After completing my third year of college, I was ready to step away from the textbooks to experiment with something more hands-on. Having spent the first half of my childhood living in Santa Cruz, mountain biking was always a big part of our community and I thought about building my own frame for years. I learned countless skills during the process and it made a huge contribution to my education. This isn’t a step by step guide, but more of a summary of my experience and lessons that I learned along the way.

Working in academia can be difficult. After multiple proposals and applications by the spring of 2019, I had obtained the University’s backing to complete the frame as part of an Independent Study course. I was granted access to a lab’s equipment and worked with Craig Severson, the lab coordinator and now good friend, who was always a great source of help and knowledge.

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