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Bespoked Bristol 2013 + video: Donhou, Feather, Paulus Quiros, Rourke, Serotta, Hewitt, Merenyi and more...

Our first quick run through the hall. Vedict: shiny bikes ahoy! Check out our vid of the show...

Ahoy! We're at Bespoked Bristol this weekend. It's ace. Anyway, if you were wondering about whether it's worth the journey, wonder no more. There's loads of amazing bikes, good coffee, amazing bikes, nice beer, amazing bikes, cool kit, bikes, bikes, bikes and bikes.

We've had a quick trawl round and here's some lovely stuff. This isn't the highlights necessarily, just a taster of what you'll be missing if you don't come...

First thing we saw was this Donhou bike, a personal project really. Is it possible to do 100mph on a bike? This is the bike that Donhou have built to, well, give it a go. That's a 104T chainring. They're not messing about

Interesting to see a disc specced for the stopping. There'll need to be some stopping from considerable speed…

Shand Cycles had a good range on display, we particularly liked this demountable, disc-equipped, Rohloff-and-belt-drive adventure bike.

SKS couplings mean you can break it in two for easy travel

Paul Hewitt had plenty of nice-looking bikes, one of which - a tourer - we're planning to nick come Sunday. This black and gold number belongs to Gethin Butler.

Tektro's R970SL brakes blend nicely with the frame. If you have the pockets for them.

That's a Campag EPS box hanging below the Crank Brothers stem. No expense spared…

Sven Cycles are pretty new; they're still in single figures for the number of bikes they've made. This one is a personal project for part owner Darron, built up mostly with ebay specials…

…except for the brakes, which are from ee Cycles and hand made in the USA. They look fantastic.

The Flite Carbon saddle is an original. He still has the box!

What's it made from? Go on, you'll never guess…

Ash, actually. We bumped into Rob Penn who told us he's writing a book on the history of the Ash tree, this might need to go in. The main triangle is hollow like a monocoque, bonded down the middle. The grain gives it similar properties to unidirectional carbon.

The stays are laminated to give the old vertical compliance. It "deadens road feel", we're told. In a good way.

Only the second bike Era have ever made, this. Owner Ped Baker comes from a motorsports background and this one is a tribute to Barrie Sheen.

The design and decals are meant to ape Barrie's bikes. As you can see.

Really interesting fork arrangement with straight blades offset at the top.

From second to first bike: DMO framework's first go is a wildcamping adventure bike, and a singlespeed one at that. Pretty niche, huh?

Okay, to be fair it's designed for gears too. Geometry is like a slacker 29er MTB and they have some custom frame bags for it. Just the thing for a quick adventure.

Sword are based in Derbyshire and Derby has a new velodrome being built even as we speak. So a track bike would seem to be a sensible direction to go.

Some nice detailing around the lugs on this one.

You want a leather-clad bike? Faggin are only too happy to oblige your desires.

Tailoring each piece to fit the frame must take a while. Loving the overall look though.

Merenyi we showcased before the event. They have a number of spiffing steeds, including this lugged racer.

The geometry suggests audax but you wouldn't want to put it through that, it's too lovely.

Another Audaxy steed, the Hobo Cycles Weirdy Beardy. Preaching to the converted, then.

Reynolds 631 is the Audax and touring staple. Strong, easily repairable and not too heavy.

Ricky Feather has been busy this year after winning best in show in 2012. This fixed bike is jolly lovely.

There's those lovely Paul centre-pull brakes again

And who needs a brake hanger when you have a stem with a hole in?

Here's a Huffy/Serotta 7-Eleven road bike, ridden in the 1988  Tour by Jens Veggerby. Remember him?

He crashed it too: here's the proof.

Serotta were asked to re-imagine the 7-Eleven bike given today's materials and components. Here's what they made.

What about a Titchmarsh cargo bike? This is the first one, it's taken two and a half months to build.

Hub-centre steering is great for tracking and stiffness, but those massive bearings cost £400. Ouch!

Lots of lovely touches including a gas piston on the kickstand

This BLB / Lapiovra Air track bike certainly ticks the shiny box. It's aero-section alloy tubing with a Columbus Tusk Carbon fork

Neat welds and a natural finish make it a striking machine

This Rourke/Hope collaboration is a Reynolds 853 frameset

Hope supply the wheels and finishing kit, Rourke the framebuilding knowhow

How's that for a brake bridge?

Paulus Quiros made this tall bike for, well a tall rider. He's nearly seven feet in his stockinged feet. And look at that pump!

The seat tube length required a third bracing point, hence the small-tubed spaceframe

The chainstays wrap around the BB shell for a bit of extra stiffness. Nice touch!

Finally, here's a Royce velomobile full of gloves. You're welcome!

If that's whet your appetite then there's loads more. Loads! Bespoked runs til Sunday and is right next to Temple Meads station in Bristol. Head to www.bespokedbristol.co.uk for all the details.

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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10 comments

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BetterNever | 10 years ago
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Stand that caught my eye and doesn't seem to be in any galleries, here or anywhere else, is the one from Slate.

The guy had a lovely cross bike on display, bit like the Shand Stoater but with more detailing. Kept going back to look at it and wish I'd taken some photos  2

Avatar
Miggers | 10 years ago
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We made it into the video, whoop whoop!

Avatar
Deac | 10 years ago
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What has happened to Robin Mather?

Avatar
nick_rearden replied to Deac | 10 years ago
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Chris Deacon wrote:

What has happened to Robin Mather?

He was one of the Bespoked judges this year, Chris. And still very busy making lovely bikes, it seems

Avatar
rjw replied to nick_rearden | 10 years ago
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nick_rearden wrote:
Chris Deacon wrote:

What has happened to Robin Mather?

He was one of the Bespoked judges this year, Chris. And still very busy making lovely bikes, it seems

Too busy to actually make bikes that have been ordered from what I've heard  1

Avatar
Ghedebrav | 10 years ago
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The Rick Feather one is delish.

Also the Shand looks right up my street. Belt drive + hub gear is the most practical combo for all utility/commuter bikes; I don't know why more bikes aren't made that way.

Avatar
tomascjenkins replied to Ghedebrav | 10 years ago
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Ghedebrav wrote:

The Rick Feather one is delish.

Also the Shand looks right up my street. Belt drive + hub gear is the most practical combo for all utility/commuter bikes; I don't know why more bikes aren't made that way.

Cycling status.

You have worked in a bike shop? Many people come in asking for bikes under £200. Then drive off in brand new BMW or Audis!

Shows you how much a large prortion of people value bikes

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Martin Thomas | 10 years ago
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*drool* I love the look of that DMO 29er.

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Gkam84 | 10 years ago
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104 teeth, LOVELY.

Some great looking machine's there, not sure about the leather covered bike though.

I also see the attraction of bike shows for some in that final picture, not the "velo" but what's behind it  19

Avatar
crazy-legs | 10 years ago
0 likes
Quote:

That's a Campag EPS box hanging below the Crank Brothers stem. No expense spared…

It's held on with zip ties!!
No expense spared would mean they'd built a lovely little integrated mount for it but no, let's wrap a couple of zip ties round it!

 13

However there are some lovely looking bikes in that lot.  1

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