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The History of Diamant: Hans – A GDR Story of Innovation in Isolation

Petor is the director of Bespoked, and this year, he moved the showcase from the UK to Dresden, Germany. Through regular visits to Germany, meeting builders and small independent manufacturers, he was extremely fortunate to meet some incredible people who gave me a glimpse into the bicycle manufacturing community.

Inevitably, the name Diamant would crop up over and over, in the way that Raleigh would in the UK or Schwinn in the states. There were crumbs pointing to the former GDR everywhere, and in trying to learn a bit more about the cultural landscape of framebuilding in the former GDR all roads eventually led back to Diamant…

Forty-Eight Hours in Berlin with Fern Fahrraeder/Allygn, Gramm Tourpacking, Drust/Akinn Cycles, Velociao Paint, and Velo Saloon

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Forty-Eight Hours in Berlin with Fern Fahrraeder/Allygn, Gramm Tourpacking, Drust/Akinn Cycles, Velociao Paint, and Velo Saloon

Germany is an epicenter of cycling innovation and production. Home to a lengthy list of big brands including Canyon, Diamant, Focus, Bosch, and so many more, the central European nation is also inhabited by an ever-growing community of smaller bicycle and gear fabricators, builders, and makers.

While we saw many examples of cycling-related German craftsmanship on display in our Bespoked coverage last month, those examples just scratched the surface. On his way to Dresden for the show, Josh stopped over in Berlin and spent his brief amount of free time learning about the city’s special place within the larger German—and global—cycling industry context.

Read on below for a primer on Fern Fahrraeder/Allygn, Gramm Tourpacking, Drust/Akinn Cycles, Velociao Paint, and Velo Saloon!

2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show Part 3: Avalanche, Ballern, Black Sheep, CMG, Fern, Huhn, Rheintritt, Rossman, Repete, and Timba

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2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show Part 3: Avalanche, Ballern, Black Sheep, CMG, Fern, Huhn, Rheintritt, Rossman, Repete, and Timba

The 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show just wrapped after three action-packed days of talks, parties, and drooling over the heaps of amazing craftsmanship on display. Josh was on the ground at the Dresden, Germany airport where this year’s event took place, and, below, shares his final gallery of bikes and a couple of interesting components. Let’s get right into it!

2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show Part 2: Auguste, Actofive, Bididu, Manivelle, Quirk, Star Fish, Tim Tas+Rek, True Love, Posedla, Gramm, and Allygn

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2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show Part 2: Auguste, Actofive, Bididu, Manivelle, Quirk, Star Fish, Tim Tas+Rek, True Love, Posedla, Gramm, and Allygn

The 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show just wrapped after three action-packed days of talks, parties, and drooling over heaps of amazing craftsmanship on display. Josh was on the ground at the Dresden, Germany airport where this year’s event took place, and, below, shares his second gallery of bikes and a couple of interesting components. Let’s get right into it!

2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show Part 1: Atelier Pariah, Boucif Custom Bikes, Cicli Bonanno, Dlouhy, Drust, Meerglas, Sour, Ingrid Shifters, and Cyber Cycles Forks

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2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show Part 1: Atelier Pariah, Boucif Custom Bikes, Cicli Bonanno, Dlouhy, Drust, Meerglas, Sour, Ingrid Shifters, and Cyber Cycles Forks

The 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show just wrapped after three action-packed days of talks, parties, and drooling over heaps of amazing craftsmanship on display. Josh was on the ground at the Dresden, Germany airport where this year’s event took place, and, below, shares his first gallery of bikes and a couple of very interesting components that will be launching soon. Let’s get right into it!

Bespoked 2023 Prologue: A Tour-Ready Titanium Randonneur from Wheeldan

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Bespoked 2023 Prologue: A Tour-Ready Titanium Randonneur from Wheeldan

I’m in Germany for the 2023 Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show, which is taking place this weekend, October 13-15 in Dresden. Prior to traveling to Dresden, I was in Berlin with Flo and Tine of Fern/Allygn Bicycles and Gramm Tourpacking where we had an action-packed day visiting various makers around their workshop in the east side of the city. One of our visits was to meet Dan Pleikies of Wheeldan Custom Bicycles. Dan isn’t able to make it to Bespoked, BUT I was able to pull aside a client’s stunning randonneur bike he had on hand to document. Let’s check it out below!

Readers’ Rides: Lucas from the Black Forest’s 1995 Rockrider 520 Restomod

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Readers’ Rides: Lucas from the Black Forest’s 1995 Rockrider 520 Restomod

We’re probably beating a dead horse over here by promoting the restoration of vintage mountain bikes into resto mod beauts. Even a run of the mill frame can become something extraordinary, with the right amount of time, parts, and money. Today, Lucas from Tune Germany shares just that, an überlight resto mod of a 1995 Rockrider 520 that weighs a scant 9,7KG with pedals! Let’s check it out below!

A Love Letter from Berlin: The Rad Race Last Wo/Man Standing Fixie Crit and Custom Framebuilder Highlights from Kolektif

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A Love Letter from Berlin: The Rad Race Last Wo/Man Standing Fixie Crit and Custom Framebuilder Highlights from Kolektif

Back in March, as part of the Kolektif Bike Fair in Berlin, the team behind Rad Race put on the 9th annual Last Wo/Man Standing fixed gear race at the winding indoor Mobikart go-kart circuit track. Additionally, the bike fair featured a handful of stunning custom builds on display from an array of framebuilders including Drust, Omnium, Rossman, Morassi, Trout, ten:07, and Vetra. Petor Georgallou was there for it all and shares a full report and massive image gallery below.

Schwalbe is Recycling Bicycle Tires in Germany

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Schwalbe is Recycling Bicycle Tires in Germany

Schwalbe is the world’s first and (so far) only manufacturer that not only takes back used tires but also uses them to produce new tires. Back in 2022 at Eurobike, the German tire brand announced the “Schwalbe Recycling Program,” an initiative to collect used tires, recycle them, and manufacture new tires with recycled material. This program, which won Eurobike’s “Innovators Prize,” is underway and scaling rapidly, as Schwalbe has received an initial shipment of recycled carbon black (rCB) to begin making the first batch of recycled tires. We thought this sounded exciting, so reached out to Felix Jahn, Schwalbe’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, to learn more about the recycling program and where it’s headed.

From Baden-Württemberg to Frankfurt: A EUROBIKE 2022 Über-Gallery

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From Baden-Württemberg to Frankfurt: A EUROBIKE 2022 Über-Gallery

A few weekends ago I found myself at Eurobike in its new Frankfurt übervenue. Eurobike has always been huge, but this year I was made acutely aware of the distances involved by the cab driver who dropped me off at the wrong entrance, and then charged an additional nine Euros for the 10-minute cab ride to the correct entrance. I bumped into another journalist who showed me her step count for the day, which prompted me to check mine, showing that I’d walked almost 60km or 40 miles of Shimano blue carpets over the space of two days. Shocking!

Sour Bicycles Moves its Mountain Bike Frame Production to Germany and Drops the Big Fun Hardtail

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Sour Bicycles Moves its Mountain Bike Frame Production to Germany and Drops the Big Fun Hardtail

Sour Bicycles, the company that made the Pasta Party John reviewed last month, has just dropped a big bomb of an announcement. The brand will be producing all of its mountain bike frames in Germany, beginning in January 2022. That means if you pre-order any frame right now, it’ll be made in Germany, including its newest model the Big Fun, an enduro/trail/all-mountain hardtail. Check out the geo numbers and details on the Big Fun below and read Sour Bicycles’ full press release at their blog

The Vecnum freeQENCE Suspension Stem Absorbs 75% of All Vibrations with 30mm of Damping

Radar

The Vecnum freeQENCE Suspension Stem Absorbs 75% of All Vibrations with 30mm of Damping

Suspension stems aren’t anything new. The 80s and 90s brought about many versions of a damping cockpit and in modern times, we’ve seen quite a few roll across our email with the latest being the Vecnum freeQENCE. This stem comes in 90mm, 105mm, and 120mm lengths and provides maximum suspension travel of 30mm, which is split into 20mm positive travel and 10mm negative travel – similar to the sag of a suspension fork. This stem retails at €299.00 direct from Vecnum and there is a lot more to its design, which you can read all about at Vecnum.