Custom-bike maker finds niche in small Washington town

ZILLAH, Wash. — Sean Mullin is an avid cyclist. He’s also 6 feet 8 inches tall.

His height means most mass-produced bicycle frames don’t fit.

“I searched bike shops pretty much across the country and then I searched the Internet and then I started talking to different companies and frame builders,” said Mullin, of Yakima.

No luck.

Until he found a Zillah, Wash., entrepreneur with a small business based on his life’s passion — riding and racing bikes.

In a squat, windowless cinderblock building, Oscar Camarena is putting the finishing touches on a custom bicycle frame for Mullin.

“In mountain-biking terms,” Mullin said, “I’m stoked.”

The story of how a custom frame builder hung his shingle in this small agricultural town starts across the street from his workshop — at El Ranchito, a famous tortilla factory and restaurant for decades.

You can find Camarena at El Ranchito, surrounded by the sweet scent of traditional Mexican baked goods, much of the time.

“I run this full time,” he says, “except when I get a (frame) order. Then I’m across the street.”

Camarena’s family bought the restaurant, bakery and gift shop three years ago. The tortilla component was sold and closed around the time the family took over the restaurant.

Camarena, 33, says the tale of how his family came to own El Ranchito is truly “an American story.”

He was born in San Jose, Calif., the son of Misael, a welder, and Susana, who worked sorting fruit in a Del Monte cannery there.

With only a seventh-grade education, Misael worked mornings selling and installing tire chains for drivers commuting over a mountain pass. He worked afternoons as a roofer and returned to the pass in the evening to remove and buy back the tire chains. He used the money he earned from that labor to go to welding school.

Through more hard work, the Camarenas saved enough to buy rental properties in the San Jose area, which became a source of income and later provided the equity to buy El Ranchito.

When Oscar was 14, the family moved to Rosario, Mexico, a small town south of Mazatlan. He went to high school there and college in Guadalajara, where he studied photography, against the advice of his father. That was a mistake, Oscar says now.

He returned to San Jose and went to school to become a machinist, building on an affinity for working with his hands.

His career took him into manufacturing, eventually handling special projects for a company that made metal parts for machines that cut silicon wafers into computer chips.

Along the way he served apprenticeships with other bicycle builders and stored up knowledge.

Simple Bicycle Co. builds custom frames — the metal structure to which the wheels, seat, pedals and other components are attached — for mountain, road and BMX bikes.

Each frame is built by hand to the specifications of the customer. Camarena measures each rider, discusses what kind of riding he or she does and the bike he or she is riding now. He even puts the customer on a “size cycle” — an adjustable stationary bike used to fine-tune the frame’s geometry.

He draws up a full-scale diagram of the frame on his drafting table and then begins to assemble the different steel and aluminum tubes on a jig. Careful attention is paid to every detail.

Each piece goes through a battery of machining processes to ensure that angles are true and surfaces perfectly flat.

Camarena employs a skilled welder part time to put it all together.

The resulting frame fits its rider like a hand-tailored suit. And it costs more than many complete bikes.

“This is definitely a niche,” he says. “It’s not for everyone. Some people don’t want to spend $1,110 on just a frame.”

Camarena sold his first custom frame in March. His goal was to make a dozen sales this year. He’s already sold 27. Only six have gone to customers in the Yakima-Zillah area, with the majority of his business coming from California and the Puget Sound area.

He tries to employ as many Yakima Valley companies as possible to manufacture his materials.

“I know how difficult it is for small businesses,” he says.

Camarena has thoughts of expanding both his businesses, although for now, some are more serious than others.

At El Ranchito, expansion plans include a Mexican grocery and carniceria (meat market). When it comes to bicycles, Camarena is acutely aware of the fact that only one major specialty bicycle retailer serves the Yakima Valley, and he has considered opening a full-service shop.

But for now, he’s sticking with frames.

“I do it because I love building bikes,” he says.