Richard Sachs Cycles

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-sachs on a blanket on a warm afternoon.All This By Hand
06/05/2026

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sachs on a blanket on a warm afternoon.
All This By Hand


-frame materials for the cognoscenti, the haute, and the unrelenting.All This By Hand
06/04/2026

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frame materials for the cognoscenti, the haute, and the unrelenting.
All This By Hand

-haute framebuildingAll This By Hand
06/03/2026

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haute framebuilding
All This By Hand

-“My story in a way is about throwing something really light up into the air and just letting the wind blow it and befor...
06/02/2026

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“My story in a way is about throwing something really light up into the air and just letting the wind blow it and before you know it, 35 years pass and this really light thing has been blown all the way around and back again many, many, many times and because it’s so light it hasn’t really landed.” These words are mine and from Desmond Horsfield’s 2007 film, Imperfection is Perfection. The landscape hasn’t really changed much.
I continue to find ephemera long ago left in drawers, on closet shelves, and in boxes stored in the loft. There are also some gems right under my nose. The one constant in my trove is the complete randomness with which all the parts comprise a whole. I don’t know why I saved so much, but each time I touch something that’s been put away for a while, it becomes that moment again. It’s a rich feeling, and it centers me.
The memories and mementos I’ve stumbled across have given me time to reflect on the many experiences and different periods of my life. It’s been an exercise choosing one, waiting until late evening, looking at it through a present day lens, and writing about it. Tonight, finally, the words don’t come. They just don’t come. The facial hair period; what the f**k was I thinking, huh?
All This By Hand

-he’s a rebel ‘cause he never ever does what he should.All This By HandJeff Ferraro📸
06/01/2026

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he’s a rebel ‘cause he never ever does what he should.
All This By Hand
Jeff Ferraro📸

-I’m giving down. That’s a term I use when I change my mind. It happens rarely. But when it does, I own it.The Richie-Is...
05/31/2026

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I’m giving down. That’s a term I use when I change my mind. It happens rarely. But when it does, I own it.
The Richie-Issimo 2.0 fork topper was conceived in 2009. It became a reality some time in 2013. I loved it.
After a season or three the bloom was off the rose. Was I reaching? Too many competing design elements?
I shelved the part. Picked up the pieces. Went back to using the 1.0. Until a month ago. Then I had a rethink.
I gave up on the 2.0. I never knew why. The shapes called to me one night. We talked it out. We’re a thing again.
All This By Hand

-Several Presidential administrations ago when I was an 18 year old in Southeast London working at Witcomb Lightweight C...
05/30/2026

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Several Presidential administrations ago when I was an 18 year old in Southeast London working at Witcomb Lightweight Cycles, one of the first hands-on tasks I was shown, and allowed to do, was lug preparation for the staff framebuiders. Profiling a lug was the term used to describe taking an as-delivered part and squaring up the edges using a 6” half-round file. The desired result was that the wall would then be 90 degrees to the pipe and allow for a crisp shoulder. Lugs came in many lengths, shapes, and designs. And all of them needed a maker’s hand to improve their lot in life.
For so many years, I continued on with what I was shown. Then in the early 1980s, a switch was flicked in what would later become the RS Mind Palace. If making the edge a pure right angle to the pipe was the goal, it left little to no margin of error for the consistency of the filler material used in the joining process. Complete pe*******on of a lapped joint is always paramount, but one wants the work to also look good. Sloppy or heavy brazing, cleaned up using any means, is dirt floor and taboo. By then, I’d been at the bench for a decade and still never used or owned rifflers or needle files.
It occurred to me that 90 degrees was the wrong number. From that point forward I began beveling the lug edges inboard by maybe half of the right angle. The complete shoreline is cut so that the lug edge veers inward. Careful brazing is one’s best safety net against bad joints well as a bad looking one. But according to my opinion, angled-in walls assist in keeping filler material buildup to a minimum.
All This By Hand

-There is no better. There is just is. It’s taken me a life at the bench to believe this. I’ve denied it. Wondered about...
05/29/2026

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There is no better. There is just is. It’s taken me a life at the bench to believe this. I’ve denied it. Wondered about it. Dissected it. Challenged it. Adhered to it. Buried myself inside of it. I make the bicycle. Then set it free. It becomes what someone else believes. The next in line makes it better. Or doesn’t. But not me.
What makes a bicycle better. Roll faster. Fit superbly. Inspire confidence. Lean them all against the wall and they’re the same bicycle. Add a rider and - the question ceases to matter. Or you may get an answer. It’s no longer mine. It’s yours. What do you believe in. What do you want from the ride.
I look at every detail. And within each lives smaller ones. Spend decades looking, and see further around each turn. No matter how many tries I take, I’ll bring more depth to the next one. I take a swing at the material. And try to erase everything that came before. While also respecting it. And including it.
I stand with a pile of metal. Every time I do this is a beginning. A chance to relive the years. And all that’s come before this very day. Will this one be better. Will the next one be better. I stare at the tools. They are part of me. I hold the steel. And ask it to help me. I think about everything I’ve ever done. And then I let go. And then start over.
All This By Hand

-There’s a balancing act of chaos when I stand at the bench to make a bicycle frame. The part I love the most is the par...
05/28/2026

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There’s a balancing act of chaos when I stand at the bench to make a bicycle frame. The part I love the most is the part after the very beginning. When the pipes are mitered and I’m sure all the interference fits meet a standard. That’s when the torch is lit for the first time. Little pieces of metal balancing on round tubes. Each has a function and an exact place to be. The tactile senses are heightened when the smell of an oxyacetylene flame dances on a pile of surrendering paste flux. But when the business end of the brazing rod I’m holding begins its travel under and ever-so-slightly around every joint - that’s when I become overloaded. The scent of heat and the mastery necessary to shepherd molten filler into places only I command it to go. Nothing after this is better.
All This By Hand

-there’s an order to each taskand nothing is overlooked because even if you don’t know the frame does All This By Hand
05/27/2026

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there’s an order to each task
and nothing is overlooked
because even if you don’t know
the frame does
All This By Hand

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