English
French
Spanish
Final weekend, we headed to the Lee Valley Velodrome in London for Bespoked 2022, a motorcycle present devoted to selling handmade bicycles and their fabricators. We bought up shut and private with seven beautiful bikes, 5 of that are made proper right here within the UK, and two of which have been made in Germany. Scroll right down to be taught extra concerning the newest bikes from Huhn Cycles, Dawley Bikes, Coal Bicycles, Howler Body Works, Rå Bikes, Bitter Bike and Auckland Cycle Works.
Moor Huhn 129 Ti
The Moor Huhn is out there in Medium and Massive with attain figures of 450mm and 480mm, respectively. Customized sizing can also be accessible upon request. The customized body baggage are made by Wit Slingers.
Ralf from Huhn Cycles confirmed us this superbly bedecked mannequin of the Moor Huhn 129 Titanium MTB. Because the identify suggests, its single-pivot suspension platform delivers 129mm of rear wheel journey, damped on this case by a elegant Intend Hover shock. A sophisticated 140mm Hero USD fork from Intend manages entrance wheel hits. An Ingrid CRS-POP Crankset and the Italian producer’s 12 Pace derailleur, stated to be the “one derailleur to rule all of them“.
The Moor Huhn (or rooster of the filth) is an entire 29er, and slots into the path class. With a 210mm x 55mm shock it has 129mm journey, although switching that out for a 210mm x 50mm shock will drop that to 117mm journey. Pair that with a shorter journey fork and you’ve got your self a titanium downcountry weapon.
The Moor Huhn was proven at Bespoked with narrower gravel tires, purely for have an effect on, however there may be enough clearance for a 29″ x 2.4″ tire out again. A more moderen model is because of be launched with a wider important pivot and swingarm that is ready to accomodate a 3.0″ tire.
The body consists of a Grade 9 titanium entrance triangle and Grade 2 titanium rear triangle, assembled with titanium lugs created utilizing the Chilly Steel Fusion course of. This can be a type of additive manufacturing that’s stated to require considerably much less vitality than standard printing processes. The surplus titanium powder can be recycled. Huhn Cycles has been utilizing this technique of body fabrication since 2011.
A brand new model of the Moor Huhn is within the works; it’s going to have clearance for a 3.0″ rear tire, and a stiffer rear finish fabricated from straight-gauge ovalised Grade 9 titanium. Hold an eye fixed out for that one as a result of be proven on the DT SWISS Craft Bike Days. The Moor Huhn is obtainable in metal, too. There you can see a mullet possibility with a revised swingarm to accomodate a 27.5″ rear wheel.
Huhn additionally had a surprising 36er on present; the Huhn Jersey Large made for a buyer who stands at 206cm tall – test it out right here.
Dawley Activist
The Dawley Activist 185mm journey enduro bike is fabricated from Reynolds 853 for the entrance triangle, and Deda tubing within the rear triangle
That is Thom Dawley’s Activist mid single-pivot metal mountain bike that he developed and fabricated in Nottingham, England. Why the Activist? As a result of, as in comparison with the standard single-pivot mountain bike he created beforehand, he has decreased the anti-squat and pedal kickback traits of the body to make the linkage extra energetic.
The mid-pivot suspension platform necessitates using an loafer pulley to route the chain in such a method because the suspension forces and drivetrain forces don’t intervene with each other an excessive amount of
The Dawley Activist is a mixed-wheel bike, pairing a 27.5″ rear wheel with a 29″ wheel up entrance. It’s designed for Bike Park using and Enduro Racing. Thom’s goal buyer is one who principally pedals steadily up fireplace roads to the drop-in, who can also be keen on a vacation within the Alps the place the presence of pedal kickback in your bike body could be a relatively undesirable attribute.
The Activist sports activities 185mm of rear wheel journey. The one on show is Thom’s personal experience, with a attain of 432mm. The chainstays are tremendous brief a 417mm. That stated, this can be a mid-pivot bike with a rearward axle path, so the rear-center size really grows because the rear wheel is pushed via the journey; on the sag level, the rear-center is 430mm.
This one continues to be underneath testing; Thom has solely ridden it himself twice up to now. He’s hoping it will likely be prepared for patrons to order round this time subsequent yr. No pricing accessible but.
Coal 84
“In case you’ve ridden a metal hardtail from a UK model, there’s a superb likelihood that I made it”, says Gavin White. That could be a sweeping assertion after all, however Gavin has spent the final 26 years with a torch in his hand, having arrange the body fabrication workshop for higher know Stanton Bikes; it’s solely within the final 3 years that he has been welding for his personal model, Coal Bicycles. He was at Bespoked exhibiting off the Coal 84 with its twin-link floating suspension platform, in addition to the Coal Pony Hardtail with a surprising Black Cat Customized paint job.
The Coal 84 is fabricated from Reynolds 853 metal tubing
Coal Bicycles is in reality a three-person effort; whereas Gavin welds the tubes collectively, Paul from Rideworks does all of the CNC machining required for the hyperlinks, and Alex Desmond is the person behind the twin-link floating suspension linkage you see right here on the Coal 84 (Alex additionally designed the Howler Fenrir’s suspension platform you’ll see if you happen to scroll down).
The 84 has been underneath growth for 18 months, with three prototypes and two units of linkages having been labored via and refined to the bike you see earlier than you. Tommy C Hype, as he’s popularly recognized, helps to check the bike out within the wild.
As an entire 29er, the Coal 84 has 160mm of rear wheel journey. Switching the orientation of the flip-chip on the decrease shock mount corrects the geometry to permit for a 27.5″ rear wheel if you happen to want to run it in a mixed-wheel configuration.
The Coal 84 is out there in sizes Medium, Massive and Additional-Massive, with attain figures of 455mm, 475mm and 495mm, respectively. It’s accessible to order now at a worth of £2,800 together with both a Rockshox Tremendous Deluxe coil or air shock. Ohlins shocks are additionally accessible upon request, as is a Rideworks ending package.
Bitter Double Choc
Bitter Bike was exhibiting its practically production-ready Double Choc, a linkage pushed single-pivot enduro bike fabricated from Taiwanese metal in Saxony, Germany. It may be run as an entire 29er, or as a mullet by switching out the brief hyperlink behind the rocker for another hyperlink that geometry-corrects the body with the addition of a 27.5″ rear wheel. Study extra about this newest Bitter Double Choc prototype, together with pricing and anticipated availability right here.
Ra 12 and Ra 20
The Rå Bikes .12 Path Bike proven at Bespoked 2022 in Lee Valley Velodrome, London. Pricing begins at £3,299 for the body solely.
We had a fast chat with Ralph Richardson of Rå Bikes, a North Yorkshire man with a historical past of racing Downhill at Nationwide degree. Attention-grabbing reality about Ralph: In 2013, he raced his first 29er prototype on the Fort William Downhill Nationals – that bike was allegedly the primary 29″ wheel DH bike within the UK, and it was a high-pivot linkage full with loafer. Quick ahead to 2017, and Ralph had concluded there wasn’t a motorcycle available on the market that he really wished to purchase. So, he determined to take his enthusiasm for bikes and his curiosity in engineering to begin his very personal bike model. Thus, Rå Bikes was born.
Rå Bikes now has 5 fashions in its portfolio; the Valravn Gravel Bike (accessible in three totally different fashions) the Vörðor Journey Bike, the .410 hardtail, and the .12 and .20 full suspension mountain bikes proven right here.
The Rå .12 is their 29″ or 29″/27.5″165mm journey enduro bike. With a 170mm journey fork, it has a 63.5° head angle, a 78.5° seat tube angle and a attain of 465mm in a dimension medium.
The Rå .12 and .20 bikes have a really progressive suspension platform; 3.1 to 2, however it’s adjustable by way of a horizontal flip-chip positioned on the decrease shock mount. There may be additionally a flip chip the place the swingarm meets the higher hyperlink that drives the shock; this one adjusts geometry particularly to permit for the 29″ rear wheel to be swapped out for a 27.5″ wheel for many who’d desire to experience mullet. That stated, you possibly can run it within the 29″ setting with a 27.5″ rear wheel if you happen to wished a 62° head angle and a really low BB.
The Rå .12 and .20 bikes can be constructed with a tapered head tube in future. They might additionally see adjustable size chainstays, although Ralph admits that growing an answer across the new UDH commonplace will pose a major problem.
Rå CNC Machine the 3-piece headtube reinforcements in-house, taking care to take away weight the place doable
The profile of the highest tube and the seat tube-top tube brace on the Rå .12 may be very distinctive to the model, a minimum of inside biking; the highest tube was made with the identical tooling created to make a Nineteen Sixties Maserati F1 Chassis, whereas the brace makes use of tooling used to make the tubing discovered on present a F2/F3 car chassis.
The Rå .20 is a 140mm 29er with a 150mm fork; it has a 65° head angle, 78° seat tube angle and a attain of 465mm in a dimension medium. Pricing begins at £3,299 for the body solely.
For the gravity contingent, Ralph can be going again to his roots with the event of a Rå DH Bike very quickly.
Howler Body Works Fenrir
Howler Body Works made it to Lee Valley Velodrome to indicate what would be the ultimate model of their Fenrir; a high-idler linkage-driven single-pivot enduro bike. The suspension platform was designed in collaboration with Alex Desmond, a design engineering guide who can also be chargeable for the twin-link floating suspension platform seen on the Coal 84 seen above. The wildest of Alex’s suspension designs could be seen on the Orange Section AD3, and adaptive 3-wheeler mountain bike with a leaning linkage made particularly for Lorraine Truong.
Howler’s high-idler linkage pushed single-pivot delivers a rearward axle path that extends the rear-center size by a most of 27mm. Billy tells us it has a leverage ratio of three:2.
I digress. That linkage is restricted to Howler Body Works, and it’s applied within the Fenrir by Howler founder, Billy Dye, a metal body builder educated by The Bicycle Academy. Billy is tig welding frames in his shed at house in London; he owns little or no equipment for the work, and each single one of many joins you seen on the Fenrir are hand-filed. That features the mitering of tubes – he removes nearly all of the fabric with a grinder, after which goes at it with a hand file. He even made himself a butting gauge to examine the butting profiles of the tubes. It took Billy a day and a half to finish the entrance triangle of the Fenrir pictured right here.
Paul at Rideworks is chargeable for the CNC Machined elements of the Howler Fenrir’s linkage. All of the turnings, headtube, backside bracket, and dropouts are all made by Bear Body Provides.
The Howler Fenrir can run 150mm or 160mm rear wheel journey, depending on the stroke size of the shock used. We’re ready on some geometry data from Billy however for now, know that the Fenrir can be provided in Sizes S-XL, however an XXL may be made accessible upon request. The Small, Medium and Massive frames can have the identical rear-center size and seat tube angle, however these can be adjusted on the XL, and for any XXL that does come into creation.
The manufacturing body can be fabricated from varied tubing; the highest and down tubes can be Reynolds 853, the seat tube can be Reynolds plain gauge CrMo. The precise metal tubing for use on the rear triangle is but to be determined.
Pricing and availability to be confirmed.
Auckland Cycle Works Marra and Reiver
Final however not least, we had an extended chat with Gary Ewing of the nascent Auckland Cycle Works. On show was the above Marra enduro bike with a extremely distinctive twin-linkage structure whereby the 2 hyperlinks co-rotate in an anti-clockwise vogue because the rear wheel is pushed via its journey.
Gary was additionally exhibiting his newer creation, the Auckland Cycle Works Reiver. Sure, the underside bracket is positioned on the decrease hyperlink. We have now much more to share with you guys on these bikes, to remain tuned for a full function.
