Llewellyn is one of Australia’s best kept, not-so secrets. Those who know, know, leaving the rest of the world coveting frames from Eisentraut (1959), Moulton (1957), Weigle (1977), Sachs (1975), etc.

Granted, Llewellyn has only been building since 1979, and the others, as stated above, have been around only slightly longer. Darrell Llewellyn makes steel bikes and steel bikes alone. He’s built for numerous Australian national athletes, was an Olympic mechanic and had a hand in the early days of NAHBS.

Bottom line is, Llewellyn has done his time and his frames are still available today, at a reasonable wait-list, especially when compared to the aforementioned US-builders. Little nuances like the frog decals are still evident in his current frames – a sticker Darrell uses to cover up paint blemishes, which became part of the Llewellyn iconography.

At the 2014 Melburn Roobaix, Dayne rolled up with this classic Llewellyn, from the early 80’s. Meticulously crafted from Reynolds 531, laced with Suntour Superbe Pro and best of all, soaking fucking wet and ready to be ridden.

There’s no sense in babying a bike like this, it’s Australian pedigree and it deserves to be exercised. Rumor has it, that Dayne has the matching track bike as well. I guess I’ll have to wait till next time…