Bikes and Builders of Bespoked UK 2024 (Part 1)

This past weekend, Bespoked UK was held in Manchester, England, celebrating handmade bikes, builders, and the bespoke bike community in the UK and surrounding European countries. This time it was held in a remarkable venue called Victoria Baths, a historic swimming and bathhouse with three massive halls bathed in natural light. When it opened in 1906, Victoria Baths was described as “the most splendid municipal bathing institution in the country.” 118 years later, it sits in a beautiful state of dilapidation, but it was still a perfect backdrop to some of the most splendid bicycles in the UK.

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This was the 13th edition of Bespoked, which originally started in 2011. We began covering the event back in 2018 (find previous coverage at #bespoked), but I’ve personally yet to attend one. This year, the opportunity presented itself, and I’m very glad to have made it. It was an excellent weekend of great conversation, laughter, and a lot of photography. Find the first installment of our multi-part coverage of the show below featuring nine bikes, builders, and things that caught my eye.

Sideways link

Newcastle, England

In the realm of bespoke bike shows, handmade carbon frames are kind of a rarity. In fact, framebuilder Viola Townsend mentioned that she thought there were only four or five people hand-laying carbon bicycle frames in the whole of the UK. With that, it became pretty clear during our conversation at Bespoked that Viola has carved out a niche, and with her experience, background, and unique approach, has built something that’s as inspiring as it is fascinating.

Viola’s passion for bikes was sparked by her Grandad. “He told me fantastic stories and immersed me in all kinds of riding in his club; marshalling time trials, cyclocross on Boxing Day, and grand cycle tours around Europe and the UK. He even claims to have had a hand in inventing cyclocross in the 1930s!” she recounts. This early exposure laid the foundation for what would become Sideways, a brand Viola created in 2018 to represent going her own direction, turning off the beaten track, and, “finding my own way through life, however sideways it is!”

Her grandfather’s influence didn’t stop at storytelling. He was a chemical engineer who worked on the initial research for carbon fiber during the development of Concorde. Inspired by his inventive spirit, Viola pursued a career in working with carbon composite materials. “I worked at various composite contracting companies in the Midlands and up into North Yorkshire, then at Century Composites in Washington, and most recently at Ovington Boats in North Shields,” she explains. These experiences honed her skills and deepened her understanding of advanced materials, which would later inform her bike-building techniques.

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Fast forward a few years and Viola now works one day a week at a charity bike shop and spends the rest of her time as a frame builder in Newcastle. The riding around this area is made up of Waggonways, which were the old tracks up and down the banks of the River Tyne used for transporting coal from the mines. Her personal bike that was on display at Bespoked was made with these rugged tracks in mind, as well as the area’s varied terrain, from road transfers to rough gravel paths and the isolated trails of Northumberland and Kielder to the Scottish borders. “This frame is very road/cx derived as that is where my background lies. I am a road rider at heart and spent years riding 28mm tires for touring,” she explains, ”It can easily fit 700x50mm tires, but I run 40mm as I find riding through the British winter requires a healthy amount of mud clearance.” This particular frame is laid up stiff, allowing for tuning of handling and comfort through the choice of tires and the 40mm gravel fork.

As with most of her builds, this bike was made using some recycled offcuts from other industries, primarily from sailing dinghies. Typically destined for the waste bin, she hopes to incorporate more recycled materials into her processes, from mold making to frames. “There’s a limit to what I can do as the material comes in many shapes and sizes and it’s an inconsistent supply. But I hope to do more soon,” Viola explained, “Increased interest could potentially lead to partnerships with more companies producing suitable waste materials.”

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I always love peeling away layers about bikes and people who build them. One interesting point that came up in conversation is that Viola designed and tuned the carbon layup of one of her previous frames specifically for ultra racing. As she explained, “Alessandro Loli rode Frame 006 in the 20K Ultra Trail [a 1000-kilometer self-supported race] and was the youngest ever finisher, coming in 7th overall.”

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Viola has thoughtful naming for her bikes, too. “I was thinking of calling this particular bike ‘The Cobbler’s Shoes/kid’ and releasing this style of frame as a model called Sidetracked,” she mentioned after also telling me she had plans to make a hardtail, which certainly piqued my interest. If you’re keen to learn more about Sideways’ frames, or curious about having a custom-tuned carbon bike made for yourself, you can follow her on Instagram at @sideways.bike or check out her website at Sideways.bike. And for more info on the frame bag by Camel Chops in Scotland, head to their website here.

Clandestine Carrier link

Devon, England

If you’ve spent some time on this website, you’ve probably come across a post featuring the small-but-mighty UK bike brand Clandestine and its founder and frame builder, Pi Manson. The first article we published about the Clandestine Carrier—the same bike featured here several iterations later—was from the 2018 Bespoked UK show. You can read it here to get a full picture of how this bike came to be. It was great to finally meet Pi in person and chat about all things bikes, including one of my favorite topics: custom racks.

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Pi admitted that he’s really only a frame builder because he wanted to build better racks. “I simply wanted better ways of carrying things by bike,” he explained. Frame building came later for him, from a slow but steady rabbit hole kind of process. Pi added, “I think racks transform a bicycle, and really good racks expand the capability and pleasure of a bike even more.” The opening quote from our 2018 debut coverage of Pi’s brand Clandestine sums this up: “Essentially, I began to read about different ways of carrying cargo and weight on bikes, and I couldn’t find the kind of racks I wanted. I got hit by a car, and the insurance money I received paid for my first year’s workshop rent. I began with the rack building, things escalated, and I began building bikes too as I fell down the bicycle geometry rabbit hole.”

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The latest version of the Clandestine Carrier, Pi’s flagship bike, has seen a few additions and tweaks over the past six years. One of those changes beautifully echoes the sentiment above. Pi explains, “I used to build them with a simple bag support for a Carradice saddlebag, but now I make them with a rack designed for the Wizard Works Shazam.” The rear rack is pretty amazing; not only does it perfectly cradle the Shazam, but it also has a top bar with lugs designed for Voilé straps, two uprights with three-pack bosses for added cargo, and intricate loops to hold additional straps to lash a drybag between the upper struts.

The latest Clandestine Carrier has a few other upgrades. Looking closely, it’s subtly improved in various ways with nicer, more custom fittings, and bits like IS disk tabs of Pi’s own design and his own custom downtube barrel adjuster bosses. The dynamo light routing has also been made neater. And as Pi described, “I’ve made a lot more jigs to facilitate rack building, so it’s a more efficient process.” The main change the Carrier has gotten since we first documented it last is more tire clearance. It now fits up to a 650×2.6” mountain bike tire or Pi’s favorite configuration, a 2.25” Schwalbe G One Allround with mudguards.

The Carrier is made from Reynolds 853 for the fork and front triangle. The stays are Columbus Zona, and like all of Clandestin’s bikes, it’s powdercoated because it’s durable and affordable. Each Carrier takes about two weeks to build, including racks, custom stem, and other bits. If you’re interested in learning more about Clandestine, check them out on Instagram here. Also, read on to see the Pinion version of the Carrier!

Clandestine Carrier Pinion link

Devon, England

As luck would have it, Pi Manson had two Clandestine Carriers on display. The second caught my eye as we were chatting and I noticed it was equipped with a Pinion gearbox. It turned out to be Pi’s personal bike. He wanted to build a Pinion version because the Carrier is fundamentally a utilitarian bicycle centered on durability and making life easier, and the Pinion/Gates belt drivetrain seemed like a way to further its ethos. Pi expanded with an analogy, “I’ve got a lathe from the 70s with a gearbox, and it works great. It’ll probably work just as great in another 50 years. I like the idea that bicycles could be that durable.”

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I asked Pi for his general take on the Pinion and here’s what he had to say: “I really like the Pinion! I like the centralized mass, the crispness of the shifting compared to a Rohloff, and the simple rear wheel removal. I also like that it doesn’t have that gritty feeling in wet and mud that you get on a derailleur bike. And I actually like the gripshift; it’s great when you’re wearing mittens in winter or dumping loads of gears at once at traffic lights.”

I’m guessing that part of the reason Pi built a Pinion Carrier might have a lot to do with his move from Bristol to Bovey Tracey, a town in Devon, England, on the edge of Dartmoor National Park. I imagine the muddy winter riding there can take a toll on drivetrains. Pi talks about the move: “I can leave my workshop and be cycling in Dartmoor in 10 minutes. The move has meant I’ve got a workshop three times the size for the same as I was paying in Bristol. That makes everything easier for my work: I have space to move around, I’m not squashed between my jig and my workbench when brazing a bike. I’ve got more space for tube bending, more space for machines, more space to breathe. It’s really transformative.”

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The main difference between the Pinion Carrier and the derailleur Carrier is obviously the gearbox and the sliding gearbox mount with tensioner, a pretty cool way of replicating an eccentric bottom bracket. The Pinion resulted in a few other minor discrepancies, however, such as the cable routing and the lack of downtube bottle mounts since there’s less space there. Otherwise, the two use the same tubing, geometry, and racks.

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In closing, I asked Pi whether he has anything new in the works, and he hinted at developing some other parts that he’s excited to put out into the world soon. Stay tuned as it’s always exciting to see the creations coming out of his shop.

Bikes and Bird Hides link

Newcastle, England

Aside from blinged-out bikes and great conversations, one of my favorite things at the Bespoked UK event was the talk series. They had seven in all, each an hour long. Since I was pretty busy taking photographs, there were several I didn’t make it to, but I’m happy I attended the Bikes and Bird Hides session. For this presentation, Abi Fisher from Newcastle (North East England) shared her experience accidentally creating a delightful social ride centered around a casual pace, getting out into nature, and bird watching.

Long story short, Abi started going on rides to visit bird hides around her local region of England during the isolation times of the Covid-19 Pandemic. She posted about it on Instagram and folks started messaging her asking about the rides and if they could join. On the 29th of May 2021 she held the first social ride of this nature and pedaled from Kendal on the outskirts of the Lake District to Foulshaw Moss to observe the Osprey that nest there in the summer months. Now Abi organizes regular unofficial social Bikes and Bird Hides rides all over the UK, some of which are overnighters, even.

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Abi’s talk planted a few thoughts in my head as I reflected back on an Eastern Divide Trail scouting mission where I stopped and sat down to watch several swallow-tail Kites feed above a field in Alabama. Birds are pretty mesmerizing. So, can you camp in bird hides? What exactly is a bird hide, and do I even have them in my neck of the woods? For those of you wondering the same things, I asked Abi if they’re exclusive to England and she replied, “there are hides in other places, I guess just not all look like a garden shed which they usually do in the UK. You get a lot of ‘blind hides’ where the weather is perhaps a little better and you’re not seeking shelter as they are more just a screen between you and perhaps a body of water so you can observe the birds without being in their habitat.” Still, she also insisted that if there isn’t a hide, it shouldn’t stop you from finding a viewpoint somewhere to spot some birds. “I’ve always wanted to head to Cape May Bird Observatory for the Hawkwatch, I don’t think they have hides but you’re guaranteed to see thousands of hawks which must be such an incredible sight!” Abi added.

In terms of getting started, Abi told me the best place to begin with bike-twitching is simply by Googling best bird watching spots near me. This tends to take you to your local nature groups where they will recommend ‘hotspots’ and even give you a list of what’s been seen before. “A great website I use is eBird as it’s regularly updated and gives you links to the birds you’re likely to spot, plus it’s international and I often find myself lost on it dreaming up great routes…!” Abi added. If you’re out on your bike, Abi said it can be handy to have a field guide; the NHBS have an extensive global selection and often they’re foldable and broken down into ‘habitats’. 

For more on Abi’s rides and reflections, check her out on Instagram @bikesandbirdhides.

Tailfin Goes Full Color link

Bristol, England

Ever wanted to see a Tailfin bag with a splash of color? Tailfin’s graphic designer, Claire Cartwright, did just that by channeling her creative energy into a personal project—a set of custom packs designed for her Canyon hardtail. Claire’s unique designs quickly caught the attention of the Tailfin team, who eagerly showcased the setup at Bespoked. According to the folks at the Tailfin booth, there’s even a chance these designs might make it into production one day.

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In addition to the vibrant designs, the setup features a prototype version of the Aeropack, which is smaller, more streamlined, and includes utility stretch pockets on the exterior. This pack looks promising and may soon become a reality, so stay tuned.

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Coincidentally, Tailfin released a video about Claire and her bags on the final day of Bespoked. Watch above as the Tailfin team takes you behind the scenes of these unique creations, explaining how Claire’s vision came to life and why they couldn’t resist sharing them at the Bespoked Show in Manchester. What better place to share it than here? Especially considering I have a cameo around minute 3:50!

Alfano Frameworks Avventura link

Leicester, England

Upon walking into Bespoked last Friday, the first booth I encountered was that of Alfano Frameworks. Founder Pete Alfano’s journey into frame building is an interesting one. With a background as an archaeologist and researcher, Pete spent over a decade training PhD students in research methodologies. His fascination with technology and how we interact with the landscape eventually led him to Downland Cycles in Kent about eight years ago, where he learned the craft of frame building and obtained a mechanics qualification. Fortuitously, when his mentor there retired, he acquired a substantial amount of shop equipment, providing the perfect opportunity to delve deeper into frame building. For the past five years, Pete juggled his frame-building passion with part-time work, and in June, he finally took the leap to strike out fully on his own. He currently balances frame building with mechanic work and frame repairs, but as Pete explains, “the dream is that I’ll get enough orders to build frames full time.”

Operating from just outside Leicester in the heart of England, the relatively gentle terrain of the area influences the design of his bikes, including the blue one I spotted that’s called the Avventura, Italian for adventure. “It’s not the most remote and hilly landscape,” he explains, “but there’s plenty of good roads and bridleways if you know where to look for them.” This seek-and-find environment inspires Pete’s designs, bikes that can venture off the beaten path and find adventure in the most unexpected places.

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The Alfano Avventura is built from a mix of Reynolds 853 and 725 tubing, and tailored for long-distance gravel and off-road riding—a randonneur of sorts. The Avventura has clearance for either 700cx45mm tires or 650bx50mm tires, and has a full carbon utility fork to reduce weight and add mounts for extra gear. The frame has mounts for full fenders and a rear rack, and internal dynamo routing. He built it up with a mechanical groupset and cable disc brakes to ensure that everything remains field repairable, and it has external cabling for easy maintenance.

One notable provision of the Avventura is its ability to mount hiking poles, a multi-sport setup we haven’t seen the likes of before. Pete wanted to have the option of exploring some trails on foot, and offer flexibility for setting up hiking-pole shelters. And, as you can see by the patina on this bike, Pete’s personal Avventura is not just a display bike; it’s traveled from Edinburgh to Manchester on the Pennine Rallye route, tackled a few big rides in the Peak District, and ridden on the famed cobbles of Roubaix and through the forests of Northern France.

Looking ahead, Alfano Frameworks is offering the Avventura frameset or full builds in bespoke sizing. To learn more about Alfano and their bikes, head to AlfanoFrameworks.com.

Wizard Works link

London, England

One thing I love about going to bicycle shows is having the chance to meet, socialize, and laugh with folks that I usually only communicate with digitally—conversations that are most often pragmatic in nature. Opportunities to connect in person were pretty much non-existent for a couple of years surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s nice to get back out there for some true face-to-face time. My weekend at Bespoked was loaded with quality meetups, but one of my favorites was connecting with Veronica Lowe and Harry Major of Wizard Works.

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If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve seen the beautiful bags from Wizard Works’ London workshop or the Field Trip we published from Jack Boffy, who visited their workshop in 2022. At any rate, these two joyous humans had a bewitching booth set up next to Clandestine, complete with all their usual colorful offerings, plus the Carrier I featured above adorned with a fantastic set of bags.

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Hidden in plain sight, Wizard Works also had some new graphics emblazoned on tees, postcards, and stickers, plus a new How to Bike Camp book with photography and illustrations by our friend Matty Waudby.

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Not in sight, Veronica and Harry had some brand new bags they’ll have on sale soon: ready-made, stock frame bags made for drop-bar bikes like those from Fairlight, Crust, Clandestine, SOMA, and others. They will come in four sizes that Harry said, “fit especially well on steel gravelish bikes.” These bags looked dialed, coming stock with a lace-up top tube system, a burly Riri zipper, internal pockets, and other sharp details. We’ll post more when we know more. In the meantime, you can keep up with Wizard Works on their website here.

Medusa Cycles Deka link

Manchester, England

Based in Greater Manchester, Pete Skelton is a sign painter, mechanic, and passionate cyclist. Pete’s brand Medusa Cycles was born out of a bike bike trip from 2018 to 2019 as he pedaled from the UK to India, embracing a simpler rhythm of riding and camping. As told in our interview with Pete from 2023, this journey revealed his true calling and upon returning to the UK, he quickly began saving, learning, and planning to design and build his own bikes.

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Last year, Pete unveiled his brand, Medusa Cycles. His first model, the Deka, is designed to carry riders quickly and comfortably over rough terrain, featuring several clever design touches like an elevated chainstay, a triple triangle, and dynamo lighting provisions. The beautiful prototype we shared boasted an eye-catching paint scheme with color-matched bags and was designed for the type of “gravel” riding Pete does in North West England. For Pete, that’s a bike that can handle the rocky bridleways of Lancashire and still cruise along tarmac at a satisfying pace. Leaning more towards the cross-country MTB end of the spectrum in terms of off-road capability, the Medusa Deka aims to address the challenges Pete encountered while bikepacking to India and while exploring his local bridleways and byways.

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For those wondering, Deka means ten in Greek. Pete came up with name after putting together the tenth iteration of this design, and the name stuck. There have been quite a few changes since the tenth design, “but I quite like the name; it’s short and sweet!” Pete added, “Officially I’d eventually like to call this design the Deka Rando-Trail, because if my lightweight race design turns out to be successful, the Deka will be available in two types.”

This is the third Deka that Pete’s built. “My prototype was the first, and it’s looking quite battered now, but it performed very well, absorbing quite a lot of punishment, and it proved to me that the concept worked,” Pete explained. Very little changed from the prototype we published last year; the overall geometry is the same, although Pete added an extra non-driveside chainstay to shore up the rear triangle. Pete adds, “I also wanted to move away from using pre-bent chainstays to allow more freedom when trying to achieve more tyre clearance. In addition, I refined the internal cable routing configuration to reduce the angles that the brake hoses and shift cabling enter the frame.” The current build I photographed also has 5mm of extra clearance for fenders and mounts for them. Pete also added a stainless steel rub strip on the headtube to protect the paint job.

Like most framebuilders, Pete has a bottomless file of designs that he’d like to build. A few at the top of the list include a lightweight, stripped down version of the Deka. Pete explains, “I’ve been toying with the idea of doing some gravel and bikepacking racing events next year, so this gives me an excuse to build another race orientated bike. I’d like to see how low I can push the weight of a steel bike.”

There’s also a bikepacking-optimized hardtail mountain bike on Pete’s list, so we can’t wait to see what he dreams up next under the Medusa Cycles brand. For more, be sure to check out our interview with Pete and follow @medusa.cycles on Instagram.

KOM Hubs link

Peak District, England

KOM (King of the Mountain) from the Peak District had their new hubs on display, which effectively flip the script of what exactly is the drive side. The KOM Xeno Hubs use the company’s patent-pending Infinity Drive, delivering 120 points of engagement via an oversized drive-ring/pawl system that’s located on the disc brake side of the hub. There’s a lot of new, unconventional tech in these hubs, including an oversized axle and floating bearings that are positioned outboard.

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KOM mentioned that their hubs are built with durability in mind, which is always music to my ears. They back them with a lifetime warranty on both axles and the hubshell. Other details include straight pull spokes optimized for easy spoke replacement without needing to remove the wheel from the bike, a modular design that’s fully replaceable, and custom-color options with interchangeable color caps. They also claim the floating bearing design reduces drag and extends bearing life. The only catch I see is their proprietary 4-bolt rotors. However KOM described them as one of the cornerstone engineering efforts that ultimately yielded a rotor that’s more robust than most others currently on the market.

There’s a lot to digest with KOM’s Xeno Hubs, but they’re definitely interesting. To learn more about them, head over to their website to find videos and more details about their flagship product.

We’ll be back this week (hopefully tomorrow) with a whole lot more from Bespoked UK. Stay tuned! In the meantime, you can dig into past coverage from previous years at #bespoked.