Bespoked is the UK’s largest custom bike show, bringing together some of the most reputable frame builders from around the world, as well as many up and coming designers.
Now in its 11th year, the show takes place at the Lee Valley Velodrome in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. It's the first time the show has been in London having previously taken place in Bristol and Harrogate, Yorkshire.
We’ve put together a round-up of some of the wildest, weirdest and most desirable bikes from this year’s show.
Windover Bikes
Windover Bikes is based on the East Sussex coast and there are two bikes in its range, both designed for bikepacking and riding around the South Downs Way.
The Bostal is a gravel bike that's manufactured in the Czech Republic.
The frame is constructed from Reynolds 853 steel and is designed to be taken on gravel tracks and muddy byways, while it's also claimed to have good road manners.
The fork is open-mould and sees mounts for carrying cargo, as well as a flip chip to adjust the geometry.
The cables are routed internally and enter the frame just underneath the down tube.
Windover rates the Bostal up to 700 x 50mm gravel bike tyres and the frame uses a T47 bottom bracket with an 86.5mm shell width.
The Beacon is a rigid mountain bike designed for “when gravel tyres and road derived geometry are no longer enough”.
It is currently in a prototype stage, which you can tell by how close the rear tyre is to the seat tube.
Rather than use an open-mould fork as it does on the Bostal, Windover has designed its own Type-3 fork, which sees a 415mm axle-to-crown measurement and 29x2.5in mountain bike tyre clearance.
The Beacon sports a 68-degree head tube angle and 74-degree seat tube angle.
On production models, Windover says it is going to lengthen the rear-end and will also add racking mounts for mudguards or a rack towards the dropout. It may also introduce a third bottle cage boss to allow for re-positioning the bottle cage.
The Beacon frame is claimed to weigh just under 2kg. There is also routing for a dropper seatpost. It uses a T47 bottom bracket with a 92mm shell width.
Variangle
The Variangle is an interesting mountain bike concept from Peter Charnaud, who is looking for a brand to take on the design.
The bike sees an adjustable lead screw, which when you adjust it, can change the head tube angle of the bike from between 65 and 75 degrees while maintaining the existing handlebar height.
You simply undo the locking screw, make the adjustment and then lock it back into place.
The rough-and-ready aluminium frame construction is by design, and is said to avoid twist.
Outside of the adjustment system, the brash linkage and suspension design is worth a gander.
Shand Kirk
Hot on the heels of the Stooshie, Shand exhibited its even more versatile Kirk (Scottish for ‘church’) gravel bike with a silver Shimano GRX groupset.
The main triangle of the frame is constructed from Columbus Life steel tubing, whereas the rear triangle uses Dedacciai steel.
The fork is of Shand’s own design and sees the use of a flip chip that adjusts the head tube angle by 0.5 degrees and the fork rake by 10mm.
It has a tyre clearance of up to 700x50mm, compared to 42mm on the Stooshie.
Paragon PolyDrop dropouts are used to achieve better mud clearance.
You can run the Kirk with a conventional derailleur-based drivetrain, but Shand says the use of the dropouts also means you can run it as a singlespeed or with a belt-drive.
The brand is close to finalising an eccentric SRAM DUB bottom bracket so it can be used with SRAM drivetrains.
Shand also says it’s looking at making its own dropouts for future projects.
Mosaic
The Mosaic MT-2 is a hardtail cross-country mountain bike designed as a “fast and efficient, highly capable hardtail” with “a hint of rowdy trail shredding built in”. It replaces the MT-1.
The titanium frame is paired with a 120mm-travel suspension fork and uses custom geometry, with the 'Moto Green' painted rather than anodised.
A size medium frame has a 67-degree head tube angle, 75.1-degree effective seat tube angle and a 445mm reach.
The MT-2 can accept up to a 29x2.6in rear tyre and runs on a 73mm threaded bottom bracket.
All of the cables are run externally down the down tube using guides and the bike is built around a smattering of exotic ENVE and Chris King components.
Salitter
This Salitter is a 140mm hardtail mountain bike passion project from Berkshire-based Sarah Green.
The bike is almost exclusively decked out in SRAM components, with the only exceptions the Hope headset, Selle Italia saddle and Schwalbe tyres.
The frame is constructed from Reynolds 853 steel and is claimed to weigh in the region of 2kg. It pairs a 63-degree head tube angle and 75-degree seat tube angle with a 536mm reach.
The brake hose is routed internally and Green says there is a guided sleeve inside to stop it from rattling.
Green says the paintwork was designed by Lucienne Day, and then executed by London-based Quintessential Customs Workshop.
The bike uses Paragon PolyDrop dropouts and the seatstays meet the top tube past the seat tube junction in a bid to improve tyre clearance, which is rated up to 29x2.4in.
Actofive P-Train 165
The P-Train 165 is the burgeoning German brand’s new high-pivot enduro mountain bike, which will replace the original P-Train 145.
It’s a modular system – although this display bike has 165mm of suspension travel at the rear, it can also accept 145, 155 or 175mm rear shocks. This display bike pairs the 165mm shock with a 170mm fork.
The aluminium frame uses a bonded structure, in the vein of Pole and is said to weigh in the region of 4kg. Excess material is machined out of the chainstays to save weight.
There is a flip chip that can adjust the head tube angle by plus or minus one degree, which is said to be 64 degrees as stock.
There are lots of bosses on the inside of the down tube and Actofive says this is to either run a rear brake cable externally or to mount tools and supplies.
The bike also features a floating caliper with what Actofive dubs the ‘Brake Torque Support’ to counter the anti-rise characteristics of the suspension design, which can stiffen up under braking.
Actofive also manufactures its own cranks, which are on display on this bike. They also see a bonded and hollow construction.
Smithy tracklocross bike
Welsh frame builder Smithy has a variety of bikes on display at Bespoked, including this out-there yet classic-looking, fixed-gear tracklocross bike.
Frame builder Chris Yeoman says he made the bike’s fork first, with its double-decker crown design, then built the rest of the bike to fit the fork.
Riding a fixed-gear bike with no brakes may strike fear into the heart of many, but there isn’t even the option to fit a brake caliper to the front fork on this bike.
Yeoman says he could have incorporated a mount for a disc brake caliper, but he decided against it, partly so he could use the wheels fitted to this bike, which are built around polished Phil hubs.
Smithy also has a Flying Gates time trial bike on display, having recently acquired the rights to build the design.
Yeoman says the Flying Gates design originated in the 1930s and was revived by Trevor Jarvis, who is now in his 80s, back in the 1970s.
While demand for a steel time trial bike built in the 1930s may be small, Yeoman says he has built five this year for customers.
36in-wheel Huhn Cycles mountain bike
This custom build from German frame-building and design studio Huhn Cycles has monstrously large 36in wheels.
The large frame was built for Tim Ahnsorge, who is over 6ft 5in tall.
Ahnsorge says the wheels use carbon rims manufactured by Alchemist. He says the diameter of the wheels means the bike struggles with tight corners but feels great on long straight runs, which will be suitable for his ambition to ride the Race Across Germany.
The bike has a 3D-printed saddle from Posedla, based in the Czech Republic. Posedla’s saddles are custom-made and based on each rider’s anatomy. They cost €490.
The bike has an Ingrid rear derailleur and bags with a colour scheme that is similar to the frame’s paintjob.
The suspension comes from a front fork made by Intend that can accommodate the atypical wheel diameter.
Donhou cargo bike
Frame builder Donhou was originally based in London but moved its workshop to Athens two years ago, where it now also has a concept store.
Donhou is presenting its new cargo bike at Bespoked.
The bike has an integrated front rack and is built to be a versatile machine, capable of carrying large loads.
However, Donhou says the idea behind the bike was to create a design that rides like a typical town or commuter bike when it isn’t loaded up.
The cargo bike can be built up a number of ways, with gears and a 1x drivetrain, or as a singlespeed.
Donhou also has a balance bike on display loaded up with miniature frame bags.
Sideways gravel bike
Sideways is a composite frame-building company based in the northeast of England and run by Viola Townsend.
Alongside three other builders, Viola was awarded the Bespoked x SRAM Inclusivity scholarship for this year’s show.
The scholarship provided Viola with the opportunity to have a Sideways booth at the show and with the SRAM XPLR components seen on this gravel bike.
Viola is a composites specialist and has worked for aerospace, bathtub and fishing rod companies over the past five years.
Building bikes has always been a passion but Viola started doing it full-time in January.
The gravel bike uses dropout inserts made by Paragon Machine Works, which means it can be run with different axle standards, including thru-axles and quick-release skewers. The inserts also mean it can be set up singlespeed.
