Made In England - Celebrating Britain's artisan producers

Ask most people what they think the bike market is like for producers in the UK and they will most probably say that nobody builds bikes here any more and it's all done in the Far East. However, anyone who has been to Bespoked Bristol or follow the likes of Ricky Feather and Tom Donhou on Instagram will know that the British bike building businesses is thriving, you just need to know where to look. The authors of Made In England, one of them being Ricky Feather himself, wanted to celebrate this fact and show off some of the amazing work which is going on in workshops, sheds and shipping containers up and down the country.

The photography is provided by Kayti Peschke and gives a wonderful insight into the working lives of the builders. Accompanied with frank, informative and humorous interviews with the frame makers the book is a fantastic tome highlighting the great and good in the bicycle business.

Now available through their website I think it would be a great Christmas present for any cycling fans who love the craft which goes into building these machines. Also, it works as a fantastic catalogue if you are looking for a builder to create your dream bike. Just need to save up for a few years!

The Handmade Cyclist

It seems there is definitely a large number of talented people out there combining their love of cycling with top notch designs and illustrations. With festivals like Artcrank becoming bigger and bigger as well as a number of tumblr sites dedicated to cycling artworks, there clearly is a market out there. 

The Handmade Cyclist, also known as Neil, is one of these talented artists. With a style aimed towards the pro racing, peleton following cyclist, he creates some lovely bold prints. All the posters are giclee printed using archival inks onto fantastic 300gsm gallery-grade paper and will last a lifetime. Seeing as prices start at just £19, it's a pretty good chance to get some lovely graphic print up on your walls. 

I particularly like the geometric designs celebrating some of cycling's biggest classics, like La Doyenne and IL Lombardia. However, if you fancy getting your name put up there alongside some of the greats, several of his works can be personalised. You could even claim to be the 22nd Champion of l'Alpe d'Heuz. 

All the work is available through his Etsy store and could make a nice little Christmas present for the art loving cyclist in your life, especially the witty 'I love you more' print. Definitely better than a pair of socks with some bikes on. 

Blog: thehandmadecyclist.tumblr.com
Twitter: @handmadecyclist

Papergirl Birmingham Events

Last year I wrote about the fantastic Papergirl project which began in Berlin. Well, after a lot of hard work and coordination by all involved Papergirl Birmingham will launch tomorrow April 24th with an event at Mailbox in Birmingham. And when an event promises free tea and cake and a screening of the film 'Roadworthy', how can you say no? Just to top it off you can ride right into the event!

Unfortunately I will miss the distribution day on Saturday but if you are around the Birmingham area you should definitely get involved.

The details are on the website and there is a facebook event for both tomorrow and Saturday.

Melbourne Bikefest - Chasing Rainbows

Gareth Servant 

Another post from the land down under, Melbourne Bikefest ran a poster competition to promote the upcoming UCI Track World Championships in the city. Submissions seem to be of a really high standard and these are few of my favourite but loads more are in their gallery. Worth checking out if you like a bit of graphic design.

Gary Seaman

Karen Wong

Whitney Farrell

Look Mum no hands!

I was cycling round East London on a Boris Bike last week and had the opportunity to pop into London's cycling Mecca, Look Mum no Hands! on Old Street. It seems like a lot of events from the launch of Boneshaker issues to Artcrank London are held at LMNH and for good reason. The place is a cafe come bar come bike shop, so you can grab a coffee or a beer and watch a bit of cycling, catch up with friends or buy some new bits for your bike. The idea came about after the founders couldn't find anywhere to watch the Tour de France and decided they should set up their own place dedicated to cycling. I imagine the atmosphere was awesome when Cavendish was sprinting down the Champs-Élysées to win the green jersey last July.

I was there to watch the first time trial of the Paris-Nice, (well played Wiggo!) and meet a friend for lunch. We both had one of their legendary pies which were really good and served with some really interesting salads. The coffee is also from the awesome Square Mile roasters and so obviously very tasty. Can't wait to catch up with them again at Bespoked Bristol, just wish they would open up in Birmingham. If you're in London you should definitely check it out, whether you like cycling, food, coffee or just beer!

Another addition to the wall of bike art

I received this little beauty in the post the other day from Lauren Peppiatt a talented illustrator who is also designer with the very cool cycling apparel company Shutt Velo Rapide. Her love of cycling comes out in a lot of her work which is available to buy at her Etsy store and the Shutt VR site. The Le Tour print is hand printed on a retro Gocco machine and the colours which come out are really nice. The print is also one of a  very limited run of 35, so get in quick before they sell out, at £10 it's a bargain!

As always you can follow her on twitter and facebook, if like me you fancy a bit of a cycling art collection she is definitely one to check out.

Artcrank London

More cycling and art related goodness, Artcrank are making their annual trip to the UK in a couple of weeks and will be co-hosting their opening night with the launch of the new issue of Boneshaker.


Display and selling cycling posters (all for under £30) by UK artisits 'ARTCRANK uses creativity to change how people look at and think about bicycles, and grow the cycling community.'


The opening party is on August 19th at the apparent mecca of London cyclists, Look Mum No Hands, and the exhibition will run till September 9th. I'm hoping to pop along at some stage to add to my ever growing collection of cycling related prints. Plus the print by Milltag will feature some of my own handy work which you can see here.

thebicycleisart.com

I'm guessing if you're on this site that you have an interest in cycling and bikes. Well if you also like art and more specifically art featuring bicycles you need to check out thebicycleisart.com 


They curate some fantastic photography, illustration and artwork from across the web. Watch out though it has the potential to draw you in for hours. 

Crayonfire Tour de France illustrations

Really like the illustrations over on Crayonfire by Neil Stevens. He's attempting to do a new picture for every stage, Stage 2 is my favourite so far.