Europe’s largest handmade bicycle show, Bespoked, is back in the UK for 2024. In previous years, the Lee Valley Velodrome in London has played host, but this year the show travels north to Manchester, to a rather palatial Victoria Baths.
I took a (dry) lap around the 6-foot-deep baths of this former spa (or is it just a glorified swimming pool?), taking in the latest and greatest two-wheeled art forms that originated on, or washed up on, the shores of Brexit Island.
Medusa Cycles
The bike that originated closest to the Victoria Baths venue is likely the award-winning Number 2 from Medusa Cycles — that’s not the bike’s official name (it doesn’t have one yet), it’s just the second one that proprietor Pete Skelton has fabricated under the Medusa Cycles brand.
Why Medusa? “Mainly because she’s pretty badass,”, Skelton says. “I quite like the idea that in the French revolution, they were using the symbol of Medusa as their emblem, and when I’m riding my bike that’s when I feel the most liberated, so it kind of links somehow. I’ve also got things wiggly chainstay thing going on that’s also a bit snakey”.
Part of the reason for the chainstays being the highly unusual shape they are is because Skelton wanted to keep the rear-center short while also shying away from using factory-bent stays and allowing for the wide tire clearance of 29″ x 2.25″. By bending the tubes himself to his exacting requirements, Skelton doesn’t have to use a yoke.
Skelton uses Reynolds 853 tubing for the front triangle. To keep the weight reasonable, the top tube and the downtube are of the ProTeam variation, which is the thinnest walled steel tubing that Reynolds manufactures. The seat stay is braced on the seat tube and top tube to increase the overall stiffness.
There are some jaw-droppingly gorgeous details on this frame. You may have seen it a thousand times, but the sleeved join of the seat stay onto the top tube is so elegantly executed here. Skelton brazes the tubes together with a 40-percent silver solder. On each side, Skelton adorns the joint with a Medusa Cycles embossed coin. One the drive-side, the image of a falcon is painted onto the sleeved join where the raised chainstay meets the seat tube.
£3,500 fetches you the frame and Seido fork, with a lifetime warranty on the frame.
More information at Medusa Cycles.
Curve Titanosaur
A 36″ wheel gravel bike. Need I say more?
This one has been around in various forms since 2021, but we couldn’t resist giving it more air time. After all, how many 36″ wheel bikes have you ever seen in the flesh? For me, it’s just the one. And, like all bikes from Australia’s Curve Cycling, the Titanosaur materializes in titanium.
Curve crowd-funded the production of 20 Titanosaurs earlier this year. The brand offered it in six sizes from MD-XXXL, accommodating riders from 172-222cm tall. Interesting geometry numbers on the XXXL frame include a 580mm chainstay length, a 1,482mm wheelbase, and a 564mm reach.
More information at curvecycling.com
Hrok by Stout Cycles
That’s old Norse for “Rook,” and the Japanese written on the top tube means “cyclocross.” This one-off boutique CX bike was the only aluminum frame we saw at Bespoked this year. After all, the vast majority of small scale frame builders choose to work in steel.
Proprietor of Stout Cycles, Russel Stout, spent many years of his career building and painting steel frames at Shand Cycles before leaving to start his own venture under Hrok. He chose the name because there is a rookery right behind his house in Peebles, Scotland, here he makes the bikes in his shed.
Stout is still learning aluminum, and is a ways off producing bicycles to sell. He does however have a few other ideas up his sleeve; a gravel bike and a 130mm travel hardtail are all in the back pocket, the fabrication of which will help him gain a better understanding of the nuances of working with aluminum.
When asked why he chooses to work with aluminum Stout said, “Well, why not. I personally think it’s an overlooked material and easier to work with than steel, lighter, and more resistant to corrosion. It’s also more cost-effective to machine or CNC small parts without resorting to 3D printing or other processes in steel.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love steel bicycles, but there’s a place for aluminum and I’d like to personally try something new. I like the feel of the material, the welding process and the different aesthetic. It’s something to explore and have fun with.”
A distinguishing feature of the frame is the flattened top tube, helping it sit more comfortably on a rider’s shoulder as they navigate on foot any unrideable obstacles presented. Another is the full internal cable routing, something that crops up occasionally but is far from taking the CX world by storm.
More information at stoutcycles.co.uk
Twmpa AR1
Manufactured by Andy Dix in the Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye are Twmpa bikes. Before becoming bicycle frames, the Twmpa bikes’ constituent components spend their lives growing as ash trees, no less. Indeed, Andy spent 20 years as a furniture maker before repurposing his wood work talents for the production of bike frames.
The AR1 is an all-road affair, with clearance for 700c x 35mm tires (the fork being the limitation here). Aside from the unusual choice of frame material, there isn’t anything too wild about the AR1. It runs a T47 BB, a flat mount brake, a 31.6mm seat tube, a 44mm headtube and standard spacing. Carbon inserts are bonded into the seat tube and headtube to accommodate the seat post and bearings, respectively, and a titanium threaded insert houses the BB.
Dix chooses ash for its strength and impact resistance; things like cricket bats, hockey sticks, and other things made for hitting other stuff with (mattock handles) are also made using ash. The fibers do a good job of damping vibrations, once of the reasons why Dix says a Twmpa bike is so comfortable to ride all day long on terrible road surfaces. And well, here in the UK, we have an endless supply of poor quality roads to enjoy.
Andy says that is the main reason one would buy a Twmpa. Not because it’s drop dead gorgeous (though it is), or because of any environmental sustainability claims, but because of the ultra smooth ride quality it affords. Anyone concerned about the frames strength can take assurance from the BS EN ISO 4210-2:2015 safety certification it has, and the fact that Dix sells his frames with a 10-year warranty — which is about what you’d expect from the manufacturer of a high-end steel frame.
The Twmpa AR1 weighs a claimed 1.7 kg (3.74 lbs) for the medium frame alone, which would be on the heavier end of the scale as compared to a steel frame of a similar dap. Dix is offering the AR1 in five sizes (XS-XL) at a price of £3,490 — that fetches you the ash frame with an Enigma C-Six GRV/ADV Fork and a Hope headset.
More information at twmpacycles.co.uk
Shand Bahookie
Made in Scotland is the Shand Bahookie, a steel adventure bike with very generous tire clearance and the option to run a Gates Belt Drive with Rohloff Speed Hub (as pictured), a traditional chain-drive single-speed, or a standard multi-speed drivetrain. With clearance for 29″ x 2.6″ tires, it really is more of a rigid mountain bike with drop bars.
It goes for £4,695 as pictured with the Belt Drive, and is sold with a 5-year warranty on the frame. There are four standard sizes to choose from, but Shand also offer a custom geometry option at a premium.
More information at shandcycles.com
Craft Titanium Gravel Bike
Craft Bikes from Hythe, England, brought along their new titanium hardtail (read about it on Pinkbike), as well as this here titanium gravel bike. Pictured here, the bike is built with 700c wheels, though they can offer a 650b version. It has 45mm tires, but there is clearance for 50mm tires for those wanting the additional suppleness that comes with a high volume tire.
This frame weighs a claimed 1.4 kg (M/L), which includes 3D printed UDH-compatible dropouts made by RAM3D in New Zealand. Thus, it is compatible with SRAM T-Type derailleurs and conventional derailleurs. It has a 3D printed chainstay yoke, the unique shape of which permits clearance for a 40T chainring.
Craft offers its bikes in custom sizing only. This one is fairly slack with a 70-degree head tube angle and a 74.5-degree seat tube angle. This complete bike with SRAM Reverb AXS drop and Enve Foundation wheelset is £10,200 (inc. VAT), but pricing starts as low as £7,500.
More information at craftbikes.uk
Sour Space Cake
The Space Cake is the latest bike from Dresden-based Sour Bicycles. Continuing the line of its drop bar offering, this prototype is given the all-road designation. Tire clearance on the one you see here is 700c x 44mm, but the production version will be 38mm without fenders, and 36mm with.
Like all Sour bikes, the Space Cake is fabricated in Dresden, with German steel tubes made in Taiwan. It has a T47 BB, a 44mm head tube and Sour’s own design drop outs. However, the production model will see a new drop out that is T-Type derailleur compatible, but not UDH compatible.
Yes, you read that correctly. No, I’m not under the influence of the mind-altering active ingredient one might hope to find inside a space cake.
Chris, the head designer and owner of Sour, designed a new UDH-like derailleur hanger specifically for the Space Cake — and it’s made of aluminum, not the Delrin that the SRAM UDH is made of. It’s a little more robust therefore, and less vulnerable to the perils of being overtightened. But it is of course not so easily replaced, though you can shave a section off the SRAM UDH to make it fit the drop out.
Back to the bike, Joergen from Sour says it’s a really pared-down bike, and the most road-like bike the brand will ever make. There’ll be a little ovalization in the top tube and seat tube, and the tubes themselves are custom-butted to Sour’s exacting requirements. We’re told it’s a go-fast-don’t-crash steel.
This one will retail at $1,599 as the frame, fork and custom color. Opting for a standard color, you can knock $180 off it.
More information at sour.bike
Source URL: https://velo.outsideonline.com/gravel/gravel-gear/bespoked-2024-manchester-best-handmade-gravel-bikes/