For the past five years I've been riding a Trek District belt-drive bicycle as my primary mode of transportation around Chicago. An unfortunate frame failure last January took the Trek out of commission and put my Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT) in the position of being my main bike. While I loved the LHT for carrying heavy loads home from the grocery store (and riding to Canada), I really missed the simplicity of having a belt-drive single-speed to get around Chicago.

After finishing my MBA at Depaul, I was suddenly faced with having some free time and started investigating the possibility of taking one final 'masters' class -- but this time in framebuilding. Having recently written a business plan for Chicago-based bicycle manufacturing, I was keenly aware of the established builders, and sought out Levi Borreson of Legacy Frameworks to see if he'd be available to share his tools and expertise so I could build the ultimate urban commuter from the ground up.

A couple of email exchanges later I was sitting across from Levi at a table in the Chicago Sustainable Manufacture Center (Bubbly Dynamics), located in the Bridgeport neighborhood. I came to the initial meeting with a rough concept for the bicycle I wanted, complete with geometry, and Levi helped me with the process of transferring that idea into reality.

Seeing that I was coming into the build process with minimal prior metalworking experience, a lugged steel frameset seemed to be the perfect base for the ultimate commuter bicycle. After discussing the merits of the various tube sizes, dropout options and project goals, we choose a set of Columbus Life double-oversize tubes and a Llewellyn lug set from Nova Cycles Supply to be paired with Rocker dropouts from Paragon Machine Works.

With the geometry decided and materials selected, we transferred the rough design into BikeCAD to make any final adjustments and accommodations. The BikeCAD design would ultimately serve as the blueprint for the build portion of the project.