It’s never been easy to make it as an independent framebuilder, and it’s only getting harder. Chris Blandford knows the struggle well, and might well be doing more than anyone else currently to support small US builders, from founding Firsthand Framebuilding to resurrecting Paragon Machine Works, and more. He’s here to tell us all about it.Note: We Want to Hear From You!Please share with us the questions, topics, or stories you’d like us to cover on Bikes & Big Ideas. You can email us at: [email protected] LINKS:Blister Mountain Bike Buyer’s GuideBLISTER Digital Access PassTOPICS & TIMES:Introducing Chris

The Portland, OR framebuilding scene

Chris’ introduction to framebuilding

Founding Firsthand & the Firsthand vision

Framebuilding classes

Acquiring Paragon Machine Works

What’s next?