Handmade Bike Check
Hey, Isshu here.
This blog post is about handmade bikes.
Last weekend at the Kamiuma store, we held a week-long event centered around the “handmade” creations, including an exhibition of handmade bikes ordered by our staff and customers, as well as Shami’s light mount workshop. It was a great opportunity for those who weren’t previously familiar with them to learn about handmade bikes.
Ever since I learned about this culture, where a “frame builder,” a craftsman who crafts bike frames, draws up geometry exclusively for a single owner and welds tubes together to bring a frame to life. I’ve been completely hooked on this scene, in the truest sense of the word.
Just like Tani, I consider owning a handmade bike be the pinnacle of the pyramid in my own mind, and I’m constantly thinking about how I’d like to inspire more people to one day put their hands on handmade bikes.
Bikes from Rock Lobster Cycles, run by Paul Sadoff, who I respect so much,
La Marche Bike Co. by Tom La Marche who came and visited us last month,
Falconer Cycles by Cameron Falconer and more were being displayed at the Kamiuma store 2 weeks ago, at the event.
But today, I’d like to check some bikes that our customers ordered.
KELLY/CX
Chris Kelly, one of the legendary frame builders who has long been a fixture on the West Coast scene. This is the disc brake cross frame. He has been dedicated to frame building since the 1980s, and his frames are extremely simple.
On a side note, at last year’s MADE BIKE SHOW (the ultimate showdown for handmade bikes), they had their booth set up near the entrance gate as a joint exhibit with Rock Lobster Cycles. (Although Rock Lobster’s Paul had a bike there, it seems he didn’t attend himself.)
Among frame builders, some infuse their signature details into the smallest elements, while others (in a good way) keep things less flashy, treating the frame simply as one component that fulfills its function.
I’d say KELLY falls more into the latter category, and though I may be biased, I sense a similar vibe from Rock Lobster, so seeing them share a booth felt strangely fitting.
This bike is originally a geared frame, but I’ve built it as a single-speed cross bike using Paul Component’s Melvin Chain Tensioner. While the clean, minimalist feel to single speed bikes is somewhat gone by the clutter created by this single added part, I think it’s a part with enough charm to make you want to convert to a single speed just to install the Melvin. That romantic masterpiece machined from a solid block of aluminum.
Normally, a tensioner type setup is the last thing you’d want when converting to a single speed, but in the case of the Melvin, it has a certain charm, or rather, a magical thing that makes you think, “This is exactly why I want it!”
There are some builders who make unexpected signature products, and Kelly makes their own handmade stems.
The bar clamp section features a two-bolt clamp resembling a frog, while the steerer clamp is designed to be slightly longer and secured at the top of the stem with a single bolt a design that has become the iconic hallmark of Kelly.
This frame is from a slightly older generation, and the front and rear hubs are QR. Also, while disc brake mounts are often the same on both the front and rear of off-the-shelf bikes, they differ on this one. It features a mixed-mount setup, the rear uses a modern flat mount, while the front uses an ISO mount designed for MTBs.
To compensate for that mismatch caused by the non-standard specifications, we picked the Paul Klampers, and at first glance, it doesn’t look like an odd combination at all. While hydraulic disc brakes are the mainstream choice for this type of drop-bar bike, Paul Components continues to produce high-end, niche mechanical models that are compatible with a variety of different disc brake mounts and that’s what makes them so great.
And the single speed brake lever that operates these mechanical brakes is just a current-model SHIMANO R400.
Judging by the price alone, it might seem like a cheap product, but in a good way. The price and quality are out of balance, and on top of that, why on earth do they still keep it in production when it’s so out of step with the times…?
I think it’s one of the most puzzling parts out there (though the R780 is another). It’s a SHIMANO legacy model that I hope they’ll continue producing for a long time to come.
We still have a few of these GRX Limited edition silver cranks in stock. It’s a subtle detail not found on SHIMANO’s current lineup and seeing them casually mounted on a single speed build like this makes it look nice. Little details like this tickles my nerdity That combination was one of the things that really spoke to me personally when building a single speed bike using SHIMANO drivetrain parts.
The frame color is also that classic Kelly green with an orange logo.
This bike really brought back memories of those days when I used to wander the vast ocean of the internet searching for pics of handmade bikes.
Thank you for your order!
Amigo/SS MTB
This is Amigo Frame Works, a frame builder based in Nashville, Tennessee. Zach Small is the frame builder.
At the first MADE event, they had road bikes on display, and the booth design, inspired by them, had a unique atmosphere.
This hardtail MTB in the photo was also on display at another brand’s booth. and I remember us talking about this bike saying “Man, this one looks so sick…”
It turns out that was actually an order for the single-speed version of that bike.
The owner is someone who often comes in for customize very special bikes, so when he told me a year ago that he ordered an Amigo frame, I was really surprised.
Amigo seems to be the type of brand that incorporates special details into the frame here and there, and on this frame, the seat clamp features a two-bolt design integrated into the frame itself, complete with a stainless steel plate that’s clearly meant to be a showpiece. The engraving and inking of the “A” logo are also a nice touch.
Rather than gripping the somewhat delicate dropper seatpost at a single “point,” the design grips it across a “surface” to reduce the load on the post itself.
Similarly, the entry and exit points for the dropper post cable, an essential piece of MTBs, feature the same design. The stainless steel plate likely serves a functional purpose as well, reinforcing the area around the holes near the entry and exit points.
The fact that these are signature features that perfectly balance both detail and function is enough to make me want to eat three bowls of rice, as we say here when we see a beautiful detail on a beautiful bike.
To make a single-speed setup possible, this frame features a rocker dropout style that allows the rear hub to slide back and forth. If you look closely, you’ll see the “A” logo here, too.
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While he occasionally builds one-off frames like this, he also makes a semi-custom model called the “BUG OUT.” I suspect he’s using this same dropout, a frame component featured on the BUG OUT, in his custom models as well.
The front and rear hubs are Philwood’s Boost hubs, a slightly special modern MTB standard. We chose to use these hubs, of which only a few pairs made it to Japan, on this special bike. That means the headset is, of course, also from Philwood. I’m incredibly grateful that they’ve made a model compatible with this suspension fork. While I do like bikes with a mismatched, mix of components that feel authentic, for a special bike like this, it just feels right when the brands and color scheme are cohesive.
Mmm…
It’s sure a bike that I can eat three bowls of rice looking at it.
Okay, I’m drooling too much. Ending this one around here.
Isshu
