in to a climate controlled show room with lots of shiny things and well dressed and manicured people try to sell you things. I guess the model here is closer to going to an artist’s studio and discussing a custom painting or piece of furniture. You’re dealing directly with the person doing the work. So if you want to be flattered because you have lots of money, it’s not the place to go. The folks we build bikes for generally don’t have lots of money, but they care enough about bikes to spend a lot of what they have on them.

In terms of the impact that has on the larger culture? It’s hard to say. I think though that if you go out to shows or a bar or café over a year and see more and more bikes out front – meaning more people getting around on bikes – you might think, huh, maybe that would be fun. It’s a habit. If you’re the only one your friends who rides a bike, it sucks. If they all do it, it’s a blast. And of course you can get used to riding longer and longer distances. Your “range” increases the more you ride. But certainly that’s the goal, and that’s reflected in other work we do, fixing up old bikes or whatever. It’s not about riding our bike vs. their bike, it’s about riding more, period.

E: It seems to me that most people view work in a very oppositional way, that work is something they have to do to survive that keeps them from doing the things that they love or really want to be doing. What’s your take on this? Do you feel like in some way you’ve overcome this?

C: When I was living in Worcester I was very anti-work, at least full-time work; philosophically I still am. I think that governments and corporations and such are able to get away with so much because they keep us so busy, either just trying to survive or trying to pursue some luxury fantasy of the good life. Where I lived we heated with wood and grew lots of our own food, so we were satisfying many of our needs ourselves. And there was time to work part time and still do lots of activism, art, whatever you wanted. And certainly, work – in the sense of selling your time to someone else – was a necessary evil, and you focused your life on doing it as little as possible. And along these lines, of course, some people I’ve known who’ve worked jobs the least are the most productive folks I know, in the sense of never resting, always creating and striving, and tied to that was a distrust of specialization. That’s how folks justify this society – well I’m an accountant so that’s what I do and I don’t need to know how to grow food or fix a roof or my bike, I pay folks to do that stuff for me. And I think that’s a really sad way to live, plus it puts you at the mercy of so-called experts. And of course the professional politician is the worst-case scenario – “I don’t have to be involved in my community or care about my neighbors because I have these people I pay to do it for me.” When I think of an anarchist society, we’re all doing all this stuff part-time – “politics” stops being a separate pursuit and is just part of everyday life.

So the first shock with Circle A was – holy crap, this is really full time. I mean, it’s flexible and we make time to go for rides and have coffee breaks and such, but it’s a big deal. We have to pay rent on the space, we’re trying to pay ourselves – it’s easy to get sucked in and just immerse. And it’s been a struggle getting back involved in local activism after trying to build the business full time.

The other thing is just about skills and expertise. Pretty much anyone can grow food or cut firewood or cook. Building a house well takes some more skills. And building bikes does too. Not just anyone can do it, mostly because you have to be very motivated to take the time to acquire the skills. It’s not easy, it doesn’t happen overnight. I think this is something maybe I see more in artist friends of mine, be they musicians, painters, sculptors, whatever – it takes time to do things well, and there’s no shortcuts apart from just doing it. And maybe that means that there are things you need to do full time, at least for a while.

E: Has depending on something you love - bikes - to make a living altered or compromised your feelings about bikes and riding?

C: I don’t think so. I’m still really excited about bikes. I think if I was working for a super high-end shop that catered to yuppies I’d get down on it, but not here, making bikes for friends.

E: If you weren’t building bikes, what would you be doing?

C: I guess some other trade. When I was a kid I wanted to be an architect, but what are the chances I’d be able to build houses for all my friends? I’d need richer friends, to start. And this has all those elements – art, design, function.

E: On your site you say that in an anarchist society communities will be organized around the satisfying or real needs and you list food, shelter, and bikes. Do we really NEED a custom bike when we can certainly find much cheaper bikes that seem to get the job done?

C: Well, part of that has to do with existing within capitalism. To make a living we have to make pretty, lightweight bikes that people will want, if not actually need like you need to eat. But I’d be just as happy cobbling stuff together out of old bikes, or making trailers, or pedal powered generators in exchange for vegetables or homebrew. The skills are the same; I have to pay rent so I apply those skills toward making new bikes.
In different circumstances I’d make different things.

Now, the “Do we need more bikes?” question; it's true there's tons of bikes. Most of them, as anyone who's been involved in a free bike program knows, are total crap. They maybe can work as toys, but as transportation? Here's the thing; there are good reasons to ride light and well-fitting bikes, ours or anyone's, especially in a car culture such as this. If it's more fun you'll ride more. You can ride all day and still want to - and be able to - ride some more. If it's efficient & you're efficient on it, especially in a city, you'll be faster than a car. Also – this is something that came up when I was talking to Dirtrag Magazine – I think we should be careful about judging “needs.” You need to eat, but we can all tell the difference between going to McDonald’s and cooking a meal with friends from vegetables you’ve grown, and maybe sharing a bottle of homemade wine in the bargain. Everything’s better when you take your time and it’s done with care and with your friends. So plenty of folks say, I need a bike, and I’d rather buy it from people I know who are doing things I support. And I’ll happily pay more for that.

Which brings up another interesting point, which is just that nice stuff that’s made without exploitation costs more. In this country we have such a glut of mass-produced sweatshop goods that it’s easy to forget how long it takes to do, well, anything. And there’s so much waste that half the time you can dumpster what you need anyway. But that’s living off the fat of the capitalist land, you know? And much of the stuff we use everyday – especially textiles – is subsidized for our benefit by the global economy. Making things is hard work and takes a long time. That’s why we tend to have the rest of the world do it for us.

E: What separates you or distinguishes you from other custom frame builders? Do you feel like you and other smaller custom frame builders are in competition, or are working towards the same goal?

C: From a technical aspect, very little is different. I mean we’re mostly using the same materials and techniques as other builders; there’s small stylistic differences of course, and our paint is hotter than anyone else’s. But in terms of why you might pick one builder over another – assuming there’s no one local, it’s marketing or reputation or word of mouth. And it’s a tough game, so there’s not tons of folks doing it, so as far as I can tell there’s not tons of competing until you get to the bigger shops.

I get along pretty well with other builders, because there’s a shared passion for bikes and craft and such… but that being said, a lot of them are selling much more expensive bikes to a much more rarefied clientele, and probably not to as many local folks.

E: A lot of people seem to think that the one of the things that will bring about “the revolution” or large scale change in our country is our dependence on foreign oil and rising oil costs. Eventually, if things continue unchanged, oil costs will peak and it’s going to reach a point of crisis that will then result in wide scale upheaval and change. Is riding bikes now just postponing that, and if we want to speed up the process should we just drive as much as possible?

C: I understand the reality of things often getting worse before they get better, and sometimes I even take a grim satisfaction in seeing it happen, but crossing over to actively encourage destruction and turmoil? Beware the dark side…

But two immediate responses. First of all burning all this oil has other huge and widespread social and environmental costs – it’s not just about cars sucking. But the issue with cars isn’t just the availability of oil. I mean, everyone’s all psyched about hydrogen, but that takes enormous amounts of energy to produce, and it’s not like they’re serious about renewable sources – we’ll be looking at nuclear and coal, yum. The issue with cars is not getting people in greener cars, it’s to get people using bikes and their feet and public transportation. It’s not about changing what we buy, but how we live, and hastening the end of the oil supply isn’t going to help with that.

E: Very true, and there’s certainly more problems with cars than just their burning gas - from the risk they pose to pedestrians and cyclists to the sense of isolation they create as people drive around in their enclosed boxes. So what do you think our cities, activists, politicians and whoever else needs to do to reduce the use of cars and alternately encourage and increase the use of bicycles as everyday transportation?

C: There’s lots of great ideas I’ve seen – basic stuff like bike lanes and paths and more racks and such. The coolest is cities where they close down downtown to cars entirely, either just at certain times or permanently. I thinks those are all great ideas. Most cities have organizations and coalitions working on issues like that, and it’s all important. And again, this is where just being generally known and active in your own community is crucial.

E: What do you make of the current boom in interest in riding bikes, especially fixed gear?

C: Well, a boom like that comes from several directions. Some of them are encouraging, some of them less so. For high-end retailers the trends are pretty crappy – very expensive, stupid light, virtually disposable bikes; new drive trains that are incompatible with everything else, so you “need” to upgrade everything – I mean, the money is in selling bikes as toys for yuppies, so that’s all about the next big thing and convincing folks they need the best, new, every year. The fixie trend is at least based on simplicity, on bikes as reliable transportation, so that’s a good thing. But anything to get folks out of cars or off their asses is OK with me.