My guest this week is someone that you likely haven’t heard of before. His name is Ryan Johnson, but his resume is arguably one of the most interesting I’ve come across in the bike industry. For anyone who wants to know how the bike industry works, Johnson is someone who has seen almost every nook and cranny of the bike industry, save maybe finance.
From working on bikes to writing marketing copy to packing up a factory and moving it nearly 2000 miles, to building frames out of steel and carbon fiber, Johnson’s experience is deep and varied. His curiosity brings a rich texture to this interview that makes it especially fascinating. And as a Southerner, he knows how to tell a good story.
The reason I wanted to talk to him, though, wasn’t his resume. He has begun building frames commercially and I thought it would be interesting to interview a frame builder at the beginning of his career, especially given that he knows the bike industry in a way I suspect no other working frame builder does.
I find Johnson to be an especially compelling subject for an interview because his wealth of experience outside of frame building is precisely what has helped him to build frames that have a level of consideration and polish I’d expect to find in builders with considerably more experience. Put another way, the guy builds like he’s been doing it for 20 years.
So even though you don’t know his name and probably haven’t heard of Galaxy Gearworks before, this is a conversation worth listening to. And while this one runs long, it’s worth it.
Podcast (thepull): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:47 — 90.4MB)
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The Pull is brought to you by the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, the world’s premiere gathering of frame builders and frame building enthusiasts. The 2020 show will take place March 20th to 22nd at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas Texas. We hope to see you there.
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