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news
Roberts logo.pngRoberts Cycles takes a break
Legendary South London framebuilder Chas Roberts is laying down his tools and closing his Croydon shop — but he says it's only a sabbatical, not a shut-down.
From the end of May, Roberts Cycles will be leaving its premises at 89 Gloucester Road, Croydon.
The firm says: "Chas Roberts will be taking a deserved break before setting up shop again - at this stage we don't have any details for where and when this might be, so for the immediate future, we'll be taking no more orders for bikes or frames."
Before the welding gear goes into mothballs, Roberts is selling off a selection of bikes and frames from the showroom. These "represent the finest work that we do" says Roberts, so they're a chance to own a piece of lovingly-crafted history.
Chas Roberts started welding when he was just 14, helping out in the business then run by his father Charles.
When Charles Roberts died in 1979, Chas inherited the business which continued to be a stalwart of the South-East's custom bike scene. For years Roberts was one of a handful of businesses literally carrying the torch for bespoke bikes when the mountain bike boom and the shift to aluminium frames cut into the traditional steel road frame market.
In recent years, new and affluent cyclists looking for something craftsman-made and unique have driven a renaissance in custom framebuilding, and Roberts has been in the vanguard. In 2012 the Roberts Rough Stuff won Best Touring Bicycle at the first Bespoked Handmade Bike Show.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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8 comments
Gutted. Was hoping to get a new frame for my birthday next year. Even got in touch but was told they weren't placing any new orders until they had got through the backlog (that's before the news broke). Epic frames & I'm a huge fan.
Therefore will just have to enjoy the 4 that I've got.
I have an audax that Roberts made for me. It's an incredibly good bike, really light, fast and easy to ride, just a constant pleasure. I cycled from Dunkerque to Perpignan on it last year and never had a moment's trouble with it. This year I'll do Caen - Montpellier. I hope Chas gets a well-earned break and comes back even better!
This is the end of an era... Without Chas ( eventually) building our bikes ( White Spider & DogsBOLX) in the late 1980's my best mate Mark & I wouldn't have kept mountain biking & cycling . Roberts fillet brazing is / was pure artisan craftsmanship - We won't see his high quality workmanship again.
Going to the workshop & hearing & seeing your bikes being welded before your eyes was something I will treasure- Thanks to Chas & all the guys at Roberts Cycles
Dogs BOLX
Best of luck in whatever he does. Lots of young Turks getting the headlines these days So maybe a good time for a week earned rest and a think.
I bought a Roberts for my 40th, nearly 9 years ago, and it is still the bike I love most.
Hope they continue but I think they're in a funny spot - bigger than just a boutique, niche builder - half the audaxers in the south-east are on Roberts bikes. But not quite making that jump to do more volume.
It could be that he just likes it that way but it would be a pity to see them disappear.
In other words, he's retired for good.
Very sad, good luck to him in whatever he does next. He's earned it!
You know Brother Geoff is still going down on the south coast? And you can learn to build with him too?
https://www.facebook.com/geoffrobertsframes
Highly recommended.