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

The evolution of my bikes

It's been a while since I put up a post, partly because I've been spending a lot of time tinkering with my bikes. So I thought I would put a piece on how they have evolved.

I got back into cycling about two years ago starting with commuting to work before buying an old road bike for a few longer rides. I'm now on my third and fourth bike and have definitely learnt a lot since I bought the first one from Halfords.

The old commuter soaking up some sun

I made the classic mistake of buying something I didn't know much about and based my decision on looks over quality. This bike did me well for over a year but I wouldn't be rushing out to buy another bike from Halfords any time soon. Commuting on this bike did reignite my love for cycling though and within months I decided to buy an old road bike off ebay. The Raleigh Winner. 

Not actually my bike but the same model. Image by rodcorp on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodcorp/3560756408/

This bike was great fun but the look wasn't a winner for me, so I decided to undertake a little project. Now, this won't please everyone, some feel that bikes should stay as they are or be restored to their heyday form. Well I wanted a green bike so I painted it green, not much more thought went into it than that really.                                     

Respray complete with a few nice additions.

I really loved this bike, it wasn't the lighest, it wasn't the fastest but it was still a joy to ride. Also, as I put so much time into it I felt like I really knew how it worked and every time I went out on it I had fun. Unfortunately as I was learning more I soon learnt that it was far too big for me! So I started looking for a new frame to build up. Which led me to another Raleigh frame, this time the Rapide. 

                                      

A much lighter frame but still wasn't a fan of the colour.

After the last bike I now had a bit more confidence in respraying the frame but first I wanted to do a few runs on it to make sure the frame was ok. So I undertook some transplant surgery. 

Bike bits everywhere!

This consisted of just taking everything off the Winner and onto the Rapide. 

It didn't stay like this for long. 

A few miles on the new frame and I decided it was good enough to put a bit more work into it. And viola!

I stuck with a retro style for the new look.

 The only thing for it now, was some rides.

Enjoying the Warwickshire countryside.

My first long organised ride was the Shakespeare Spring 100, a 100km ride through the glorious countryside, this was great fun but disaster struck about 40km out. My tool roll which was strapped to the saddle came loose and took out five of my rear spokes. I finished the event though, despite a severely buckled wheel!

Ouch!

Obviously I needed a new wheel but whilst looking for one I soon came round to the idea of having a bit of a change around. A friend of mine, much taller than me, was interested in buying a single speed. So I built up the Winner into a single speed for him with some of the bits of my old commuter and another ebay purchase. 

Another bargain. 

This frame was a lighter Reynolds steel, slightly smaller and a bit racer so the obvious thing to do was to build this into my weekend bike and turn the light blue bike into my commuter. A few hours/days of swapping bits over and quite a bit of swearing and I now had a Blue bike and a Red bike. Craig had the green bike. And I now had a set up I was really happy with and did everything I needed it to do. So we come to the end of the evolution. For now. 

Craig rode home the green bike.

The blue bike takes me to work everyday.

And the red bike is my racy little number for the weekend. 

Obviously this story never really ends. I'm sure something will go wrong at some stage which will inspire another purchase and maybe even a whole new bike. But for now I am very happy with my stable.

Axalko - the wooden bike

 A quick search of the Internet will throw up a few different people's take on wooden bikes from Bamboo frames in place of steel through to some workshop built creations. There is however one company, Axalko, making some sublime bikes using Ash wood to great effect.

The small firm from the Basque region build incredible hand-built frames using a technique they have developed themselves including four specially designed finger joints holding the frame together. These joints ensure the frame is lightweight, the road bike comes in at 6.5kg when built up, but rigid enough to deal with the forces put through the frame when you push the pedals round.

I had the chance to try one out a few weeks when I met Enrique from Axalko at Bespoked Bristol. This frame was set up for 'city mode' which was very responsive and the acceleration was great. I had a quick ride round the train station over the cobbled streets of Bristol and was amazed at how little vibration was passed through the frame. The bike itself has been tested on both Paris-Roubaix and Bastogne - Liege so it can certainly cope with the pave and I just wish I could of took some time riding it round some twisting country lanes.

Every bike is fitted to the customers exact measurements and the whole process takes 3 months from initial consultation through to delivery. Much like a hand made suit from Saville Row the Axalko is the pinnacle of bike building and the sort of bike you hope to hand down to the next generation. The bike is a truly beautiful piece of craftsmanship and you get lots of admiring looks from people as you ride it around. With prices starting from £3,500 it would be an investment worth if you are thinking of spending a big amount on a bike.

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.

Good looking re-cycling

 With a little help from Bike Man Dan the old Raleigh is looking pretty sweet now. There are quite a few new bits and pieces on it now including a new seven speed rear cassette and derailleur, NOS front chainset plus a lovely new Brooks saddle. She rides really nicely and I'm hoping it should be able to take me through the various rides I've got coming up including the ridetoweymouth.com. Plus, it looks good enough now that I could put it on one of those wall shelves once the ride is finished!

Genesis Equilibrium

I've entered myself in for a few charity rides recently and plan to do big ride from Birmingham to Weymouth to raise money in memory of brother in September. As such I'v been out on my road bike a bit more which has led to me to start thinking about buying a new one too. The old Raleigh frame is pretty heavy and is a little bit too big for me too but there is one thing which keeps stopping me committing to a new bike. That is most of them look dull, samey and are lacking real style.

Well that was until I found the Genesis Equilibrium, I'm already a big fan of their fixed wheel Day One and I was glad to see the Equilibrium shares it's retro styling and Reynolds steel frame. It's had  some great reviews and as they say on their site 'it proves that steel is still a material to be reckoned with for a fast road bike.' I wish more bike designers in this field considered the look and ride of the bike rather than just the weight and speed but I don't think I'm your average road biker.

Best get saving some pennies though as the entry level 00 model comes in at £899.99 which is a bit out of my price at the moment. But seeing as they are a British company surely I would just be helping out the country's economy by buying one, right?