Since a child I have loved building and designing. I am inspired by handcrafted materials that I can build with my hands and mind. I enjoy the freedom and adventure of being outside, especially when riding bikes.
My first job as a bike mechanic at Bumsteads Bicycles
is what sparked a more serious interest in cycling.
I have been working with bikes for over 13 years now.
I gained an appreciation for mechanical parts, the construction of a bicycle, and the cycling community.
In 2015, I attended the Yamaguchi Frame Building School in Rifle, Colorado. The opportunity to learn
from Yamaguchi and build my own frame was my cyclist dream. With his guidance I left with an all steel road bike (frame, fork, and stem). After the experience of learning the artistry and craft of a hand-built frames,
I continued building handmade and custom-built
bikes ever since.
My style of builds are modern with the traditional methods of fillet brazed and use of lugs. I provide frames with uniqueness, quality, geometry, and purpose of the individual customer‘s needs.
Los Angeles Handmade Bicycle Show Aug. 8, 2018
All Plante Cycles frames are of a fillet brazed or lugged construction, built with Columbus or Nova cycles tubesets or a blend of tubes to suit the design and the intended use of the bicycle. Predominantly using Paragon machine works dropouts, braze-ons and headtubes. Frames are designed around the wants and needs of the customer weather it is for road, off-road, or mix surfaces.
I choose to build fillet and lugged bikes because it is the traditional techniques used to build bikes. I can add a modern twist with details, ornate features, and smooth transitions not found on tig welded frames.
What is brazing?
Brazing uses a filler metal of brass or silver to join the metal tubes. In brazing the filler metal has a melting temperature lower than the frame material and the filler melts to connect the tubes. Lugged frames are built the same way but the tubes are brazed inside a sleeve called a lug. Lugs are beautiful and can have ornate designs that add a classic look. Most frames built pre 1990’s were all lugged construction, but now frames have a modern twist with sloping top
tubes and modern components such as disc brakes and
electronic shifting.