Bikes, Booths, and Builders in Philly (Part 1)

The year’s first notable bike expo cropped up like the wildflowers in my front yard. I knew it was coming, and the calendar kept telling me it was on the way, but before I knew it, the bright, vibrant, diverse, and wide-range of hues were in my face in Philadelphia, shaking hands, confronted with the colors and comforts of the builders and makers who keep such shows rolling. My first roundup of this year’s annual gathering of exhibitors in Philly dissects some of the best and brightest at this year’s show. Without further ado…

Fine Bikes link

Raleigh, North Carolina

Charles Thompson of Fine Bikes in North Carolina is back in Philly with a special creation. This pearl-white, fillet-brazed gravel bike was made for a customer named Nick Murphy. It’s inspired by the Band Wilco’s album A Ghost is Born. As it’s Nick’s second bike from Charles, his desire to have his frames influenced by music near and dear to him started the trend of Charles asking his customers for an album recommendation to listen to while building their bikes. Charles says not only has the practice brought him some solid music recommendations, but also brought him closer to the people he’s making bikes for.

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The bike primarily uses Columbus life tubing throughout the main triangle, with a typically Fine Bikes simple, straight, elegant fork construction. Nick said he has become largely annoyed by hydraulic systems and front derailleurs, so Charles ditched the standard and took the opportunity to spec some polished bits from Paul Components. Ultimately, it’s exactly the kind of bike Charles says he wants to be building and one he’s happy is going to a friend. When asked if he’s ready to scale things up for a larger audience, Charles said, “I’m still not in a ‘production-minded building’ mindset. One-offs? Yes. I’ve got things I like to do, and because I do them, people then request them. This style of gravel bike with a straight EC34 headtube and a segmented fork is becoming a regular thing in the shop. They’re all still tailored to the owner, but there is a common thread throughout all of the bikes I’ve been building.”

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Stellar Werks link

Portland, Oregon

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Thomas Epling, winner of the People’s Choice award at MADE 2024, made it out to Philly this year with a new production-adjacent frame he’s been developing for a few years. Instead of a stock model, the basis for Thomas’ new custom model, the Voyager, is an all-terrain touring bike. Designed to fit up to 27.5 x 2.8″ tires so that users can take on the most challenging off-road rides, Thomas has been testing his personal Voyager for quite some time. He says he built the first one in 2024, inspired by rides like the Baja Divide and the Great Divide Mountain Bike. After building a few for various customers, Thomas is now launching it to the public. Each Voyager is built to order and uniquely designed for each customer, retaining a base geometry but adapted to each rider’s dimensions and riding needs.

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In addition to ample tire clearance, the Voyager also comes stock with everything one might need for a long adventure ride. Featuring internal routing for dynamo lights, three bottle cage mounts, adventure mounts on both fork blades, and front and rear rack and fender mounts, riders can further customize their bike with things like bag mounts, additional bosses, and custom racks. For the show, Thomas partnered with SimWorks to outfit the build with their line of Sim Loader bike bags and other Sim products. Thomas also had a prototype of a custom bag standoff on his Voyager. Though the design isn’t necessarily new, Thomas said he’s working with some friends to make it as strong and versatile as possible, also adding a threaded boss on the side for attachments and greater modularity.

Royal H Cycles link

Lawrence, Massachusetts

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Providing a much-needed ray of sunshine and hope to the expo, Bryan Hollingsworth showed up to this year’s show with a unique build for a family member. With his sister being the sole remaining member of the Hollingsworth clan without a custom creation from Bryan, he decided to rectify that with what can only be described as a paint job that is out of this world. The galactic sparkles by Jordan Low hide some fantastic custom lug work for a simple, functional, fully mechanical gravel bike Bryan created to be a dependable option for his sister. The bike also features some unique touches, like a custom-printed stem cap that displays the family motto in Latin: learn to love to suffer. A sentiment common among cyclists, he feels it’s something applicable across all walks of life.

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When asked about his motivations for building and innovating in the current climate of the bike industry, Bryan said, “The bike industry is a giant ecosystem, but I think the niche handbuilt community I inhabit is headed in a good direction. Specifically, the trend towards a more jeans-short-based, relaxed, and fun approach to cycling is refreshing. The shift in focus from ultra-high performance to ultra-functional recreation is something I’m happy to be part of. Lugged steel is no longer the material of choice for professional racers, but it is a perfect platform for gravel, touring, commuting, and adventure cycling (road riding too- really it’s just a great material for bicycles). Focusing on rider fit, comfort, and functionality has also opened up the sport to a much more diverse group of riders, and that’s a great thing for the industry. Like a lot of people in the industry, I’m finding more and more joy on the back country, gravel roads of Massachusetts’s more rural environs. The lack of car anxiety, beautiful settings, higher volume tires, and slower average speeds all make for better riding experiences… As a custom builder, my favorite commissions are those where I can build a well-fitting, capable machine that brings people into this world.”

Bryan’s Baines Tribute Bike

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Slightly outside our remit, I couldn’t ignore one of the other bikes at the Royal H booth. Per Bryan, “the frame design was developed by the Baines brothers (Reg and Willie) in England in 1934 as an ultra-short wheelbase time trial racing machine. To shorten the chainstays to 15″ (380mm), the traditional seat tube is interrupted to make room for the rear wheel, while an additional vertical tube connects and braces the bottom bracket shell to the top tube. Additional stays reinforce the truncated seat tube and connect behind the vertical tube/top tube junction. The design is as iconic as it is beguiling. These show bikes were extra meaningful to me because I got to work with my uncle Pete Hollingsworth on the lugs. He hand-carves all of the lugs I use on my Hollingsworth-branded bikes, and we collaborated closely on fabricating the unique 90-degree lugs for these particular frames.”

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For these special frames, Bryan used turned-down sections of 4130 tubing to make the blanks for his uncle Pete to carve. He then fillet brazed those pieces into the 90-degree top tube/vertical tube lugs before silver brazing them into the frame. For the rest of the lugs, he said his uncle chose an Art Deco theme for one bike and a more ornate Rococo style for the other. A real study in contrasts that shows off his lug-cutting skills.

Swood Cycles / Haute Bikes link

Richmond, Virginia

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Haute Bikes brought a bit of a sentimental throwback to this year’s show, as one of their main displays featured Corbin’s custom bikepacking rig. Sporting the SWOOD logo from the welding half of Haute Bikes, Stephen Wood was still a one-man operation. This custom twin top-tube bike allowed Stephen to explore new ways to bend and fabricate tubes, which he says provided some respite from the slightly more repetitive framebuilding mode Haute has him working in these days. Aside from influencing design elements such as the powder-coated pink paint job, this bike was born of Corbin’s desire to take on bigger, gnarlier bikepacking endeavors. Stephen and Corbin rode the C&O and GAP trails this past summer and had a blast, so more adventurous and remote trips are soon to follow.

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As he tells it, the twin top tubes and 3/8″ seat stays were both firsts at Haute. With geometry focused on downhill and off-road confidence, it shares its base numbers with Haute’s Sauce gravel bike. Optimized for flat-bar riding, the bike also features a set of custom titanium bull-moose bars, some of the first the brand has ever produced. Though he’s still working out some design intricacies with the internal angles and such, Stephen and Wilson Hale told me they are eyeing a full run of these bars in the near future.

Craven Bikes link

Raleigh, North Carolina

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An acolyte of Charles Thompson of Fine Bikes, David Craven Freedland recently got into framebuilding. As in, he created his contact and website while we spoke for the first time at the show. Newness aside, David’s passion and excitement for building bikes shone through as he walked me through what he built for his wife. Inspired by their dogs and a love for the Southern treat, this cornbread step-thru is David’s second-ever bike. Aided by the watchful hand of Charles, David’s foray into bikes is motivated by a whimsy and irreverence that brings a fun and unique energy to the space.

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Speaking to why he started building, David dove into his love for bike polo and a happenstance move to Raleigh. “I couldn’t believe Charles offered to let me hang out and watch him build bikes in the basement. I always knew I wanted something custom, but I never thought about how I was going to get there. I watched him build, helped when I could, and one day he started encouraging me until he encouraged me to start. He turned me on to Paul Brodie’s YouTube videos, and from then on, I spent most of my lunch breaks at my day job watching and learning. Once I felt I had a handle on things, I drove out to Kansas City and bought a frame jig from Jim of Saorsa Bikes. He hooked me up with all kinds of materials, and it catalyzed my start as a framebuilder. He gave me a set of Zona tubes, some head tube stock, braze-ons. From there, I thought about everything my wife had ever said was wrong with her bike, and simply decided to do the opposite. From that, we have what you see here.”

Velo Orange link

Glen Burnie, Maryland

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We’ll be covering the full range of Velo Orange’s Philly bike expo products in a later post, but an intriguing sneak peek at something coming down the pike sat outside the Philadelphia convention center that deserved a closer look. The brand is tight-lipped about it as of right now, but the eagle-eyed among you might spot a few changes from their current model on this Parking Lot yellow Neutrino Igor wheeled around central Philadelphia.

That’s it for the first round of finds! Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage of in the coming days…

Further Reading

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