Ted James was exhibiting as usual and has been building since 2010, winning the Peer award at Bespoked 2013. Ted builds all types of frames from custom ‘one-offs’ to small batches in steel, stainless steel and titanium. He was chosen by Reynolds to build the first 921 stainless frame for testing. On show was his Hack Bike Derby machine and a cool steel hardtail which was bang up to date with progressive geometry and stealth dropper routing, a real ripper!
tedjamesdesign.com
Ted was sharing a stand with Rideworks, a small UK component builder showing some really high quality hubs, chainguides, chainrings and bottom brackets, all lovingly crafted here in Coventry in the UK. He had partnered up with Ted and have been working with the new threaded T47 bottom bracket standard recently pioneered by Chris King and Argonaut Cycles. The custom production and numerous standards gives the customer the ability to really tailor a bike to their exact preferences. We’ll be getting in some Rideworks components so keep an eye out for a feature on the Dirt website.
rideworks.co.uk
Starling Cycles are local to Bristol and produce a mid travel trail/enduro full suspension frame that we’ve recently tested and fallen for. It’s now at ‘Mark III’ stage and we were shown new developments with an added gusset for improved strength and stiffness. Two bikes were on show and sizing was discussed in depth and it’s great to see that subtle tweaks and changes can be made, giving an ever improving frame design as time goes on. This is one sweet riding bike, designed, developed and tested here in the UK by an aerospace stress engineer; it’s what this exhibition is all about…
starlingcycles.com
Curtis are a brand with a long running pedigree in building anything from a BMX frame through to a hardcore 26″ wheel dirt jump rig. Gary Woodhouse has been on board since ’79 and persuaded Brian Curtis to start building BMX frames at a time when they had just started to arrive in the UK. They know them as well as anyone, and the quality is unbeatable.
curtisbikes.co.uk
The Bespoked show runs over this weekend (15th – 17th April) and if you’re in the area we’d recommend a visit.
bespoked.cc
