FIC Course - Foundational Introductory Course in Bicycle Design and Manufacturing

FIC Course - Foundational Introductory Course in Bicycle Design and Manufacturing.

Curious about building bikes but not ready to dive all the way in?
Not sure if you want to commit to that kind of expense or have the time to spend one week in Madrid?

The FIC Course is your perfect first step. In just one Saturday — 8 hours, a mix of theory and hands-on technical fun — you’ll get a taste of both bicycle design and brazing. We’ve taken the highlights from our 4-hour design intro and our legendary 8-hour brazing course and squeezed them into one exciting day. Come get your hands dirty and see what it’s all about!

Over the last decade, we’ve met plenty of people who are curious about bike building but hesitant to commit time and money to something they’re not sure they’ll enjoy. That’s exactly why we created the FIC Course — a no-pressure, hands-on introduction to the core principles and basic techniques of bicycle design and manufacturing. It’s the perfect place to start, and if you catch the bug, you can always take it further with our DCB-I or DCB-II courses.

Before the course, you’ll receive the first two chapters of our book so you can start getting acquainted with the fundamentals of bicycle geometry and biomechanics — the core of good bicycle design.

What happens if you love the course (as we expect) and decide to keep going?

If you’re into bikes and enjoy working with your hands, it would be surprising if, after the FIC Course, you don’t feel the urge to design and build a complete bike for yourself. Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered! You can enroll in the DCB-I or DCB-II courses afterward with a 10% discount.

Syllabus
Theory (4–5h)

• Introduction: Design and Production Types — Custom, Semi-Custom, and Serial Bikes. Customer relationship. The original idea. Bicycle function and form. Customer preferences, dimensions, and fitness.

• Ergonomy and Position According to Use. The three contact points of the cyclist. Bike fitting. Different types of bicycles. How the type of use defines the geometry and the cyclist’s position on the bike.

• BikeCad Pro: A working and learning tool. Bicycle design and basic parameters. Data gathering and design execution on BikeCad.

• Bicycle Manoeuvrability: The most relevant parameters defining bike handling. Different types of use and geometries.

• Bike Frame Materials: Steel, aluminium, and carbon fibres. Mechanical properties and the pros and cons of each material.

• The Bicycle Frame as a Dynamic Structure: Most relevant structural properties of bicycle frames.

• Frame-Building Techniques: Lugs, fillet brazing, TIG welding, and carbon fiber.

• TIG vs Brazing

• Safety: ISO tests for bicycle frames; impact and material fatigue testing.

• Workshop Basics and Layout: Different types of workshops. Machine- vs. hand-based frame construction.

• The Physical and Chemical Nature of Steel Brazing with Dissimilar Materials.

• Differences and Types of Use for Filler Materials like Brass, Silver Brass, and Nickel-Zinc.

• Characterisation of Different Filler Materials According to Their Properties.

• Evaluation and Analysis of the Most Relevant Factors Determining Brazing Quality.

• Understanding and Executing Different Metal Joints.

Practice (3–4h)

• The oxyacetylene setup: gas bottles, flashback arrestors, hoses, connections, and fluxer.

• Safety and how to work with a torch.

• Basic brazing exercises.

• Joint brazing: fillet brazing.

• Capillary brazing.

This is a special course, so if you want to explore something else or dive deeper into a particular aspect, we’re totally up for it. With a maximum of 6 students, we’ll shape the experience to make it a great intro to bicycle design and manufacturing — and a fun, special day.

Teachers

Staff

Andrés Arregui

Head of Design and Frame-building Area

Alexey Alexandrov

Teacher. Design and Frame-building Area