American Makers Series Part 1: Paragon Machine Works and Their SRAM UDH Dropouts – Erik Mathy | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Motivated by the renewed interest in American manufacturing following the COVID pandemic, Erik Mathy shares part one in a new series where he will document how American makers of fine bicycle parts make a single part from the very start to the finish. At each stage he will ask the person doing the work two questions and take two portraits: One of the part and one of the worker. In his own words, this is a project to “explore both the processes and the people who make some of the most interesting, purpose-driven and—in their own way beautiful—bicycle parts in the world.” Read on for his first installment with a visit to Paragon Machine Works and an in-depth look at how they are making their new SRAM Universal Derailleur Hangar dropout.

American manufacturing’s heyday was, arguably, 1979. From 1939 to 1979 the overall trend in American manufacturing jobs was one of steady growth and prosperity. On the eve of the 80s, manufacturing directly accounted for 19.6 million jobs, which was 22% of the working population, more than any time before or since. Those jobs saw a steady decline all the way through to 2010 down to 11.5 million jobs. This happened for a variety of reasons. Factory automation. The globalization of the economy. Younger generations having less interest in blue collar work and instead steadily moving towards better paying white collar desk jobs.

Then something completely unforeseen happened: The global COVID pandemic. While some people may have had that on their Bingo cards, the vast majority of the world did not see such a devastating interruption coming. Just as surprising was the massive boom in cycling that the pandemic created. I feel confident in saying that NOBODY had that on their Bingo card! That boom put an incredible amount of pressure on local bicycle shops for new bikes as well as parts for service and repair that they struggled to fulfill. Why? Because the bicycle industry is highly globalized. The vast majority of bicycles, bicycle components and accessories are made by way of supply chains that are spread all over the world.

The funny thing about the pandemic is that it not only stopped most manufacturing, but it also greatly complicated the shipping of already-made goods between countries. As bike shops frantically tried to get their hands on literally anything they could, the manufacturers and distributors were just as frantically trying to ship their goods. The key word being “trying.” And so there was what economists term a fabled Double Whammy:

An unheard of increase in demand for all things bike which exceeded supply.
A never before seen pandemic that brought global shipping to a standstill.

The end result, besides long waits at nearly empty bike shops around the world, was a renewed conversation about where things are made. People were asking why things weren’t manufactured more locally, thus skipping the whole “shipping it over the ocean” predicament? These questions were being asked by people around the world, cyclist and non-cyclist alike.

As of 2020-21 Asia dominated the bicycle manufacturing market. 54.5% of all bicycles are made in Asian countries, for a total of $7.516 billion dollars of trade value. China alone accounted for 40.8% of the world total, which was worth $5.2 billion dollars. America? Ranked 18th with $116 million dollars of bicycle exports. But a bicycle is nothing without its parts. Those, too, are primarily made in Asia. Shimano has factories in Kunshan (China), Malaysia and Singapore while SRAM makes their parts in Taiwan.

And then a third shocking thing came about: In America, at least, manufacturing jobs suddenly increased. 467,000 new manufacturing jobs were added in 2022, taking it to a level higher than it had been in 14 years. There are reasons for that: An increased demand in American-made renewable energy equipment and China’s zero covid policy chief among them. But, still, for the first time in decades there was some small amount of hope for American manufacturing.

Against this landscape, while photographing the “Meet Your Maker” event in Napa, CA, I met David Taylor. David is a machinist at Paragon Machine Works. After interviewing him for that story I got to thinking about the small but highly influential American bicycle parts manufacturers: Paragon. White Industries. Phil Wood. Paul Components. Chris King. ENVE. Enduro Bearings. King Cage. Rolf Prima. How did they view their place in this world? And with a renewed interest in local manufacturing, what did they hope would happen going forward?

Series #1. Paragon Machine Works

Paragon dropouts. It’s hard to find a custom or small batch production bike builder whose marketing material doesn’t include those words. I’ve been seeing them for decades now without realizing that Paragon Machine Works (Paragon) is, almost literally, in my backyard in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. Paragon was founded in 1983 in Marin, California in the basement of Mark Norstad’s parent’s house. He’d long been into bicycles and got a degree in Machine Metals Technology from the College of Marin. Local frame builders started asking him to make custom parts for their framesets, and for a while he manufactured parts for Trailmaster Bikes. So he bought some machines, went independent and got to work.

Forty years later Mark, his wife, son and nine employees work in an 8,000 square foot machine shop in Richmond, California. They produce hundreds of different small bicycle parts in aluminum, steel and titanium for bicycle framebuilders around the world. For this story I followed the process of making a set of titanium SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) dropouts. The UDH is a new standard that was released in the Spring of 2023. This would be Paragon’s very first run of their new UDH design with a goal of having them available for frame builders to use in time for the 2023 MADE show. As a result every single step of the manufacturing process was much slower than usual. Mark and his staff were creating new programs, new tooling, checking the CNC steps for accuracy, pausing, measuring, pausing and measuring again. It was a meticulous, methodical and very carefully executed process that was incredible to be able to watch as it unfolded.

It all started not with a giant block of titanium, but with designer/machinist Luis Lopez, his CAD software and a 3D printer…

Luis Lopez, Designer, Machinist

Since 1979 the manufacturing landscape in America has changed massively and rapidly. Not just in terms of technology, but also with globalization and less interest in blue collar careers. The bicycling industry at large reflects this trend, with the vast majority of bicycles and parts made in the APAC region.

Reflecting on that, how do you feel about continuing to work in small parts manufacturing and in the bicycle industry in particular?

LL: I think it’s a great opportunity, being able to do this kind of stuff, considering all the things that you mentioned earlier, how manufacturing in general is moving to other places. I think it’s a really cool opportunity to be able to still do it here and make our own designs and our own parts.

It’s a great feeling, for sure.

Going forward, what do you hope will happen for small manufacturers, and especially for bicycle small parts manufacturers in America? What do you want to have happen?

LL: I would like to see more places like ourselves and the other shops around here offering more products for consumers and that kind of thing. Just like the concept of what we have here, but throughout many, many regions.

I’m sure there’s a lot of people who have great ideas, and they perhaps don’t have the resources or the knowledge. So have a bunch of small manufacturers around to help people make new things, basically.

Mark Norstad, Founder, Paragon Machine Works

Reflecting on that, how do you feel about continuing to work in small parts manufacturing and in the bicycle industry in particular?

MN: I really enjoy it. It’s a really dynamic market because things are changing rapidly. And just as the telephones change from a wall phone to a cell phone, bikes have undergone the same change. Technology is affecting everything we do.

Bicycles, over the 40 years I’ve been doing this, have gone through rapid evolution. They’re so much better than they used to be. It is really fun to address those changes and try to come up with a solution for the small builders.

SRAM and Shimano don’t necessarily really care about small builders. A lot of parts they design are for mass manufacturing. Our job is to interpret their designs and come up with something that we can manufacture effectively and economically that works for the small builders.

Going forward, what do you hope will happen for small manufacturers, and especially for bicycle small parts manufacturers in America? What do you want to have happen?

MN: What do I want to happen? Well, for this to continue, for my own selfish reasons. But, I mean, for more people to get in the game, I think it is great. More innovation, more imagination.

I did this alone for so long just because no one else wanted to do it. Now we’re seeing competition. And on the one hand, okay, I’m getting a little slice of my pie taken away. But on the other hand, some of these guys are really innovative and coming up with some cool stuff.

I like seeing that as well. So as it changes, we are enjoying the ride.

David Taylor, Machinist

Reflecting on that, how do you feel about continuing to work in small parts manufacturing and in the bicycle industry in particular?

DT: I feel fortunate, personally, because I’ve always been into bikes since I was a kid, many of us were.

You know, when I was a kid, they were dumpster bikes. They weren’t anything like what I ride today, but I fell into machining as a teenager by way of luck. I just was good at it, so I kept doing it, and it’s been working great. But I’ve worked at a lot of different types of machine shops, and I’ve worked in bike shops at some points over the years, too. Eventually finding a place that does both is pretty incredible.

I feel fortunate, for sure. It’s a really unique place.

There’s some other competition in the US, many of whom are bike builders making their own parts. That makes a lot of sense, because they’re metal workers and artisans themselves. Most of the time our competition for bicycle frame-building components are overseas manufacturers, and that’s competition that we basically just can’t touch.

We can’t compete with a $10 pair of cast dropouts.

I think there’s a really strong place for what we do, and we try to do it well. There’s continued demand, and I feel fortunate to get to do this.

Going forward, what do you hope will happen for small manufacturers, and especially for bicycle small parts manufacturers in America? What do you want to have happen?

DT: I think the biggest thing that I would want to have happen is that custom frames and American-made bicycle parts, and domestic-made anything, could be more accessible to the common person in the US.

I take a lot of pride in what we do, but at the same time, even I have a hard time affording the things that I make. This is a fairly common trope in most manufacturing. It’s not that I don’t make good money. I don’t make tech money, nowhere near it, but I make a living wage. We do good, but I’ve drooled over White Industry cranks for years.

I totally respect and 100% understand why they’re priced where they are, and they’re worth it. It’s really hard for me to save my discretionary funds long enough for me to justify getting a set. It’s hard for me to spend four times for a set of Shimano cranks that are, arguably, equivalent.

Not equivalent in every way, don’t get me wrong, but even with custom bikes you’ll see Shimano cranks. It’s like, I would love to have a custom-built frame, and I’m planning to, but I literally have a five-year plan. It’s going to be a birthday present to myself five years from now after I’ve saved for five years.

That’s what I would really love to see. I don’t know how we would get there, because frame builders deserve a living wage too, and they already aren’t getting it, let’s be real.

What really are the issues here? There’s a lot of corporate greed. I think a lot of deep-rooted systemic, socioeconomic things would have to change. I mean, even my industry in general, on its ground level, it’s upheld by dentists and tech workers who can afford custom bikes, and there’s problematic things with that too.

I don’t know how we could get there. But yeah, if I could be as dreamy as possible, I would like to see domestic manufacturing be more accessible and custom bikes be more accessible.

Karthik Pitarro, Machine Shop Assistant

Reflecting on that, how do you feel about continuing to work in small parts manufacturing and in the bicycle industry in particular?

KP: I made this change pretty recently and I’m extremely happy about it. It makes me really excited to do this. I’ve worked in bike shops, like, my whole life. I’ve ridden bikes my whole life. To see that kind of change from when I was younger, having a lot of USA made BMX bikes and stuff, and then transitioning to being made out of the country has been pretty crazy.

Being able to work at a machine shop that is so heavily in the bike industry and does a lot for cycling in the US is really cool. It makes me really excited to be here.

Going forward, what do you hope will happen for small manufacturers, and especially for bicycle small parts manufacturers in America? What do you want to have happen?

KP: Hopefully there’s not only the frame builders who’ve been around forever, they keep flourishing and hopefully buying Paragon parts, but more frame builders keep coming up and coming out of maybe either working in the cycling industry or being bike riders or whatever, buying USA made parts and using those to make their bikes.

And it’s no knock to anyone else. There’s amazing companies out there who don’t use USA made parts, but I love the companies that do.

I think it’s cool that there’s mutual support. I really hope that people in the cycling industry and people in general, not just in cycling, can see that the stuff that we do here is not easy and we do it because we love it. And cycling is amazing.

We want to keep people riding bikes and we want to keep the frame builders making frames and the stuff we make in the US is tight.

And, you know, maybe next time they purchase a bike, they’ll be like, “Man, do I have the money to go US made? Can I have someone make it for me?”

I hope that more frame builders come out of this. I hope more people willing to do domestically made stuff come out of this. I hope this continues on for a long time. I want to stay here for a long time. And I hope the cycling industry can see that as well, that we need to bring some manufacturing stuff back here. That would be really cool.

For Paragon’s step by step process for making their UDH-compatible dropouts, head over to the gallery at the top of the page!