Wrapping up our 2023 Handmade Bicycle Show Australia coverage that kicked off yesterday, Andy White is back with another packed gallery of thoroughly-documented beautiful bicycles. There’s a lot to look at, so let’s jump right in below!
Baum Cycles
The team at Baum Cycles had the most bikes at the show and left it to me to choose the feature bike. From MTB, modern road, and gravel it was their Corretto road with Campagnolo that spoke to me – or was it the Mondrian-themed paint for Monards – a Melbourne-based luxury watch and jewelry store.
With mechanical Campagnolo Super Record, Lightweight wheels and Busyman leather work, it truly is a work of art, another example of Baum’s consistently perfect products that are made to last a lifetime.
Palmer Bicycles
The new kid on the block, Chris Palmer took no time at all to make his appearance known with this wonderful handmade carbon (rim brake) road bike. As it turned out, the owner was a long-time friend of mine (bike industry stalwart) and it speaks volumes of his faith in Chris to choose him for his first custom build.
Based in the beautiful Macedon Ranges, Chris is an engineer in the automotive industry, and applies his experience and knowledge to individually tailored carbon tubes and joint layup to create performance road frames. A modern road disc incarnation is coming somewhere in time; follow the evolution on IG.
Fahrradbau Stolz
If one bike stood out as most utilitarian, it was this titanium beast from the Swiss Alps. Fahrradbau Stolz has a long history of handmade bicycle manufacturing, predominantly in steel but chose this titanium bea-ute to display. A belt-driven Pinion gearbox offers an almost maintenance-free ride, dynamo front hub provides front and rear illumination, high-quality parts throughout – XTR, Thomson, Chris King all reinforcing what will be a reliable rig for transport in all conditions – celebrated in no small part by the beautiful fenders.
You’d have to know the Stolz brand to find reference to it other than the simple headtube decal, which is in stark contrast to the mainstream. Chapeau!
Devlin Cycles
Sean Doyle of Devlin was back with road, gravel and an update of his Jester dual-suspension platform. Made in Brisbane, he was inspired by fellow local frame builder Darrell ‘Llewellyn’ McCulloch to pick up the torch and start making.
Utilizing brazed and lugged techniques for frame building, he can also incorporate 3D-printed parts into the build where warranted.
The bike shown here is the Jester. A 160mm mountain bike with double-butted steel tubing throughout. Available in 10mm reach increments and the chainstay length is adjusted with 2mm increments from 435-447mm. All linkages are custom-fab’d and make for a real head-turner on the trails.
Killenbike
Sean Killen is approaching a decade of building stunning frames. Creating from his workshop in Newtown, an inner city suburb of Sydney, his passion for detail is obvious. In a previous life, Sean worked with timber and has transitioned to steel with superb results.
The ‘Centennial’ road bike name is a nod to the popular park in Sydney well known as a cycling hotspot, a short ride from Killenbike. Elegantly sculpted and subtle in branding, the visual itself speaks to vogue only few are known for, with pencil-thin seat stays. The entire frame is silver fillet brazed to a combination of Columbus HSS Spirit and Life steel tubes.
SRAM red wireless shifting and White Industries 1X crankset are accented with Mcfk carbon par excellence components. The Killenbike is a seriously beautiful modern road racer. A breathtaking bike from a long-time builder, first-time exhibitor.
Teschner Bikes
Peter Teschner’s path to bicycle production began in 1984, designing and then crafting his first Teschner frame in titanium in 1991.
A long-time supplier of frames to the Australian Institute of Sport, this year the frames showcased their new 3D-printed carbon lug sets.
Moots Bicycles
A name that needs little introduction. Since 1981, nestled in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, USA, Moots has set a bar for excellence in titanium bicycle frames. The Womble has all the hallmark Moots design and manufacturing features, with just enough pop of amazing anodizing for the chainstays and frame logos.
A 1x frame with progressive geometry and clearance for 2.6” rubber, Moots makes the Womble with double-butted top and down tubes in the largest diameters to achieve an incredibly stiff front end. The groupset is the popular SRAM AXS, including AXS dropper, squish care of Rock Shox Pike Ultimate, and a blingin’ titanium spoked wheelset to match by Kaos Custom Bikes.
Officine Mattio
Officine Mattio was born in 2013 in Cuneo, Italy, from the intuition of Giovanni Monge Roffarello with the idea of building a Made in Italy product. Craft made, therefore irreplicable. The design, the choice of materials, and the technical solutions adopted – along with an artisanal dedication and expertise – led Officine Mattio to conceive and produce a bicycle that is truly unique.
Every choice is undertaken and influenced by the passion for cycling, not just the products: the shape of the Monviso mountain inspired the company’s logo. When the first bicycle was ready to be presented on the market, the name was chosen thinking of one of the founder’s favorite Alpine climbs: Lemma. That’s how the iconic carbon fiber bicycles were introduced to the world. Since then, many other products have been launched, expanding the range to gravel and steel, and exploring new materials and technologies. Officine Mattio is present in 21 countries throughout the world.
Simpatico Bikes
Jeff Servaas and Brandon Stewart created the brand in 2002, and the agreeable Simpatico N1 all-road bike is a titanium frame (manufactured in China), paired with carbon fork and integrated cockpit for a very clean machine. The visual is beautifully understated, with a subtle two-tone Cerakote contrasted with raw stays and an ochre finish for the stem, seat clamp, hubs and spider.
Appleman 2XR cranksets were on more than a few show bikes available in 135-175mm lengths in 10mm increments. The N1 offering is that ONE bike that can do almost anything – zippy on the blacktop, stable and balanced on gravel; simply easy to get along with.
Serk Titanium
Serk is a boutique brand founded in 2014 by Shannon Bufton, an Australian who lives and works in China, with a background in urban architecture. Serk had an amazing neo-retro titanium road bike with Cyclo-Retro’d Campagnolo which I would have chosen to shoot, but, alas Shannon thought this neon ‘A21 – Dissident’ was a better pick.
Manufactured in China, the A21 is the gravel/adventure bike model in the lineup. KongStudio does incredible work with paint and/or Cerakote as shown here, with cages and cockpit poppin’ perfectly with the SimWorks homage tires in turquoise. Serk recently set up a retail store in Torquay, the perfect playground for their bikes in Australia with the Great Ocean Road and Otways National Park. Serk also offers unique frontier cycling tours in China, riding spectacular roads and reaching incredible elevations. A definite bucket list ride to take your new bike on.
Curve Cycling
Celebrating 10 years of squawking, and an attendee of all five Handmade shows, Melbourne brand Curve had a range of bikes, with all raw titanium finishes, and accessories to suit the application, in particular the adventure GMX with Buck-it/Terra Rosa frame bags.
In the spotlight was the AIR KEV model, a lightweight gravel bike with an integrated carbon seat tube. While the first bike of this kind was a collaborative piece with Bastion for the 2018 Handmade show, the AIR KEV is all Curve – manufactured in China. The AIR KEV sports beefy 44C Vittoria Mezcals with ample clearance for the tackiest of mud, w i d e Walmer bars and the new SRAM transmission. Unlike other Curve adventure platforms, AIR KEV has forks free of extra mounts, and provision for four bidons on the frame but no rack/fender options. The wheelset is Curve Carbon rims with the ever-reliable DT Swiss hub set.
Auren Bikes
Melbourne-based brand Auren Bikes was back with three models to show. A titanium BMX, an ebike, and this gravel bike which looks like it would be a perfect fit for Auren’s owner, Will Young who is vertically gifted at 6’7”. There’s a hint of a swoop in the top tube, a style synonymous with Sklar and Retrotec, and a muted design brushed into the frame that you have to look closely for. Auren wheelset is carbon to DT Swiss hubs with Goodyear rubber. New for 2023, Auren has added titanium bidon cages to the offerings, and this rough road rocket can accommodate three.
Cables are all concealed in the one-piece bar/stem and routed through the headset, for a visually pleasing finish. A Terra-Rosa frame bag is large enough to carry fuel for the longest of one-day rides, with provision for fenders. Strap on a saddle and bar bag and you’ve got a great flashpacking rig.
Penny Farthing Dan
If you know Dan, a static photo doesn’t do him or his work justice, nor could I get any of his bikes into the booth. I interviewed him walking us through his work and the stunning Lawson Bicyclette he brought to the show.
Omnium Cargo
Ben and Billy are the Australian distributors of Omnium Cargo, which began with importuing a bike for himself and seeing the desire by others in Australia for a similar type of vehicle. Like Penny Farthing Dan, these big rigs don’t fit in the both so I had a yak to Ben about the Omnium line-up.
And that’s a wrap on our 2023 Handmade Bicycle Show Australia coverage! Have questions or a favorite build? Drop them in the comments!