Bikes and Builders of MADE 2025 (Part 2)

Additional photos by Miles Arbour

Part one of our Bikes and Builders of MADE 2025 series got off to an excellent start with some bikepacking-specific bikes, but there is truly no shortage of excellent builds at MADE this year. It’s been an incredibly hot show in more ways than one, with temperatures in Portland soaring into the triple digits. Nevertheless, nothing can contain the stoke put out by the talented crop of builders and brands on display this year. Dig into our continuing in-depth coverage below…

Significant Other link

Denver, Colorado

Ashley King of Significant Other Bikes is back at this year’s show with another subtle yet strikingly good build. Framebuilding under various other companies for nearly six years, she split off to start Significant Other Bikes just over a year ago. Primarily focusing on titanium, Ashley still makes the time to make custom offerings in steel, too. Dubbed the Rad Max, her MADE bike for this year was designed to be built up in a variety of configurations. Ashley said, “It wasn’t really meant to slot neatly into any existing category. The original idea was to show the bike in one setup one day, and then switch the cockpit and drivetrain the next. Due to time and budget, it’ll only be on display as the one build: a flat-bar, fat tire, single speed setup. The concept is a frame that sits in the in-between spaces; a platform that can be built up in any number of ways. A bike anyone could see themselves riding, and one that could adapt and change as a rider’s style and preferences evolve.” The bike features a distressed finished inspired by a friend who commissioned a bike from Ashley but never rode it due to not wanting to mess up the paint. The finish on the titanium is raw and obviously not quite as delicate as some of her prior creations.

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After an inspiring trip to Taiwan with cohort Daniel Yang of Neuhaus Metalworks, Ashley spoke to me about some conflicting feelings in the framebuilding space—about her role as someone making bikes in the capacity that she is, and what it means to continue doing so in a tumultuous financial climate. “I think my biggest fear is that the space stays small in all of the stereotypical ways. What excites me is the chance to keep building toward that bigger, more open future. To design bikes that feel honest to who I am, and to keep honoring authenticity. I get excited about carrying the DNA of my custom and show work into more accessible models, so the ideas don’t stay locked in a one-off but can actually be ridden by more people. Mostly, I’m excited by possibility. By the idea that a small shop like mine can push design forward, add a different voice to the conversation, and maybe inspire someone who never saw themselves here and therefore never thought to imagine they could be. That’s what makes the risk and the fear worth it. What’s the saying? Be the change you want to see. Because, in all honesty, seeing is believing.”

I think I speak for all of us when I say that we have more than enough proof to believe in what Ashley is doing. Right now, she’s exploring ways to create more production-style offerings that could be more accessible for customers who can’t afford full-custom builds, integrating some aspect of the “show bike” elements she’s best known for. As a testament to her creativity and style, Ashley won second place at this year’s show in the People’s Choice category.

Slow Southern Steel link

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Jesse Turner, owner-operator of Slow Southern Steel Fabrication out of Fayetteville, Arkansas, is out in force at this year’s MADE bike show with some of his most unique creations to date. Jesse is a small but mighty maker out of Arkansas who has already fabricated some of the winningest bikes in the industry. With a partner like Natalie Peet and friends like Andrew Onermaa, one might say that isn’t exactly tough, but Jesse’s tools have been found worthy of some of the best and brightest in the ultra-endurance bikepacking space.

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As a personal project, Jesse’s MADE bike is the solution to his bikepacking conversion problems. Sick of using his hardtail for weekend trips in the Ozarks, Jesse made a 120mm corrected hardtail with an exterior skeleton made of tubular stainless steel for a few reasons. First and foremost, it looks sick. Second, it serves as a great basis for bikepacking bags and as a standoff to keep this stellar paint job intact. Lastly, Jesse based the look and design of the tubing on an old bike he recently inherited from his late grandfather.

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Featuring a custom front spring design, Jesse wanted a unique take on his truss fork. With modern truss forks typically attaching at an integrated spacer, Jesse circumvented said system by drilling into a set of bars and attaching an acorn-style nut to the top. This makes it easier to change the height of the bars, and it also pays homage to the suspension-like design of the antique bike he inherited. Though this spring system doesn’t hold tension, it’s a unique take on the modern truss fork, and one that adds something interesting to the design.

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The bike also features a double seatstay using the same tubular stainless steel system as the front for a rear rack. It’s something Jesse says is far too lightweight to be able to sell to a customer but a design he’s more than comfortable riding himself. The paint job was also done by Jesse, and he used bits of hobby paint for the smaller details on the head badge and downtube.

Natalie’s Race-Winning Hardtail

Natalie Peet is an accomplished up-and-coming bikepack racer who also happens to be Jesse’s partner. Though she suffered a pretty serious facial injury while taking first place at DOOM this year, Natalie has shown no signs of slowing down on her custom Slow Southern Steel hardtail. With some cool, unique bits like the aesthetic chain-bridge seatstay, DOOM bell, and name buried somewhere underneath the powder coat, Natalie, one of two South City Stitchworks-sponsored athletes, has her eyes set on something big after scratching from the Colorado trail a few weeks ago. Though she has a day job mapping for Progressive Trail Design, she’s planning to make some time for big trips and plenty of time in the saddle, too.

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The bike itself is a hardtail built for bikepacking. It has a 67-degree head tube angle, a 74.5 seat tube angle, sliding dropouts, and is powder-coated in pearl lavender. It also has hand-bent titanium bars from Jesse and Ben from Bear Creek, and an entire set of custom matching bags from South City Stitchworks. Per Natalie, the parts are a collection from Facebook marketplace and take-offs from a bike that her father gifted her. With a 2.6″ Maxxis Rekon in the front and a 2.4″ in the back, Natalie says it’s the best bike she’s ever ridden.

Andrew Onermaa’s Tour Divide-Winning Single-Speed

Rounding off Jesse’s crop of bikes is one near and dear to our readership: Andrew Onermaa’s Tour Divide-winning single-speed. Something of a general model Jesse is calling “the Warhorn,” this single-speed is one of the fastest to be pedaled from Banff, Canada, to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Featuring a 120mm suspension fork, a 67-degree head tube angle, and adjustable 430-450mm chainstays, the bike has plenty of stack height and a low BB to “keep things comfy for Andrew.” Other than that, Jesse considers it a pretty standard hardtail that Andrew rides as a do-it-all on trails and on bikepacking trips.

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Tumbleweed Bicycle Co. link

Garden City, Idaho

Tumbleweed was one of the few production-only bike brands at the show, but given their commitment to some of the most well-equipped bikepacking bikes around, we were eager to see what they had on display. It turns out they had a number of exciting updates to their Sunliner, Prospector, and Stargazer models. We spent some time with Tumbleweed’s founder, Daniel Molloy, to get the full scoop.

Prospector Ti Prototype

In 2022, Tumbleweed expanded their lineup of steel bikepacking bikes with their first titanium model: the Stargazer Ti. We’re pleased to see their titanium options expanding with the introduction of a titanium Sunliner and Prospector. Daniel was particularly excited to show off the Prosector Ti prototype they had on display, because not only was it the brand’s first model, but it’s also the Prospector’s (and the brand’s) 10th anniversary.

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Aside from a flashy new titanium frame, the Prospector Ti has a slick machined one-piece titanium yoke instead of a hollow cast steel yoke found on the steel version. It provides all the same tire clearances and capabilities as the steel model, including clearance for 29 x 3.0″ tires and 27.5 x 3.8″ tires. On the underside of the yoke is a machined tumbleweed graphic that pays homage to the brand’s original logo. The titanium Prospector weighs about two pounds less than the steel version.

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Tumbleweed also had a Sunliner Ti on display that is now based around SRAM UDH dropouts. The Sunliner and Prospector Ti aren’t available to purchase just yet, but they should be announced soon. We’ll be sure to update readers when we know more.

Revamped Stargazer

The steel Stargazer has been updated with a 10mm longer effective top tube across all sizes to match the titanium version, as well as a 31.6mm seatpost diameter (up from 27.2mm), and UDH dropouts. It’s available in two new colorways: light brick and steel blue. The latter is pictured below. The updated Sunliner is also being updated with UDH dropouts, but it otherwise remains unchanged.

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The updated Stargazer we shot was built up with some flashy components, but the most interesting part was the unreleased Ratio Mech rear derailleur. Daniel was quite impressed with it, as it’s adaptable to UDH and standard hanger mount and can be adjusted to work with all kinds of different cable pulls using different fins, including Shimano, SRAM, mountain, and road shifters. Although Ratio wasn’t able to share too much just yet, it sounds like the derailleur will be fully user-serviceable, compatible with nearly all 1×12 and 1×13 drivetrains, and will have cages for 46T and 52T cassettes. We’re hoping to get our hands on one soon.

Madrone Componentslink

Ashland, Oregon

Madrone Components was at the show with their recently released Jab derailleur, a fully rebuildable system that can fit a variety of different cams to adjust for different speeds and pull ratios. Priced at $298, the rear mech is meant to compete with other industry offerings at a similar price point without locking customers in to a specific component economy. Offered in four anodized finishes, the Jab derailleur is designed to be entirely replaceable, as each major part is offered on Madrone’s website for the home mechanic to tinker with. While a number of the elements of the derailleur are made with the customer in mind, the assembly process appeared quite difficult to complete without some of the custom 3D-printed jigs available to the assemblers at the Madrone booth. Either way, it’s good to see such a repairable, customer-forward product in a world of intentionally obfuscated mechanisms.

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Hot Salad link

Portland, Oregon

B Vivit from Hot Salad is an industry pro who fought her way up from being a bike mechanic to teaching the UBI framebuilding school. After UBI, she went to work for a major titanium manufacturer, Simple, later returning to the Pacific Northwest and starting Hot Salad in 2022. Primarily working with titanium, B built up one of her show bikes this year for her partner. Admittedly not a cyclist, he wanted a townie. So, B took the opportunity to remind people that she still has plenty of talent in welding steel. As you can see from the welds here, she hasn’t lost a step. Regarding her growing reorientation with the material, B said, “I think a lot of folks are re-learning about titanium. The early ’90s ones were noodles and not as fun to ride (I’m sure someone will argue); but these days, it’s a way to make a steel bike half as heavy, while adding the aluminum style stiffness. If you increase the diameter of a tube by 2x; it makes it about eight times stiffer.”

B also built the fork, and while she intended to build a rack, she ended up using an offering from SimWorks as she ran out of time. Unfortunately, B seems a typical case in the bespoke framebuilding world. Exceptionally talented, she’s about to lose her full-time job managing an outdoor retailer and will have plenty of time to build bikes. Given what’s she’s produced here and in the past, its a wonder how she has such a small queue time, as she appears to be one of the most talented framebuilders around.

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Donkelope Bikes link

Bellingham, Washington

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Undeniably one of the standouts of the show for us here at the site has been Greg from Donkelope. Starting out in a bike shop, Greg eventually got tired of working on other people’s bikes and took his background in manufacturing as a union steamfitter into the world of framebuilding. What came as a result is his very practical take on what he desires out of a bicycle. Per Greg, “Both bikes have super similar builds. Both have mid BB shells, BMX cranks, pedals, same headset, brake levers, brakes, even grips. Which means I have no reason to not have a session! Where the BMX mounts has bushings so you can go over bumps and all, and the bike keeps all the wheels on the ground.” Living in Bellingham, Washington, Greg wanted to create something that allowed him to take his BMX bike on bikepacking trips. And thus, the “BMX Sherpa” was born. Able to haul a BMX bike through attachment points on the rear triangle, Greg also added a drive side “nub” onto the fork blade to carry the displaced front wheel.

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Greg also made a mixte that he had to beg a customer to keep for the show. Featuring a dynamo routed through the top of the fork crown, a split top tube, and a wine-red sparkle paint, it’s a good display of his wide range as a custom framebuilder. A significant departure from everything else he had on display, it’s clear that Greg knows exactly how to execute a wide variety of bikes. Though MADE is the focus of Greg’s weekend in Portland, he made sure to mention his love for metal and that he’s excited to attend a The Sword show while he’s in town. Rock on, Greg.

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Yellow Bird Thread works link

Chester, Connecticut

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Brian Tucker of Yellowbird Thread Works is out at MADE for the second time with some special bits and bobs specifically for the show. In the last few years, Brian has seen a meteoric rise in the popularity of his well-machined small parts—something he does on the side as he machines at extremely high aerospace-level margins for his day job. This year, Brian was tasked with the job of created some limited top caps for the MADE bike show and, he knocked it out of the park. Bits aside, I couldn’t resist shooting his recently finished Royal H Cycles single-speed, a bike seemingly made specifically for the undulating hills of Nutmeg Country. The shims you see pictured are a project he made just for this bike, but, with enough encouragement, Brian said he could be tempted to make a full run for customers.

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Mad Monkey Designs link

Humboldt, California

Mad Monkey Designs out of Humboldt, California is a new bag maker out of the Redwood Coast making unique and interesting bags. Inspired by a chance encounter with some bikepackers while skateboarding just two years ago, Anthony Lacera couldn’t help but google what the folks with bags on their bike were doing when he got home from his sesh. After stumbling upon our Baja Divide route, Anthony found himself entranced with the concept of bikepacking. Soon after, he used his background and familial connections in manufacturing to start making his own bags. With a focus on using recycled materials and fabrics that he can source locally, Mad Monkey Designs specializes in the wackiest and most spectacular-looking bags around. They also have a series of 3D-printed valve caps that spans the range from childhood icons to strange accents.

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Eagleton Bikes link

Portland, Oregon

Sean Eagleton of Destroy Bikes had a very special offering this year, as he made this one specifically for his mother. She’s a world champion archer and wanted something she could stick a basket on to. So, Sean, a fabricator for Destroy since 2011, got cooking. What resulted is something quite different than the “freestyle” bikes typically seen from Destroy. A lugged mixte, Sean got very creative with the means of fabrication, as the mid rear swooping seat stay bend was achieved using a car disc brake. The rest of the build is an homage to his mother’s achievements with the archer-style handlebar styling, eagle headbadge, and custom rear rack capable of carrying a full quiver.

The eagle-eyed (hey!) among you might also note that Sean’s color matching is among the best at the show for those rocking the new Chris King Jade colorway. While I’m sure Sean would have been capable of doing the same without an advantage, he did get a bit of a heads up as he’s the person responsible for cleaning and maintaining the CNC mechanisms at Chris King.

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That’s it for part two of the MADE bike show here in Portland! For more coverage of this year’s show, stay tuned in the week ahead as we continue to bring you the best and brightest this special corner of the industry has to offer.

Further Reading

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