Scharen Cycles

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Ashland, OR
Scharen Cycles

Please see on Instagram for more regular updates. I build steel bike frames and forks right here in Ashland, OR.

Mountain, road, urban, adventure... you tell me what you're looking for. Stock sizing or full custom options are available.

05/29/2025

Niko’s bike is done!
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I’m so proud of this kid. He wanted to build a bike frame for his 8th grade capstone project and I agreed to mentor him through the process. He was eager to learn and persevered - around 60 hours from design to final assembly. He wanted to be a part of the entire process: learning about design considerations, materials, fabrication, safety, component integration, etc. Yesterday we bled the brakes and did some final drivetrain adjustments before he got to take his first ride. Just in time for his capstone presentation today! Whew!
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The bike is a bit big for him in anticipation of some growth over the next few years. Hope you can enjoy the bike for a long time, Niko - and congrats!
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(The bmx saddle is a placeholder, btw)

05/15/2025

Dave sent this pic a couple of weeks ago from an early ride on his new bike. He loves it already, which is so gratifying to hear as a builder. This bike will get a regular diet of Shasta Valley gravel. There are smiles for miles down there, especially when the weather is like this. Here’s to many more rides, Dave!

04/07/2025

Dave’s Cinder
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Wrapping up the finish work on this frame set for a tall fella. This one uses all the head tube has to offer without going custom: 280mm! It was a lovely day, so I was outside to ream/chase/face and decided to take a couple pics. Dave rides a lot and is currently on a bike that is not a great fit, so I’m trying to get his new bike to him asap. Spring riding season is upon us here in the state of Jefferson.

This is a new style of fork for me: sort of a box/segmented hybrid using 1 x 1 3/4” tubing and a tapered steerer. I wanted a bomber fork while still getting the dainty lines of the tapered fork legs. I think it will do.

02/18/2025

The smile says it all
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Niko is holding a fully tacked frame that he has built almost entirely himself under my supervision - and all by hand. Getting to this point is so satisfying because you finally see the frame take shape after all the hours effort in design and prep. He has gotten familiar with the hacksaw and half-round file, that’s for sure! There’s more work to be done here before powder coating, but expect some pics of the finished project here eventually.
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Teaching is so rewarding. I’ve had many trombone students over the years (music is my first profession, for those who may not know) but this is the first time I’ve taught someone to build a frame. It really reinforces or makes you question the reasons you do certain things, or how you do them.
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#4130

11/06/2024

My protégé at work
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A local eighth grader approached me about building a frame for his capstone project. I agreed, as I was impressed by his interest and enthusiasm for taking on such an ambitious project! I love teaching as a way to give back to my community and enrich the lives of young people: encouraging skills, interests, and habits that will help them be better adults.
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We spent a few hours designing a gravel bike, talking tools and materials, and have started brazing practice. I’m sure he’s going to build a sweet bike!
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By the way, I’m big on ppe. Brazing outside is inherently safer on the lungs, but I don’t like to take extra risk. You get one set of lungs and I believe in protecting yourself. There’s soot from the torch and all kinds of things in the flux and residues on the tubing that get vaporized - even the filler metal can vaporize if you overheat it. Wear your masks, kids. Let’s make ppe cool again.
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05/12/2024

Flywheel honey badger in the books
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I’m not in the kind of shape I’d brag about right now, so that was a hard ride - but worth it. Gorgeous scenery, no traffic, great back roads. When your gravel ride has ~5,000 ft of climbing, there will be some fun descending. My buddy Dan was equally destroyed afterwards. Looking forward to rides that stay sub-10% grade. This ride has some extended punchy bits up to 16.5%. But I’d do it again. Thanks for organizing the ride, creating the routes, and making sure they are clear. (Posting Strava metrics because they are more flattering than Ride w gps 😉)

05/08/2024

First ride!
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Ben stopped by on his way to ride the new DG for the first time. Had to snap a couple pics before the bike sees a spec of dirt. Ben built the bike up with some sweet parts. Love the bronze theme, especially the stem. Wishing you many smiles on this rad bike, Ben!
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04/21/2024

New frame day for Ben!
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decided to pick up the DG frame that has been hanging on display at and I am stoked for him. Very much looking forward to seeing the bike built up and going on some rides! This bike will be ridden a lot and ridden hard. Good luck keeping up - Ben is fast… look for the red blur.
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08/20/2023

Steve’s first look at the DG
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had one of my hardtails for review and the first look video is live now. He has a lot of great things to say already - can’t wait for the ride review!
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If you are not familiar with the Hardtail Party YouTube channel, get over there! Steve has put a ton of energy into honest bike and product reviews. He was recently diagnosed with a serious condition that will make it much harder to do this work so he really could use your support. Like, subscribe, and - if you can afford it - join his patreon community. He can use all the support we can muster. Thank you!
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11/18/2022

For Sale
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It’s almost time to pay my insurance premium for the year and it’s past time for someone to be riding this rad bike! Complete bike as pictured: $3,000. A bargain as regular price would be about $5,500. Ideal fit would be for a rider 5’ 7 to 5’ 9. Swipe for geo; read on for deets. Available to see and test ride at
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This is the original prototype Scharen Cinder, reviewed by Russ and awarded his coveted double laurels for most supple bike of 2021. The geo is spot on for confident handling at speed on a multitude of surfaces. The only thing I have changed in subsequent versions is the cable/hose routing. Bottom line: this bike is dang fun!
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Shimano GRX 1x11, 40T chainring, 11-46T XT cassette, Easton EA90 (I think) wheels, Fox dropper, Salsa cowchipper bars. Bike and parts are lightly used but in excellent shape.
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Questions? Comment or DM
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11/14/2022

Mid-blade mount mod Monday
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This was a fun little fixturing exercise. I have this cool 80s Trek in the shop just to add mid-blade mounts to the fork. Got everything secured for brazing without needing to remove the fork from the frame, which made me happy. Flux is soaking off now before I hit it with a little paint and install the Surly front rack. Fun!
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11/03/2022

Same bike, new fork
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My prototype gravel fork is finally built, installed, and being ride tested. So far I like it!
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I know I built the fork weeks ago and it’s taken me forever to get to the brake mount. I wanted to use the new flat mount front 160/180 standard but I don’t have the tool and went with the original 140/160 mount placement. I don’t like it, especially not for tab style dropouts. I’m not sure I like flat mount brakes, but that’s not the point; I want to make a fork to match my Cinder frame, which uses flat mount brakes - end of story. The front mount is just so close to the axle it makes life difficult and doesn’t look great. If I could get far enough away from the axle to drill into the hollow fork blade I could bring the top mount much closer in, for the FLAT mounting that is implied by the name. Drilling into solid dropout tab was not really what I wanted. That’s a long way of saying “look for refinement in the next iteration!”
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Nitpicking aside, I am happy with the lines and am looking forward to putting some miles on this fork! Thanks again to for the help turning my idea for a crown into a design and then a complete part in very little time!
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#4130

Address

Ashland, OR
97520

Telephone

+15417083852

Website

http://www.scharencycles.com/

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