Interesting article in the Chronicle on local (bicycle) frame builders, including one in our very own backyard.
Bernie Mikkelsen, of Mikkelsen Frames in Alameda, has been building bikes for 34 years. He got his start as a child, putting bikes together from found bike parts. His father, an engineer, converted the basement of the family home in Berkeley into a workshop where his son could learn the intricacies of bike engineering. At his peak, Mikkelsen built four or five custom steel bikes a month and did repairs “at a hundred miles a minute,” said his wife, Melodie Beylick, a glass artist whose work sits on shelves in the bike frame workshop.
Even more fascinating is Bernie’s near recovery from a stroke — perhaps as a consequence of being allowed to work in his bike shop on weekends.
