What did you do during the Covid shutdown of 2020? For Ben Jurgensen, then a 33 year-old sculpture studio teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design, the conditions were suddenly right to set out on the path of bicycle frame building, “my sourdough,” as he describes it.
Ben set himself the problem of finding the most efficient way that he could make a carbon fiber bicycle. His solution included designing and building a suite of custom fabrication tools that include a large-format 3D printer long enough for main tube mandrels, a 3-axis CNC filament winder, and a composites-specific frame fixture.
Making your own tools is not unheard of among carbon fiber frame builders, but it is unusual. In Ben’s case startup capital was a factor. With limited finances available, he used open source designs and other documentation to make his tools, and in the spirit of growth-through-sharing he now intends to make an open source instruction set for others who have the gumption to make their own tools.
Making things has been the focal point of Ben’s education since his middle school years, when he was constructing a range of three-dimensional objects from clay or papier mâché. Next came wood and metal working, using casting and digital processes. “I didn’t work in one medium, I’ve always been trying to find the material that matches the idea. That’s what happened with bikes,” he said.
Cycling had been part of his life, mostly on an old Gios V107, so it’s hardly a stretch to imagine somebody with his background thinking of making parts, and even a full bike frame. His knowledge of materials and fabrication suggested carbon fiber as the medium with the shortest route to a finished product.
First he made carbon fiber shoes, then a saddle, and then in 2021 he made his first complete bike, based approximately on the geometry of his V107.
By early 2024 Ben had made 14 frames, but he’s not selling them yet. “They’re going to be expensive, and so I want to make sure everything is as good as it can be: the ride quality and craftsmanship,” he says.
So far his clients, which could be seen as either beneficiaries or guinea pigs, are friends and family. Although Ben says he’s had no formal frame building instruction, he gives Matt Appleman as his biggest influence in frame design, and he’s also sought some advice from Brian Chapman, who lives not too far away in Cranston. That’s a high quality education. Appleman, for his part, is impressed by Ben, saying “He has a lot of knowledge, he’s a hell of a fabricator.”
Quite where Ben will go with July Bicycles is unclear here in early 2024, beyond making and selling carbon fiber bikes. This talented newcomer brings with him some interesting ideas for the marketing mix. His present thinking is to make enough traditional custom bikes to fund experimental research in bike-related art or sculpture and to offer short-run editions, like an artist would sell an edition with limited number. “I’d build a full bike as a conceptual motivation, if somebody is interested they could purchase it in their size,” he says.
At PBE24 Ben shared a booth with Matt Appleman. Ben fitted Appleman’s 2XR cranks on his bike, and on Matt’s gravel bike he fabricated a chainstay yoke that Matt designed.
It’s an unusual story about an unusual frame builder. For a largely self-taught builder with only 14 frames completed, his bikes very much look the part. The fact that Matt Appleman is willing to share a booth with him and trusted him to fabricate a chainstay yoke is in itself a considerable recommendation about his skill as a fabricator. One gets the feeling that, should the winds blow fair, July Bicycles could become a highly regarded name in the cycling world. The dark days of Covid were terrible for many, but every cloud has a silver lining.