This cycling world we all live in is very small, or at least smaller thanks to the reach of social media. As soon as we posted up in St. George, Utah, a few local riders reached out to us, offering to show-off their local trails. We eventually met up with Dan, a dude who lives out of his pickup and rambles around the Southwest as a guide and climbing instructor. He finds himself back in St. George this time of year and just so happened to have a few minutes to meet up with us. Dan told Kyle and I about Sabrosa Cycles, a local frame builder who isn’t really actively seeking to boost his queue, but builds a few bikes in his spare time for his friends. After some exchanges over text and Instagram, we set up a time to meet Jon from Sabrosa Cycles at his home shop.

With meet-ups like this, you never know what you’re getting yourself into. You could have some dude with gas cannister and a torch, repairing Schwinn cruisers, or a full-on framebuilding operation. I had heard the name Sabrosa before, but wasn’t aware of Jon or his operation. I think I speak for the entire group who rolled over to Jon’s shop when I say we were all surprised and impressed.

Jon’s not just a builder. He teaches geological classes at the local university, owns a fleet of VWs and is an avid fabricator. When you step into his shop, the bikes are low-hanging fruit, but the equipment and tooling he’s compiled over the years is where the real candy is. His experience with framebuilding came in 2002 when he needed a new cyclocross fork. The stock one had broke and Jon wanted to find a replacement. When he reached out to a friend, he offered to show Jon how to make a fork, not just buy a new one.

From there, he was hooked and began making forks, stems and eventually frames. While he doesn’t really take orders from the internet, he does work with a few locals on their dream builds for the roads and trails of Southern Utah. I’m including a mixte Jon made for his wife, as well as the tricycle he made for his daughter. We’ll take a look at Jon’s personal dirty roadie in more detail later… Follow Jon on Instagram and check out more of his work at Sabrosa Cycles!