Bespoked London 2014


A few weekends ago the Bespoked handmade bicycle show came to London, it was held in Bristol for the past few years and this year it came to the Lee Valley velodrome in Stratford, the venue of the 2012 London Olympics.  It's quite a world away from the London Bike show which is more for large volume manufacturers, it mostly features small volume, handmade and mostly local British builders.




The show also featured many other amazing bikes such as this Cherubim from Japan, smoothed over fillet brazing reminiscent of the classic Cinelli Laser.



Disc braked bikes were a very popular theme, particularly on road/cyclocross, do-it-all type bikes in the same school of though as the Genesis I built recently.


14 Bike Co. had their own crosser setup with Enve deep carbon rims



As well as some wood rimmed bikes


The Lee Valley velodrome is a great venue, built by Hopkins Architects in 2011 for the London Olympics in Stratford.  The shape of the roof has given it the nickname of "The Pringle" for it's resemblance to the aforementioned potato chip.  The show was held in the middle of the velodrome with riders whizzing by on the track.



A slightly quirky/cute town bike..


And an even quirkier downhill type bike...  I wasn't too sure how the suspension worked but they had a video to explain it.

The token bamboo bike...


Also an amazing multiple thin-tubed frame.  I have no idea what this is for but it looked amazing.


You think a 29er is big?  This is a 36" wheel bike...



Lots of fantastic handmade cyclocross and disc braked road bikes around this year...


Also a motorpacing speed record bike, instead of using an enormous chainring it uses two large ones instead.


Ryan from Oak Cycles who incidentally is doing some frame work on The Postmaster does a lot of custom cycles.  The brief for the one pictured above was something along the lines of being able to take all my luggage but not giving anything up in speed.

 
This long John cargo bike was built for a carpenter who needed a bike big enough to haul all his tools to work every day.


The Stunning bike which won best of show...


Inside a Rohloff, looks mighty complicated compared to a Sturmey Archer 3-speed.



Like bling?  Why not gold plate everything metal on your bamboo framed bike...




This lowrider was quite a standout, not sure how rideable it is but it looked great.



These frames by Tsubasa really stood out, with a rough and ready aesthetic and rectangular shaped tube profiles.





Wood rims everywhere, however these ones hid a bed of carbon fibre to reinforce the rim structure.






Great to see an Aussie bike builder win the Best road bike award for a gorgeous bike.



I saw this and wondered where the brake lever was...


The bottom part of the drop bar features a twist grip which pulls on the front disc.  Not sure how effective this would be, but it is probably more of a show bike.



Just in case someone wants to steal your valve caps.


A nice lo-pro spotted in the parking area.



During the show there was a track practice session going on.   That's all for now from Bespoked 2014.  Thanks for reading.

4 comments:

  1. those Tsubasa frames look cool, lots of bike porn :)
    that bike shop you showed the bike with the trailer and panniers where he was talking about sacrificing nothing for speed, I reckon the key to a fast commuter with luggage capability is that the luggage sits directly behind the rider's torso, panniers which catch wind slow you down too much. I'd like to see someone come up with something like that, however it would make your ride very top heavy..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yep lots of bike porn. Actually the guy who did the work on my post bike is the builder for that fast commuter/trailer bike. With the aerodynamic luggage thing, I think the Carradice saddlebag fits quite nicely right in the rider's slipstream?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Get construction services from Local Builders in UK at reasonable cost. We are one of the leading repair services provider adn has served many clients.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for sharing this knowledge with us. Looking for Local Builders in the UK? Contact Vetted Trades Online.

    ReplyDelete