Up close with Paul Price — Rust Magazine

Words + Photographs: Mike Blanchard

As he wheeled his dune buggy around the roundabout, Paul Price put the inside wheels over the curb of the circle, tipping the car outward as it went round. With a sly smile he glanced sideways to see if I got the trick or if I was alarmed by his shenanigans. Typical mountain biker.

He was let down in his joke as the buggy stumbled on acceleration pulling out of the roundabout. The car had been awakened from winter hibernation that morning, and Price admitted that he had been battling the carb tune for a bit. I am sure old gas wasn’t helping but the engine cleared its throat and off we went, repeating the trick at the next roundabout.

Price is the founder of Paul Components, a Chico California-based manufacturer of high-end bicycle parts. His company (and Price himself) is legendary within the cycling community. Paul components are de rigeur on hand-made bicycles whether they be road bike or mountain bike.

The history of the company is a classic grind-until-you-make-it story. Price knew from an early age that he wanted to make things and sell them.

“It’s fun to look back on where I started. I just worked, worked, worked. I bought my first house, the cheapest house in Chico with a garage. I had three employees. My bedroom was the only room that was off limits. I ate ramen and had no social life. It was a great time.

Paul Price in his element. It should be noted that he was just riding for photographs and had forgotten his helmet. Price is a strong advocate for rider safety.

“It was all manual machines until ’97. You learn from the beginning and you build on what you already know.”

Price has a somewhat imposing exterior, but behind the mask is a charming, very smart and articulate guy with a dry sense of humor. He is curious about many things from hot rods and vintage cars to his beloved Kearney and Trecker machine tools, George Nakashima furniture, fine woodworking, and chicken wings. Fundamentally he is in love with designing and making things.

And he loves bicycles. “As a machine it is so simple,” said Price. “It is the most efficient mode of transportation in terms of energy. The bike has held the imagination of people for 120 years; it’s not going away.”

Price frequently takes a break from the shop and rides in Bidwell Park, the huge public park that runs through the center of Chico and up into the tablelands to the east of town. It’s a perfect test ground for his products. He purposely never cleans or maintains his bikes in an effort to put his wares to the ultimate test.

For a guy who loves bikes and riding and making things it is a dream life. A shop to realize his vision, a beautiful and challenging place to ride and the time to do it.

How did you get involved in engineering?

"Dad was a mechanical engineer. I had to go to college. So I went to college and immediately dropped out. I always have loved bikes, cars, making things …you know. He had some tools I could use. What happened was, with engineering anyways, I got accepted right out of high school, went to San Diego State, 18 or 19 years old, of course partied too much. I was way out of my element. Didn’t know anything about studying. So I dropped out. I got all Fs.

“I got a job at the gas station and took some classes at the J.C. This was back when you would pump the gas. One of my classmates, from my graduating class, pulls up in a Corvette. And I pumped his gas. That’s when the lightbulb went off. ‘OK, forget about hot rods, forget about girls; you should probably go to college. Do you want a Corvette or do you want to pump gas at the gas station?’ That was a major turning point in my life.”

How much time did you get to spend building bikes? Do you like building bikes?

“I love it. My parents helped with college but I paid a lot working in bike shops. I did City, Dino’s, Bob’s; I worked at the bike shop on campus … well, I never worked there but I hung out there a lot. They’re closed now.”

What do you do for fun?

“I’ll show you my van. That’s been my focus for the last couple of years. It’s always making things; that’s my life. I have a woodshop at home. COVID came along, and then a girl and it’s like, ‘Let’s just start driving around.’ I’d never had the time to travel because it was just work, work, work, and I’m like, ‘Shit, I want to drive around and look at the country.’ So I’ve been building this out.”

Price heads out to the parking lot to show off his tricked-out Sprinter van. A beautiful bespoke bike rack is mounted to the back. He opens it up to show an interior fitted with wooden cabinetry he has made. There is a bed, and drawers open out providing storage and eating space. A table folds down from the rear door. Each thing well-thought-out and beautifully made. Just like the products he sells.

When you ride do you think about parts?

“That’s the best time. There is no point in making the same thing. Somehow I have a creative mind. I can think in 3D really good. I am always trying to be better.”

What is your guiding design principle?

“No icing. It’s going to be super-functional. If you make it right it will be beautiful.”

Price has a long history with hot rods and cars. He is famous in the mountain bike world for his red VW dune buggy with a bike rack on top.

“When I was in high school everybody had a Volkswagen Bug, but I wanted a V8. I was like ‘Ffft! Bugs, stupid.’ And then I had some British cars and they were like, the front suspension, swing arms, the A frame, they had like 16 pieces in a ’50 or ‘60s British car. It was like ‘What the hell, all these pieces and they’re all bolted together. This is so much work.’ Then I got this Volkswagen and this design is friggin’ genius. The more I looked at it and the more I worked in it, it’s like one part does three different things. I always knew it was some kind of good design, but until I actually had one … it’s such a good design.

“I was in a Squareback phase. I never bought one but. … And then it was ’56 and ’57 Chevy station wagons, Handymans, Nomads, that kind of thing. ’57 Nomad, that’s probably the one car I could get on board with. We had one in ’76. My dad restored it. I was in junior high. He brings home this ’57 Nomad that had a 327 or 350 out of a ’69 Camaro that had like 300 horsepower. He sold that engine. And restored it to stock. And I was like, ‘Idiot!’ I was so mad at him ever since. He was like, ‘Hey, man, it paid for the car.’ It would burn rubber pretty good.”

Is there a product that you make that has not changed?

A brief history of Paul Component brakes

“The brake bushing. You put a bolt on there, call it good, except the bolt mushrooms the end of the cantilever stud. So it’s hard to take the brake off; it’s hard to put a new one on. So I came up with this bushing you put over the cantilever stud so it won’t do that. It presses on the tip but it constrains it so there is nowhere for the metal to go. That particular feature has been around since like ’91 and it has not changed and that’s pretty cool. It’s a tiny, tiny detail but it’s like …”

Is it about little things like that or is it about revolutionary ideas?

“It’s about little refinements. Bikes are just so refined already. Whenever I hear ‘revolutionary idea’ or someone is going to revolutionize the bike industry it’s like, ’OK, well let’s see what happens there.’ I’ve told maybe two people out of the hundreds that tell me their ideas they had a good idea. I swear I’ve heard it so many times, you have no idea. You’ve got to dive deeper into the history of bikes. Hang out at a bike shop. Go into a bike shop; talk with the mechanics.”

Talk with the guy who has to fix the bikes.

“Yeah. It goes back to: Here is a thing that is so refined. It’s so simple that people think, ‘I can improve on that it’s so simple.’ But that is the beauty of it, and actually every idea you’ve had has already been had by 10,000 other people who’ve tried. It’s tricky.”

What has been the biggest change to your business over the years?

“Those CNC machines that we have; they’re amazing. It was all manual machines until about ’97.”

That’s a lot of work.

“Yeah. I love to use a manual machine.”

Did that set you up to be successful now?

“Now it’s different because you learn from the beginning. Besides cutting metal you learn programming. Back then it was just cutting metal.”

You build incrementally on the knowledge that you have gained.

“For us old guys it’s like, ‘Whew!’ I’m just like, ‘What do we do? Where do you start?’ I actually did a little bit of mill programming. There was about four or five years where I was the lathe guy. I programmed all the lathes, set up the lathes, ran the lathes. I was the last person there at night, did the night shift half the time.”

What were you making on the lathes? Brake lever arms?

Price in his tool and die shop surrounded by his beloved Kearney and Trecker milling machines. He collects K&T machines and has plans to expand this shop to accommodate several more.

“Yep; mostly small parts. Axles for hubs. We did a bunch of hubs. We switched drawing programs and I am just not getting it. I grew up drafting with a pencil and triangles and stuff.“

I loved drafting class.

“It was awesome.”

The thing is it teaches you is to think three-dimensionally. That may be why you have that skill. If you can draw it you have to be able to conceptualize it.

“Yeah; that’s a good point. I like to joke that I was the last person to graduate college without having to own a computer. I missed it all. We had a Texas Instruments calculator, which was pretty rad.”

“There is a certain romance to using the manual machine. You can’t be a cyclist without having a certain romance about manual things.”

Over the years you pretty much have made everything but the frame and bars?

“No; we don’t make cranks.”

Didn’t you used to, though?

“We have.”

You don’t make derailleurs anymore.

“No, No drivetrain. No derailleurs, no multi-speed hubs.”

Was there no market for it or was it hard to be profitable?

“Well, the crank was strictly fixed-gear, for the fixie craze. That’s where that comes from.”

What’s the difference between a fixed-gear crank and a single-speed crank?

“You just say it’s for a fixed-gear. Ha! That was the huge thing that happened about 10 years ago. You probably remember that.”

Oh yeah. I remember.

“It was about, like every detail of the bike. One day, weird side story, I was like, ‘I’m going to make a valve cap with like a diamond on it.’ People were doing this shit to the simplest bike you could ever create. Every tiny detail. I thought about it for a couple months and it occurred to me that if you’re thinking about doing that, that means the fixed-gear craze is going to be ending soon. It’s like come-on: a diamond on a valve cap? And I could have sold them.

“But that was the peak. I realized this is a fad that’s going to end. People were maxing out. That would have been so ridiculous. I was going to make like10 pair … make them super expensive. Like super good finish, have a jeweler set a diamond. But then I caught myself: ‘This is so ridiculous and you know you could sell some so the whole thing is peaking right now.’”

How good do you think your market radar is?

“Mmmm … it’s not quite as good as it used to be. I’m just a little older and not riding as much as I used to, but I have a pretty good feel for the pulse. E-bikes, that’s huge. That’s just going to get bigger. Which I’m not totally opposed to. I wish they were pedal-assist. It’s the people that are riding their electric fat bikes that are in the bike lane going the wrong way on a super-busy street. Fast. And all they’re doing is throttling it. That stuff pisses me off.

“But somebody dropping their kids off at school, going to the grocery store: I’m totally onboard with that.”

If you were going to get into things like that you would have to re-think your stuff.

“Yeah, the power is basically triple-human. So everything wears out quicker. We’re not going to go into that market. But I know that is going to be big. It’s just going to get bigger. The bicycle has held the imagination of people for 145 years now. It’s not going away anytime soon.

“At this point in my career I can kinda know what’s going to happen. Which is good because when I was younger I just counted on things or completely missed the boat on certain things. So there are some positives to getting old.”

Are there any cycling things or events that you haven’t gotten to do that you would like to?

“There is. It’s the famous pass in the Italian Alps: Stelvio. I’m kinda getting to the point where I’ve looked at that my whole life and that’s so cool: ‘I wonder what that’s like.’ And I’m kinda getting to the point where I should just go ride that thing. I could set the slowest time of all time. But it’s just so amazing. I’m going to do the White Rim at Canyon Lands pretty soon, Moab. I did that when I first moved to Chico and I want to do it again.

“My fiancé and I, we do two or three bike-packing trips a year. One or two nights. Keep it simple. She works; I work. Business had consumed me for so long that no relationship would work. But things are good now; this one is sticking.”

Do you think that will make it easier to keep going with the business?

“That’s a good question. Sometimes stress makes you have to make a major change. I’m actually scared of getting moderately successful and then getting lazy. That’s a scary thought. It’s hard for me to sit still. I’m still a total bike dork. So I find myself on the back porch with a beer and somebody I really like and we don’t do anything.”

You have to have down time. The American thing is you have to work 60 hours a week to be successful. It’s this false premise that somehow grinding past all the warning signs is somehow going to make you successful. Having downtime to recharge and think is far more conducive to creativity.

“You are right. It took me a long time to realize that. I am enjoying my life tons. I just thought it was normal to be humping all the time. This is a really, really good point in my life. It is such a weird thing that I did. People ask me what I do and I don’t know what to tell them. Usually I just say I own a small manufacturing business. ’Cause if you go any farther than that they just won’t get it …

“I felt like I had to be ‘Go, go, failure, failure, oh I got a success.’ I never let the failures get me down. The ideas are easy. It’s making them and marketing them that’s the hard part. The last few years the business has done good. I have a dune buggy.”

On top of the world…

“Ha ha! Yeah.. It should probably be started more than once a month.”

In researching Paul Price for this article, several people suggested that I talk with Steve Rex and Robert Ives. These two frame makers have known Price and used his components for years. The interviews were interesting enough that I thought I would include them because they ad a bit of background to the story of Price. Ed.

Steve Rex

Steve Rex is one of California’s top frame builders. Located in Sacramento, he builds mostly road bikes but has had a long relationship with Paul Price

How far back does your experience with Paul go?

“Pretty far back. I’ve known him longer than anyone working in the bike industry. I met him when he was in college at Sac State in 1986. We both worked at the little bike shop there on campus. He was doing engineering and I was back from living abroad. We were friends then. We went mountain biking a couple of times. We did the one trip to Mount Tam. It was the first time either of us had ridden on Mount Tam, 1986. We drove down in his El Camino. He had this old, it was probably about a ’58 or ’59 El Camino with wings. A Batmobile kind of thing. It was a really cool car.”

What kind of bikes were you riding?

“I borrowed a Specialized Stump Jumper. I actually had a Schwinn Varsity that I had welded some cantilever posts on for 26-inch wheels. Ha! I borrowed this Specialized Stump Jumper from Jess Polikoff, who was one of the owners of the City Bike Works back then, which was also where I worked. He was on this old Schwinn, early Schwinn mountain bike.”

Do your customers ask for Paul components on the bikes?

“Oh yeah … lots, lots. It’s easy for me to say, ‘Let’s use some Mini Moto brakes’ or anything else that might suit their needs. I’ve got an order right now. It’s a long way down in the queue but he’s going with a lot of Nor Cal stuff. My recommendation is Paul Brakes, White Industries cranks and headsets. The customer is into it.

Paul is one of the few high-end component makers to make it through the recession in ’08.

“Yeah; well, Paul made it before that in the bust of the early Mountain Bike days. Late ’90s … I’m not certain. He kinda rode some early product successes pretty high and then other component makers like Shimano XT got really good and Trek wouldn’t spec his stuff anymore. He had a contract with Trek to supply brakes for them for a while.”

It sounds like your careers are in parallel. You both started about the same time. Did you use his components early on?

“Yeah, yeah. Early on, I think he started in ’89. I started in ’87 and started that space on Capitol Avenue in ’91 and shortly after I see him on Capitol Avenue in his El Camino and he had been driving around bike shops selling skewers, which were his first product, and I’ve been buying products from him ever since.

“You mentioned the parallels of our businesses. In a lot of ways we started out the same. You know: low budget, punk rock, just doing it out of the garage. And in his case the garage and the home. I’ve told this story a couple of times, but I remember going over to his house in Chico and he was working at Mountain Goat at the time just making parts on the side at home. In one bedroom of his house in the closet the tumbler was in there and he had cut out the floorboards of his house so he could put the tumbler on the ground so it didn’t shake his whole house to pieces.”

Robert Ives

Robert Ives is a legendary Nor-Cal frame builder and rider. He came up with the tapered head tube. Putting a bigger bearing on the bottom to more easily take the load. He is also one of the fathers of the single-speed mountain bike movement and a good friend of Paul Price.

How far back do you go with Paul? How did you meet him?

“Mid-’90s, I would say … ’94, ’95. I was working, racing and working, for Ventana, here in Rancho (Cordova), and Paul Components sponsored the race team. After a couple years of riding geared bikes I built myself a single-speed. At that time there were no single-speed hubs. There was Bullseye, if you could find one. But they weren’t even right; the spacing was off. So I was using Campy track hubs on my mountain bike. My BMX friend told me about that.

“I got my two friends, who were working at Ventana, I got them into single-speeding and we were going to be the Ventana team. We were already excited about Paul’s brakes and all the other stuff he was making, but he made front hubs only. My friend Sean said, ‘We should see if Paul would make us a real single-speed hub.’ Because there was nothing available.

“So we called him up and tried to sell him on the idea and he was like, ‘OK, I’ll do it for you guys but nobody’s probably going to want these things so don’t try to advertise them and sell them ’cause nobody’s going to be interested.’

“Well, when we showed up with our team bikes … Everybody at that time who was racing single-speed was using convoluted chain tensioners and cassettes with the cogs broken off: all the ghetto things you could do. They saw our stuff and were like. ‘Oh, my God, I’ve got to have some of those!’ And he ended up having to make ’em, production-wise. That’s how we got really tight was when we’re like, ‘Here you go, man. We sold these things you didn’t want us to sell.’ And the relationship just went on from there.

“And at that point, the first time I went to his shop, he was actually working with his mills in a house. His front office was the foyer and he had his mills in the garage. He had a couple CNC machines and some manual mills tucked away in the house and that’s where he was working from. Eventually his parts were good enough and he was a good enough guy that people were into the stuff. Thankfully he’s still here today and he’s killing it right now. They can’t make the stuff fast enough.

“He actually came and helped me move all of these machines from my dad’s house. He pinch-barred it into a trailer ’cause he knows how to do it. …He knows these things so he was like, ‘Oh man, I’ll come help you move those things.’ So he actually drove up and helped us move the machines into the shop. It was pretty awesome.

“And that’s the kind of guy he is. One of my favorite things about him is how humble he is. … He just does what he likes to do and he makes good shit. He doesn’t have to brag about it.

“He also does insanely good woodwork. His house, he’s done all the shelving and trim; he’s done everything. He’s just a craftsman who likes to make cool shit, whether it be wood or metal.

Have you guys done much riding together?

“The funny thing is he actually gets to ride a lot. I don’t ride that much lately. The only time I’ve ridden with Paul to any extent is going to Chico and riding with him at Bidwell. It’s funny, we spent more time hanging out at parties than hanging out on bikes, which is just as good. I was about to say it’s sad, but we had a lot of fun.”