Blog

Steve's Road Frame Part 2 21/12/16

So it’s been a long time since I last blogged – I’ve been too busy making things and fixing bikes to do it! Sorry about that, must try harder in 2017...

I did indeed finish Steve's road frame, the build went well and I learned a lot from doing it. Unfortunately I deleted all of the "in progress" photos but here is a photo of the completed frame pre paint.

And some photos of the complete bike.

So why does it have a black front rim and a wite rear rim? On his second ride on the bike a pedestrian stepped out in front of Steve and in the resulting crash the front rim was written...

Read More..

Bespoked 2016 28/04/16

The 6th Bespoked Hand Built Bicycle Show was on last weekend. Andy made the long drive down to see some of the most beautiful bikes the UK has to offer.

Most people arrived by bicycle – the parking spaces outside had a huge variety of interesting machines.

But enough of Bespoked 2016 Reader's Wives! We're here for the real bike porn! Once inside even the poshest of normal bikes looks distinctly ordinary in comparison.

The level of attention to detail in this build by Meteor was amazing. The fully polished chrome frame makes my fingers hurt just thinking about the number of hours...

Read More..

Steve's Road Frame Part 1 09/02/16

Steve McCaw, mechanic here at Eastside, asked me to build a frame for him after he realised that his Specialized Tarmac didn't fit him as well as it used to. His position has changed due to a bad back, probably caused by years of training and racing in this position.

Steve wanted a bike that handled very much like his Tarmac, but with higher handlebars and a slacker seat tube angle – his position has basically rotated around the bottom bracket. He wanted it to feel like the classic steel bikes of his youth under pedaling. We decided to use Columbus Zona main tubes with 22mm round-taper...

Read More..

Snow Trails 25/01/16

Happy New Year!

We've decided to reactivate our blog to let you in on some of the interesting things that happen in the shop, rides, bike builds, things like that. This week none of us have been doing much riding beyond the occasional commute, but I managed a quick evening thrash on Saturday to test my snow bike.

I fitted some Schwalbe Marathon Winter tyres to a singlespeed GT Timberline that a friend of the shop gave me. No­ one else wanted his weird retro drop-bar 1 gear bike, but I like doing bad things to old GTs! The tyres grip ice fantastically well, turning sheet ice into a...

Read More..