Master Builder Richard Sachs' Handcrafted Bicycles

At a time when many high-end bicycles are made from materials worthy of a Pentagon wish list, Richard Sachs builds his frames the old-fashioned way. At his Chester, Conn., shop, Sachs silver brazes chromemoly steel tubes into ornate cast lugs, in the classic style of the frames made in Europe a half-century ago. For Sachs, it’s not a retro thing--steel possesses a suppleness that gives his updated classics a smooth, distinctive ride. Add in Sachs’s uncanny ability to fit the frame to the rider in size, geometry and flex, and the result is a bicycle considered by many to be the best in the world. The soul of each Richard Sachs frame is a series of perfectly brazed joints. Here’s how he does it.