Formalities and an introduction.

When the idea came to my mind about this website, I thought it might start out as just a cyclist and bicycle enthusiast expressing his style and ideas to his readers through various types of bikes.

I love building bicycles.  I’ve always thought half of the fun was in deciding what type of bike you’re after and what you are going to use it for.  After you’ve decided those two factors, the components and accessories you choose for your bike, just seem to follow.

A little bit more about myself:  I’ve always celebrated the sole idea of getting more people to ride bicycles.  I studied environmental economics and regional city planning.  I worked with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition doing bicycle advocacy specifically by raising awareness in motorists of cyclists in SF.  I’ve always wrenched on my own bikes and I was a mechanic at a shop in San Francisco for a little while, but I found working on bikes always as more of a passionate hobby that should be not be mixed with work.

Like everyone else, my ideas and bikes have imperfections to them.  I strive to build a bike that is precisely pictured in my mind in shape and function, but I am also still learning. I got into the cycling primarily from road cycling with a late 90’s Cannondale with Shimano 105 components.  During my college years, I spent a lot of time getting to know the fixed-gear community around me just by talking to people at school, going to various bike shops and through friends.  The minimalistic approach to track bikes appealed (and still do) to me a lot and the idea of a pure form of energy transfer from moving forward to braking solely all from your legs seemed so simple and practical.

Lately, I’ve gotten back into the geared mode.  Not only gears, but practical bikes.  Comfortable bikes you can ride though various terrains on, racks and baggage to carry things with instead of using a bag on your back, lights and tires for the winter and fenders for the wet weather.

In my blog, I will feature what I am currently working on (or what I have worked on in the recent past).  I will update you on bike-related events I (or my friends) are holding. I will give product reviews of products I have self-tested and I will also provide the service of building you a bike.  I want to remind you that I don’t know everything there is to know about various types of bikes, but I come with an open-mind and I am always willing to help and to learn new things with you.  If you see something you like on this website, feel free to email me about it or leave me a comment and I will get back to you promptly.  If you see something here you like and really want a specific type of bike and do not know where to begin, I will also offer the service of building you a bike [just let me know what type of bike (make/model/year/do you have component groupset in mind?/etc.)]

Welcome to werkhorse bikes and my name is William Hsu.