Age Mackenzie was inspired by last year's show to make the Cyclone

Cycling

See the best handcrafted bikes on display the Bespoked Bike Show

The Bespoked UK Handmade Bicycle Show hosts hundreds unique designs and bike builds for all two-wheeler fans to enjoy every year. Find out some of the highlights from the show.

Written by Sam Dugon

6 min readPublished on 06.06.2019 · 14:59 UTC

With hundreds of beautifully handcrafted bicycles – usually a collaboration between builder and customer – on display at the Bespoked show, there is plenty to inspire cyclists for their next ride.

On May 3-5, 2019, the ninth edition of the Bespoked Bike Show took place in Bristol at Brunel’s Old Station and hosted the world’s greatest artisan bicycle makers and some of their incredible creations. Here are some of the tops picks from the day.

Spoon Customs

Andy has been customising bikes for 3 years
© Saskia Dugon

Spoon Customs Izoard RR Yves Klein
© Saskia Dugon

Creator of Spoon Customs, Andy, has been running, designing and creating bikes for the past three years. Chatting to Andy about how it all began, he says;

“I’ve loved bikes forever, so I used to race mountain bikes when I was a kid, and then fell out of love with bikes for a bit whilst I was working in London. I forgot all of that stuff and after a bit of a health scare, I had a moment where I just thought I need to get back on my bike. I got back on my bike and then went down that rabbit hole. From that, I ended up getting into building, reading a load of books, did a load of training, ran away to France and the opportunity came to start a company, so I just got on with it – and now I work with builders in Italy who can reach much higher standards than me. We just make beautifully fabricated bikes. I oversee all that, I look after that and make it happen.”

One of the bikes on show is the Spoon Customs Izoard RR Yves Klein. Inspired by the French artist Yves Klein, rider Andrew Rumble approached Spoon Customs looking to create a unique bike in Klein blue for his ride from London to Nice, where Andrew would be going to see and admire some of Klein's work.

Head to www.SpoonCustoms.com or visit Instagram to see more

Sven Cycles

Sven Cycleworks creating the perfect touring bike
© Saskia Dugon

Built for a man called Oscar Jenkinson who wished to undertake the Tour Divide route solo, the bike has just returned from 6 months bike-packing through America. Mog the builder and designer talks us through how it came to be.

“Well Oscar came to us and said he wanted to do the Tour Divide, which is a large cycling route through America, he didn’t have much money but he works in a bike shop, so he gets bits cheap. He got the fork and I designed the frame around him and what he wanted to do with it, and sent him on his way, and he came back six months later a changed man," says Mog.

Head to www.SvenCycles.com or visit Instagram to see more

Mackenzie Cyclone

17 years after a quick doodle whilst on the phone in 2002, the Mackenzie Cyclone bike became a reality for Age Mackenzie. After visiting the Bespoked Bike show in 2018, he was inspired to go ahead, enrol in the bicycle academy and pursue his dream of turning his unique doodle into a bespoke design. A year later, he’s here at the same show that kicked it all into gear and showing off two models of the bike.

Head to www.MackenzieCyclone.com to see more

Clandestine

Owner Pi wants his bikes to be unique and punk
© Saskia Dugon

The ultimate touring bike
© Saskia Dugon

Even the bags are bespoke
© Saskia Dugon

Utilitarian and punk, that’s the best way to describe Clandestine bikes. At the show, we chatted to company creator and frame builder Pi Manson about where it all came from.

Running for just around two years, Pi wanted his punk and diy ethos to shine through when it came to his own bikes, whilst also ensuring that the bikes were simple, functional and accessible for everyone.

“I was a bike mechanic for a long time and I suppose I just wanted to make some stuff that wasn’t available. Like racks, the kind of racks that I build, you can’t find or buy anywhere, you know, so I really wanted make them and make something better than I could see was available.”

Head to www.Clandestine.cc or visit Instagram to see more

Auguste

From a love of cycling, evolved a love of adapting old bikes for the modern world, and from that, came an intrigue and love of frame building. French brand Auguste, created by Victor Duchêne has been running for four years in London, where his motto is 'not only cycle, re-cycle'. Being given bikes from his grandfather who worked in the Peugeot factory in France, Victor began cycling and then tinkering with bikes before looking to adapt old bicycles to fit modern technology.

Victor Duchêne uses recycled materials to build his designs
© Saskia Dugon

One of the bikes on display was a made-to-measure e-bike that was created for a woman working as an Arboriculturalist (fancy word for tree surgeon) in the Pine forests of the Cévennes, France. She needed something that could get up and down the mountain, was practical, easy to get on and off and could handle a varying amount of terrain. Victor designed the August e-bike for her which is a bike that can get around the mountains better than a 4X4 and still take her into the local town.

The other bike on display was an old Peugeot road bike which was one of his personal favourites which he had adapted to fit components like Sram 11 speed.

Head to www.AugusteHandmade.com or visit their Instagram to see more

Fraise Cycles

As this bike was raced in the fourth edition of the Transcontinental Race in 2016, it has covered over 4000km leaving from Belgium, unsupported and headed to Turkey.

Andreas Behrens designed the bike to provide maximum comfort and practicality, with features like an integrated USB port in the stem to charge your GPS device or phone whilst on the go. Fun fact, this bike made it across the entire race without once having a puncture.

Head to www.LaFraiseCycles.com or visit their Instagram to see more

Prova Cycles

Australian brand Prova Cycles have been running for nearly five years and this year have brought one of their first titanium bikes along to the show, and it certainly stands out with its design.

Mark was originally working as an engineer and needed a bit more of a creative outlet and began designing and building his own bikes. He began slowly setting up his own workshop at home in Australia and building prototypes, when more and more people began asking if they could buy one. From there, it all snowballed and Mark has found himself running Prova full time for the past two years. Originally building steel bikes, Mark always knew he wanted to branch out into titanium bikes and has finally had the opportunity to do so.

Mark's workshop soon became a full-time job
© Saskia Dugon

“I’ve always known that I’ve wanted to do a titanium bike, so the last six months particularly in between normal production, I’ve just been focusing on developing the process to a titanium bike, and then this is actually the very first full size titanium bike that I've built.”

The look on the bike at the show is probably the most striking, with a fade of candy like colours, Mark explains that there’s no pigment in the bike and it's instead created by applying a varying voltage through the frame which then alters the way it is perceived by our eyes.

Head to www.ProvaCycles.com or visit their Instagram to see more