Beautiful Bikes of Bespoked UK - Part 1
This was our first time to the Bespoked UK show and it was a blast. It was so great to catch up with friends, meet new people, finally put faces to IG handles, and see cool custom bikes - all the while with track racing all around us!
Bespoked is a London-based expo focused around custom ("bespoke" if you're in the UK) and high-end production bikes and accessories - with a focus mostly on UK and European companies. This year it was hosted in the 2012 Olympic Velodrome. It's really inspiring to be in the same facility that some of the highest class of riders in the WORLD raced in. But enough chit-chat, let's get to the galleries!
Pi at Clandestine does a masterful job of balancing performance, utility, and classic styling like none other. The integration of racks, mudguards (we're in the UK, remember?), and dynamo lighting creates a perfect package specifically designed for this bike. This all-road touring build features our 650b Smooth Mudguards, Long Setback Seatpost, Disc Rear Hub, Voyager Rims, Retro Bottle Cages, Copenhagen Kickstand, and a previous generation Crazy Bar. The icing on the cake is a super slick, integrated steering stop. It's exceptionally useful to stop the wheel from flopping around when loading the front of the bike up.
Now I hang out in the same garage as Bob but I agree that TIG welding just does not make it for me as far as the moniker “Bespoke” is concerned. Bespoke could mean just custom fit which those bike could be but Bespoke also infers a certain handmade beauty which those bikes just don’t have.
I have a very similar bike like Crossley Metal: Berthoud front bag with VO front rack with a decaleur. It is very unfortunate that the two of them are not designed to match well together. The decaleur on the Berthoud bags should be attached higher where the leather enforce the bag structure.
With the shown setup the top of the bag just sits on itself. The bag will use prematurely this way. I’ve shown this problem to VO and Berthoud and both companies suggest going throught with their product line (Mixing products is a risky enterprise…).
A decaleur with longer teeth would solve this problem but VO does not produce it. In my mind this would make VO front racks even more desireable, but I guess I’m not a good in business.
It’s spectacular that you have some of your product featured on builds in a show like this. “Bespoke” just feels like a higher echelon over “custom”. New level in the international cycling stratosphere. Make a bad ass Polyvent build for this show next year, and show a little American muscle from across the pond, that is, if you can get invited to show…you have half a bike’s worth of parts on other peoples’ builds. Keep up the great work with great products.
Very much like NAHBS here, with equally odd bikes, and unattractive to us classic bike fans. Hard to make TIG welding look other than like bubble gum. Now here’s a bespoke builder to be reckoned with, Corey Thompson of Olympia
https://thompsoncustombicycles.com/
wow. that seems like an awesome show!! is VO going to the Philly Bike Expo this year??
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