October 22nd
Festka
Based in Prague, Czech Republic, Festka are known for custom handmade carbon bicycles, Often seen is the Scalatore, the sub 6kg climbing bike. Festka is always viewed with beautiful paint and graphic designs ranging from stealth to ultra-bold designs. All this is topped off with careful attention to details in the weave patterns and immaculate finish work.
October 14th
Stinner Frameworks - Santa Barbara CA
Stinner Frameworks we are known for two things: Handbuilt frames that ride amazing, and outstanding design-minded paint finishes. Over the years they have created hundreds upon hundreds of unique in-house designs, inspired colorways, and full custom show bikes. Check out the “Vault” on their website for a plethora of options.
Every bike tells a story of the rider, the brand, and the process. They offer a range of bikes in steel and titanium, all available with custom paint. For gravel/explorer fans the Refugio is the go-to frameset with 700x45c, Roadies - the Gibraltar D - set up for flat-mount disc and then the responsive Tunnel hardtail mtb setup
https://www.stinnerframeworks.com/
https://www.instagram.com/stinnerframeworks/
October 8th
Repete Cycles - Prague
Designed and produced handmade steel bikes out of our workshop in Prague, Czech Republic.Advanced materials, attention to detail, and quality craftsmanship are essential to our brand. We are in complete control of production – from innovative design solutions to aesthetic design to complete bike construction. For us, cycling represents the freedom of movement, discovery, and community. Whether the road winds along with perfect asphalt, unpaved gravel, or forest paths.
https://www.instagram.com/repetecycles/
The latest bike is a collaboration between two brands. Repete and Rap as shown on our Instagram.
The Repete Reason is a road model made of high-strength Columbus steel, complete with disc brakes and a carbon fork. The bold combination of colors and graphic elements in this special edition bike captures the spirit of both brands. While Repete symbolically pulls Rap’s street fashion out of the city, Rap brings the road bike into the city environment. This model is now available in Repete’s running collection. “The base is our handmade Reason frame, which is then fitted with components according to the desires of the customer. The specificity of the collection is a certain openness. Each customer has the freedom to choose and compile a series of diary photos which will be imprinted permanently onto the frame.” — says co-founder Repete Robin Fišer.
http://repete.cc/en/magazine_gallery/repete_rap_collection_en
September 24th
Dlouhy-Cycles - Leipzig Germany
The first idea of starting a frame building workshop came on the bike polo court 2017 in Leipzig. By the time I still worked as a design engineer for a big german bike brand and Mario, my partner, was working in the automotive industry as technician for car engine life tests.
Mario had a tiny 10m² hobby workshop where he used to fix our vintage track "Polo" bike builds when a seat stay came off or a frame needed canti bosses on the track fork.
He had a jig and some experience, I came with big enthusiasm for the craft and a lot of experience for developing frame geometries so we just decided to quit our jobs and look for a place together.
In May 2018 Dlouhy-Cycles was born.
What drives your passion?
We both love cycling and we do it in different disciplines for years. Cyclocross Racing, Bikepacking, Enduro Mountainbiking and I still play Polo at least once a week.
The passion for making custom frames, obviously, has to do with being a passionate bike rider. But it also comes from the idea to build the perfect frame. The perfect road frame for me is sure not the perfect road frame for Mario. So being able to come close to make perfect bikes/frames we need to know some stuff about the interaction of anthropometry and bicycle geo, we need to understand people's individual idea of their dream bike and we need to have the technical skills to actually build decent stuff. The combination of all that makes frame building a very challenging and fulfilling task.
And at the end, if you do everything right, you have a customer riding the first meters on his/her new bike in front of your workshop with the biggest grin on the face - it also might be just that, which drives our passion.
What type of bicycle do you enjoy crafting the most?
We really like bigger tired Allroad bikes - clean lines, internal cable routing, 1by drive train, wide drop bar, beefy and fast.
The area of Leipzig is very flat so riding gravel roads and small flowy trails in the bushes is what we and the people around us here do the most.
What is your main expertise / material, technique? etc
Fillet brazed frames is what we do. So daily brazing and filing brings us slowly to the point where we can confidently say we´re experts on that field. But with every frame we do, the own expectations in our skills slide one level up. We learn every day and, beeing a perfectionist, I guess that this learning never ends.
Besides the craftmanship in our workshop we always try to have a close relationship to our customers right from the beginning. We like them to be part of the whole frame building process. It´s time consuming but for our understanding it´s part of getting a custom frame in contrast to order a series frame.
Our bikes look unique. It´s a bit sad to say that as a frame builder, but a big part of the beauty of our frames comes from the paint. When we started our frame building thing we asked a friend to design our logo. He also designed and painted the graphics for our first frames and now he designs and paints the graphics for all our frames. Fully custom. Unique Frame - Unique Paintjob. Wideways is a very important part of dlouhy-cycles.
How do you see the future?
Car is over! Bikes are beautiful! We are sure that the dlouhy-cycles family will grow fast.
https://www.dlouhy-cycles.com/
https://www.instagram.com/wide_ways/
September 17th
Jaegher Cycles
Jaegher Cycles (Belgium - West Flanders) have been making steel bikes since 1934 a tradition passed down between generations.
They have made bikes for some of the worlds most famous cyclists, Eddy Merckx, Sean Kelly, Jean-Pierre Monseré, Roger De Vlaeminck, Michel Pollentier, Etienne De Wilde, Radomir Simunek, and many other Flandriens, champions and Olympic gold winners on the road.
Eddy is Jaegher’s master welder. He started welding road bikes when he was 18. He welded for the greatest cyclists in the world and for an incredible number of teams.
https://www.instagram.com/jaegher_cycles/
September 10th
Alliance Bicycles
Based in Hailey, Idaho. US. - Alliance bicycles was formed in 2008. They handcraft custom frames using Tig welded Titanium for the most part, but also Steel and Stainless steel.
Erik enjoys making all styles of bikes. “It helps me not feel like I'm doing the same thing over and over. One week I might make a rim brake road bike, then the next week I'll build a full suspension 29er or a hardtail. Covid has required me to keep significantly more inventory on hand. Both are due to demand and lead times. And I think we may see a return of more locally made parts and bicycle frames.”
Check out their website of great looking bikes
https://www.instagram.com/alliancebicycles/
Friday September 3rd
Stooge Cycles
Stooge cycles is based in Shropshire, UK. Sandwiched between Birmingham and Wales, Shropshire is home to the UK’s first skyscraper in 1797 and a lot of hedgehogs. Generally, this beautiful rural part of the country is where Stooge cycles are perfectly at home developing dirt oriented bikes.
Founded in 2014, Andy designs, prototypes and tests steel frame designs in the Welsh countryside that give you the smash hits like the Scrambler.
The Scrambler is Andy’s idea of the perfect '1 bike to rule them all'. You can bag it up and ride off into the sunset. You can strip it down and hit the MX track and mix it with the big boys. There's Klunker DNA in here and Stooge DNA too, it handles beautifully, goes like stink and makes you realize how capable a rigid bike can be.
https://www.instagram.com/stoogecycles/
Andy also just told me they recently rescued a hedgehog, how good is that!
Friday August 27th
St. Joris Cycles / Sputnik
St. Joris started about 10 years ago, as a hobby next to Alex’s job as a consultant in mechanical engineering / materials technology. Located in the Netherlands, St. Joris makes silver filleted steel bikes ,custom tailored to its owner.
From a racing background they specialise in road and cx racing frames. “The Evil Plan is a dream to build the best and most beautiful bikes on the planet.” as their mission. They have been building a Rapha Continental bike in the past in lugged construction but our main construction type is steel tubing and silver fillet brazing for the St. Joris road bikes and TIG welding for our batch Sputnik gravel bikes.
Sputnik is a collaboration between engineer Alex de Kraker and designer Chaim Becker. The yearly batch of Sputniks is inspired by riding those unexplored paths. Paths that trigger your fascination, because they are too rugged, steep or tough to explore with a regular roadbike. That’s why we design and build these do-it-all workhorses.
Sputnik KOSMOS
The Kosmos was the 2nd generation Sputnik, introduced in 2019. With it’s sparkling near-black basecoat and turquoise details matching the Chris King Matte Turquoise headset, this one was our most subtle to date but still a head-turner as well. The optional Chris King Matte Turquoise limited edition R45 hubset was the cherry on the cake.
The latest Sputniks (called Cara) use T47bb’s, in house designed 3d printed dropouts and Cerakote technologies. Check out more here.
https://wearesputnik.cc/
https://www.instagram.com/wearesputnik/
http://www.stjoriscycles.nl/
https://www.instagram.com/stjoriscycles/
Friday Aug 19th
Bearclaw Bicycle Co
When did you start? / where are you located?
Bearclaw started in 2015 inspired by the unpredictable weather patterns of northern Michigan. They craft titanium bikes known for their versatility, resilience, and speed. Bearclaw combines high-end, all-road performance with bikepacking ingenuity.
We live and ride here in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. This is a unique zone that gifts us with 4 wildly different seasons and varying terrain. From hot and dry summers to arctic winters, sandy two tracks to hard-packed gravel roads, we’ve no shortage of change in the terrain our tires roll. We love designing and creating bicycles for our region. Particularly titanium drop bar bicycles with big tires. We are grateful that these designs resonate with a few other people across the globe.
What type of bicycle do you enjoy crafting the most?
Anything with drop bars and big tires that rides smooth but is still capable of going fast should the pilot decide to push hard on the pedals.
What is your main expertise / material, technique? etc
We are experts in creating Titanium drop-bar bicycles with performance-driven geometries along with adventure-ready capabilities of accepting large tires. Ride all day long bikes. Go fast if you feel like going fast bikes. The benefits of running larger tires continue to impress, even on the gravel race circuits.
In addition to making bicycles, we also put on gravel bike races here in Michigan. The upcoming event we’re most excited about is the MORAN 166 which takes place in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan on September 11. It’s a proper adventure race that’s going to be beautifully scenic, fast-paced and tons of fun.
https://bearclawbicycleco.com/
https://www.instagram.com/bearclawbicycleco/
Friday Aug 13th
Bordure Cycles
Bordure cycles produced handcrafted steel and titanium bicycle frames, located in Épernay France. Approx. 90miles NE of Paris.
https://www.instagram.com/bordurecycles/
Officially Bordure was created in the middle of 2018. The name of the company has been chosen because, for me, it has several meanings. Bordure for the reference of the racing action, but also « a Bordure » take a step back to the classic commercialisation, & to develop the customized service to satisfy as far as possible the customer.
What types of cycles do you enjoy crafting the most?
I have not a preference of type of cycle. I work by feeling. I enjoy to share with the customer, and try to find a new piece, or new tips to resolve his desire.
But I really enjoy working on complex road frameset with integration of 3D parts, but I also like make some gravel/adventure frameset.
What is you main expertise? / materials etc
I come from the world of the racing, so I try to give the best attention and support to my customers, like the attention that i was able to receive during my own racing experience. We all like to have people behind us to prepare our bike project. In my side, I work hard to promote steel and these qualities but also to show that steel can be modern, beautiful and efficient.
I only work with Columbus tubing Xcr, Life, Zona with also personal 3D printed parts.
How has covid changed your business?
The Covid has change life and World. People change & want to develop the local distribution channel. People want to do work with local industry, want to know how, who and where is made their product. i think it is a good thing in the Covid crisis, people start to become aware that we need to protect the planet, and think to the Environment and revise the way to move & to buy.
For me this period inspired and reinforced the idea that I had to go forward while being different. Because each customer is unique and can have their own bike. But also reveal that I need to continue to work with a local suppliers or involved in an environmental policy. This crisis has demonstrate that we need to work with our own tool and way to continue to work.
How do you see the future?
I think the future of cycling going to the good way, mentality change day after day. So the Framebuilders, Brand, the rest of cycling industry and I, have long days of working in front.
What drives your passion?
It is my love of cycling, performance, research and sharing with my clients that motivates me on a daily basis. I like to wake up day after day with a different project, a different client, which will be different from yesterday and also the day after tomorrow ... Always stay on the move, constantly develop. As Mr. Albert EINSTEIN said “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you have to keep moving ”.
Friday Aug 6th
Bice Bicycles
Dario has been hand making bicycles for 10 years, with a deep passion in cycling he customises steel in the small town of Verdirio close to Milan, Northern Italy. Dario gets his cycling chops from some legends in the region such as - Mattia (Legor), Dario Pegoretti, Gianni Gilardi and Preda, Stucchi and Perego (who have worked for their own brands, as well as for Ernesto Colnago).
Dario is unique in the fact that he also individually paints the dream build frames that he welds for you. If you check out his website or instagram feed you will see some amazing work. We particularly like his current “out of space” frame.
We asked Dario for some words that describe his philosophy and current state in cycling. The following is translated from Italian but as you can see , really shows the passion behind his craft.
The best thing I discovered doing this job is the '' knowing how to listen ''. I am surrounded by professionals of the sector who always have something to teach! the important thing is not only to have a working relationship but also a friendship relationship. if that is missing, there is no complicity, the synergy of forces to go beyond the line you have followed so far. think of the Wandrian model: it was born from the synergy between me, Giulio mancini di Ingrid and the cyclist Fagia. exchanging ideas led to the creation of a frame that is world champion of cx singlespeed 2017 (ridden by Fagia) and then, with some modifications, it became the model I am most fond of. all 3 had understood that the future of gravel is the 29er wheel and we designed the wandrian model around them. a war machine for fast bikepacking was born with which Fagia won the 2018 edition of the tuscany trail. If it had not been for this synergy, this complicity and knowing how to listen and rely on the skills of others, this wandrian would never have existed. but the same goes for cyclists who come to me to have a frame made. if you don't know how to listen to them and understand their point of view, you will never be able to create a discussion that can involve the customer in the design of the frame. Obviously all this has a not indifferent time commitment! but it brings great results both in emotional terms: many of my cyclists come back to me to have the second or third frame made. What's more beautiful than this ?
How did covid affect things?
Now the post-covid era has begun. and the symbol of this new era is the bike. in both positive and negative terms. to survive we will have to be healthier and more environmental and the bike is that vehicle that is part of the solution. from a negative point of view, globalization has shown its weak side: we need a common vision in solidarity with many small industrial / artisan districts throughout the territory and to enhance local craftsmanship. because it is from small artisans that the largest and most beautiful companies in the world are born! and above all because the craftsmen talk to each other and in addition to performance they also speak of passion.
The first teaching I received was from Gianni Gilardi. I asked him ingeniously `` what does it take to be a frame builder? '' (I meant which suppliers, materials, machinery). he replied `` you need malice '' - malizia is a popular term to indicate an approach that goes beyond `` craftiness '', it is a set of mental approaches on listening, knowing how to speak with professionals and customers, knowing how to do, knowing how to find solutions to new standards, improving the structure of chassis,...
Goals for the future?
have 48-hour days! I need more time to work, take an interest in cyclists, ride a bike, but above all experiment! if I don't have time to experiment I get angry because I know that there is a solution for everything (except for death and births) but I need time to observe and understand! think about the painting: like everyone else I started with the acrylic painting, very beautiful but very weak. and then I invested time in 3 layer cured coating. excellent resistance but limited colors. but only over time (and comparing myself with my painter friend) have I also managed to get the cromovelati colors that I like so much.
and then: being in the workshop all day allows me to hear a lot of music. not whether it is beautiful or ugly. it depends on personal tastes. until a few months ago I entered an Italian rap loop (gemitaiz, salmo, amchete crew) but I'm not a spotify type, I'm the old way: keep listening to albunìm until I'm full of it. now i'm back to hardcore punk and i'm really curious to hear the new Turnstile album. then when the machines don't make noise I listen to some philosophical treatise or some historical one. in short, there is never Bice silence.
https://www.instagram.com/bicebicycles/
Friday July 30th
Quirk Cycles
Quirk are based in Stratford London where they build a small range of custom steel bicycles. Their designs are based on proven geometry inspired by some of the most demanding endurance cycling events in the world, each of the bikes are built with a purpose and it’s that purpose which drives the design process.
Quirk offers four base styles to build upon: a road, allroad, gravel adventure and bikepacking. Along with custom geometry and features, customers can also specify unique paint schemes with Quirk’s Paint-Haus - there's some stunners to be seen on their website.
https://www.instagram.com/quirkcycles/
Friday July 23rd
Corner Bikes
Corner is a bicycle frame brand with a workshop in Sakai city, Osaka prefecture. Corner and Soukawagarage share the same space, where they handbuild frames such as road racers and cyclocross using chromoly. (uses kaisei / columbus tube) with both TIG and fillet brazing.
Corner derives frame designs by incorporating the opinions of the rider, seller, and maker, select tubes of various thicknesses and diameters, and make the bike as simple as possible so that the owner will like it for life.
https://soukawagarage.com/
https://www.instagram.com/corner_soukawagarage/
Friday July 16th
Breadwinner Cycles
Based in Portland, Oregon, the company was formed by two friends Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira. Both Ira and Tony have roots in cycling with many years operating individually building frames until 2016 when they joined forces. Ira from backgrounds of road and gravel and Tony from mtb both disliked the seemingly overzealous lead times for a custom frame, which spurred them to team up forces.
Now they offer a 2-4 month process for customers, designed from the ground up with a fitting, all the way through paint to assembly. Most currently known for their B-Road design which offers a versatile road style bike with larger all surface rubber. Breadwinner offer a range of custom bikes from touring to mtb their shop handcrafts from steel mainly Columbus Zona, Spirit and Life tubing.
The latest in the press is the Bad Otis MTB which was shown at the Enve Grodeo.
https://breadwinnercycles.com/
https://www.instagram.com/breadwinnercycles/
Friday July 9th
Pratt Frameworks
Max Pratt started Pratt Frameworks in 2017 located in Providence Rhode Island, with roots as a furniture designer and mechanic at Cambridge Bicycle. Max honed his skills through building frames for his competitive bicycle racing friends, which proved as a great testing ground. Real world feedback still serves as a great source for developing his designs and Pratt actively holds a team mentality supporting riders and hosting Pratt racing.
From Max's designs you can clearly see he has a design school sensibility in his bikes and the minimal clean design of his website.
Max builds using Tig welded steel using a combination of custom formed cromoloy and columbus tubing specializing in track and off-road bikes and moving into dirt and adventure styles.
https://www.prattframeworks.com/
https://www.instagram.com/prattframeworks/
Friday July 2nd
Standert Bicycles
Standert, translated means "holds its own", a newer company from Berlin that is filling the gap between bespoke bicycles and mass production. Their style and build philosophy is quite interesting, engineering complete in Berlin and globally manufactured with different hand-builders around the world in small batches. Their bicycles are offered in frame and fork along with various full build configurations.
Standert are a large proponent of the T47 bb standard for threaded reliability with the stiffness and power advantage of a larger bb shell.
Offering some snappy designs at a luxury, not boutique price-point enables them to get a foothold in places not ventured by most companiess.
https://www.instagram.com/standertbicycles/
https://www.instagram.com/gokhankutluer/
Friday June 25th
Enigma Bicycle Works
Founded in southern England in 2006 and specialising in steel frames. Enigma quickly grew and opened a spin-off / side arm paint shop in 2013. In 2014 Enigma fully jumped into UK made titanium along with exhibiting in international bike shows and distributing in Australia. Enigma are now a team of 10 with 4 frame builders and have become less of an actual enigma for consumers by offering some well thought out custom bicycles. Most accolades nowadays seem to be of the titanium variants.
Follow their paint specific instagram for some really custom eye candy on all materials.
https://www.instagram.com/enigmapaintworks/
https://www.instagram.com/enigmabicycles/
Friday June 18th 2021
Feather Cycles
Feather cycles hail from York, England. A beautiful town in Northern England with some exemplary architecture from the 7th century (1400's), York Minster being the showpiece of the city may explain some of the philosophy behind Feather.
Friday June 11th 2021
Distance Bicycles
An extension of the Victoire brand, Distance produces timeless bikes, free from fashion and obsolescence. Consistency, simplicity, driving pleasure and ethics, these are the values carried by Distance.
Entirely designed and manufactured in France, Distance is a responsible brand, concerned with reducing its impact on the environment. The bikes are handmade in the Auvergne workshop.
The choice of steel as a construction material follows the same logic: steel is the sustainable and recyclable material par excellence, a modern material as well as timeless, which is easy to repair and offers unique piloting comfort. Distance exclusively uses Columbus brand tubes, made with the Milanese brand's top-of-the-range tube series: Life, Spirit, and 29er.
see distance at https://distance.bike/ or on instagram @distance.bike
