Meet Your Maker

I was a late bloomer when it came to bikes. Like many, I learned the basics as a child, but fell out of practice living in an area without safe places to ride. It wasn’t until I moved to Seattle after college that I got back in the saddle. My dead-end office job was downtown, and my tiny apartment was miles away with no bus service. I couldn’t afford a car along with luxuries like food and shelter, so I bought my first adult bicycle.

During the following months I explored as much of the city as I could on two wheels, grunting up its hills and gliding along its miles of shoreline. I spent hours upon hours learning how to maintain my new machine, and eventually how to completely disassemble and reassemble it. When the shop I’d bought it from put a sign up looking for a mechanic, I begged the owner to give me a chance.

After a few years of honing my wrenching skills in that shop and experimenting with pretty much every kind of bicycle, I decided I wanted more. The United Bicycle Institute was offering framebuilding courses down in Portland, and my lease was coming to an end. I spent two whirlwind weeks learning how to cut and weld titanium frames from some of the best in the business. What’s more, I learned first-hand how a high-quality frame fitted to the rider can make even a ride around the block magical.

My bicycle migration brought me even further south to Eugene-Springfield, which has to have the highest density of bicycle manufacturing businesses per capita of anywhere in the world. I went from one frame built to hundreds, and not just in titanium but in steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. I helped design and prototype several new frames including folding bikes, adaptive bikes, electric tandems, sub-3# racers, and one ill-advised fixed-gear cargo bike.

I started Liminal Machine Works to continue to challenge myself and create unique products to better serve cyclists of all shapes, sizes, and abilities. Let’s build something awesome together!

-Brian Sorensen, Owner