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TECH NEWS

Bespoked: 5 stunning bikes

Extraordinary bikes from the weekend’s handmade bicycle show: Souplesse, Grimcycles, Faggin, Brian Rouke, VeloBoo

There were dozens of incredible-looking bikes on display at Bespoked handmade bicycle show at the Lee Valley Velodrome, London, over the weekend, and here are five that really caught our eye.

We’ll level with you: we have so many bikes to tell you about from the show that we don’t know what to do with them all. We’ll run more throughout the week so keep coming back to road.cc for more handmade loveliness.

In the meantime, check out these...

Souplesse

We’re not sure what category this chopper from Souplesse falls into. It’s made from bamboo, it’s fitted with disc brakes, and it has Alfine electronic shifting.

Oh, and that Alfine is stick-shift! There are so many niches here that we reckon we can safely say that it’s in a category all of its own.

The quality of the workmanship is extraordinary with the joints first wrapped with Kevlar with a natural fibre wrap over the top. 

Souplesse’s road bikes look equally good.

www.souplessebikes.com

 

Grimcycles

This Reynolds 631 steel frame is from Manchester-based Grimcycles – the name comes from the brand’s northern roots (don’t blame us, we didn’t make it up). All of Grimcycle’s bikes are 100% bespoke.

Why have we included this bike here? Well, it’s a neat-looking machine, and we especially like the clean lines provided by of the integrated seatpost and the internal cable routing.

What really attracted us, though, is the paintjob. That 63 just below the top tube/seat tube junction refers to the No. 63 Squadron RAF, a bomber aircraft and training squadron of the RAF that was active for various periods from 1916 to 1992 (the internet might have been used in the compiling of this article!).

The words ‘Pone nos ad hostem’ are hidden away on the underside of the down tube where they’re not particularly noticeable. That’s the motto of the squadron and it means ‘follow us to find the enemy’.

They could have gone over the top with RAF references but we think that the ‘less is more’ approach really works here.

www.grimcycles.co.uk

 

Faggin

Lots of different finishes are used on bikes to achieve various effects but this one, from Italy’s Faggin, is the only one we saw at Bespoked that was covered in leather (sorry about the busy background in the above pic; that's shows for ya!).

The contrast stitching is done by hand using one continuous thread. That’s what they told us. How the hell they manage it, we couldn’t tell you. It must take the patience of a saint, but the final product looks amazing.

www.fagginbikes.com www.impactct.co.uk

 

Brian Rourke

This is a bike that Brian Rourke has put together for friend of road.cc Chris Hewings (Chris is the UK and Ireland distributor of Parlee Cycles, among other things).

The frame is exquisite with an incredible level of detail around the shiny lugs, but have a look at the groupset.

It’s a Campagnolo 50th anniversary group – Gruppo del Cinquantenario – from 1983.

Most of the components feature a raised Campagnolo shield logo in gold. The whole bike is absolutely stunning.

www.brianrourke.co.uk

 

VeloBoo

Given that there are relatively few bamboo bikes out there, featuring two in this brief article might be a touch excessive, but what the hell?

VeloBoo has produced just 30 of these bikes with components that are plated with 24K gold. Yep, gold. They say it’s designed to be durable although we can’t help feeling that anyone who buys one of these isn’t going to use it to nip down to the shops. We’ve never seen one chained up outside the Sainsbury’s by the road.cc office anyway.

The customised grips are made from leather and are hand-sewn, and the same goes for the saddle. The toe straps match them both.

Just check out those brakes!

www.veloboodesign.com

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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15 comments

Avatar
macrophotofly | 10 years ago
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Quote:

Looks like Lauterwasser bars. Soma do a version in alloy and steel. Neither in gold or black, though you could get the alloy one anodised. Don't know where to get them in the UK. I had a set shipped from the USA

I got in touch with Soma (who make the Lautwasser bars) overnight but they informed me they can't provide a specialised service to have them anodised gold or coated black  20 The search for moustache bars in MTB diameter continues....

Avatar
Markus | 10 years ago
0 likes

Crazy & cool.
Anybody here ever ridden a bamboo bike, what are they like?

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mingmong | 10 years ago
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Brian Rourke. Achingly beautiful.

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Simmo72 | 10 years ago
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Grim by name, but not by nature. Check his website gallery; astoundingly beautiful yet functional bikes. I've just ordered my new frame, wish I'd found him first.

Good luck with the business

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Wookie | 10 years ago
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I used to have a Chopper in 1974 and if no one wants that one I'll have it (just to compare to the original)  4

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Martin Thomas | 10 years ago
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That Brian Rourke bike is an absolute stunner. I'll have it if no one else wants it  1

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AleBeRiding | 10 years ago
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How can you mis-spell Brian RouRke twice? At least you got it right in the website address.

All stunning bikes.

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RobD | 10 years ago
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That Grimcycles bike is really lovely, the paintjob is great and definitely agree that the more understated references really make it. It would have ruined it to start putting roundels all over it or more quotes. (Maybe a strike rate bomb symbol on the fork would have worked)
I may have found another manufacturer to add to the list for my dream bike, I'd better keep saving...

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levermonkey | 10 years ago
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So you went to a show and took photographs of models in tight leather.....? Hmmmmm! Bet you didn't put it quite that way when you got home!
 24  24  24

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macrophotofly | 10 years ago
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Help Please: Any idea where you can get handlebars similar to the Veloboo gold ones? Anodised gold (rather than 24k!) or even just plain black would be great.

Need them in MTB diameter (22.2mm) at the bar ends, with the full width ideally being between 42 -50cm.

Avatar
mephistopheles replied to macrophotofly | 10 years ago
0 likes
macrophotofly wrote:

Help Please: Any idea where you can get handlebars similar to the Veloboo gold ones? Anodised gold (rather than 24k!) or even just plain black would be great.

Need them in MTB diameter (22.2mm) at the bar ends, with the full width ideally being between 42 -50cm.

Looks like Lauterwasser bars. Soma do a version in alloy and steel. Neither in gold or black, though you could get the alloy one anodised. Don't know where to get them in the UK. I had a set shipped from the USA.

Avatar
WolfieSmith | 10 years ago
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A bamboo bike and a leather bike..? It's all a bit Heston Blumenthal to me. Jaded palettes pushing the creative past practical into Willy Wonka world.

Or it's good old British ingenuity.

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bikebot replied to WolfieSmith | 10 years ago
0 likes
MercuryOne wrote:

A bamboo bike and a leather bike..? It's all a bit Heston Blumenthal to me.

No, no. Heston's bike was the one made of frozen smoke.

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only1redders | 10 years ago
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Would have been good to have gone to this.......whoever decided to arrange on the same weekend as London marathon, needs their head checked

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ashfanman | 10 years ago
1 like

The electronic stick shift on that chopper is AWESOME. There's just something about the combination of incredible attention to detail and craftsmanship on such a ridiculous and utterly impractical bike as a chopper - really brings a smile to my face.

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