Want a great weekend out with a bunch of bike lovers? Head to Bespoked Manchester, 25-27th April. The show’s mission is to support small independent manufacturers and help the frame-building community flourish. Held in Manchester’s Victoria Baths, you can’t fail to find something to love at the show. Whether you end up buying a bike is neither here nor there – this is about appreciating the people that make them, learning about interesting design, and celebrating bike culture.
As well as a host of bikes, components and accessories on display, the weekend will see a selection of rides, films, talks – plus food and drink to keep your tongue wagging and your eyeballs goggling. Children go free, and early bird ticket sales end tomorrow (14th March) so don’t hang around.
This year, you can even take part in the show, thanks to the Apocalypse Build Off:
For the first time ever, BESPOKED is opening up to independent bike shops, mechanics, and enthusiasts for the inaugural BESPOKED Build Off with the support of Brother Cycles! This contest is designed for constructeurs and framebuilders, offering a unique opportunity to showcase the creativity and enthusiasm happening behind closed doors in independent bike shops. It’s also a fun and inclusive way to be part of the show.
This year’s theme is APOCALYPSE! Builders or teams will create their interpretation of an apocalypse bike—a concept that will mean something different to everyone. The competition will be judged using a scoring system outlined in the Build Manual and score sheet. Developed by a panel of award-winning builders, the scoring criteria are designed to encourage creative solutions to design challenges. To level the playing field, the build spend limit is intentionally low, encouraging the use of old, broken, or low-value components that are already lying around. See our scoring sheet here.
Sound appealing? Sound fun? You could check out our own Zombie Apocalypse Bike Test for a bit of extra inspiration.
It’s £80 to enter into the build off, and as well as getting to display your creation, you’ll also get 5 full weekend tickets for Bespoked (which are usually £25 each). Sounds like a very good excuse to head to the shed with a few friends and get building!
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I went last year and found it much more interesting than I was expecting, not huge but interesting. The location is pretty quirky!
Hope to get there again this year.
I’ll be there, possibly with a (not apocalyptic, but appropriate for the show) new bike build, depending on stand space/lead times not slipping.
That Dawley stirs feelings inside me 😍
I should love that BTR because it’s exactly my kind of bike but it looks like a mad 90’s contraption from before DH bikes were figured out. It makes me realise that I prefer modern, swoopy, sexy, fast looking DH bikes.
The Dawley on the other hand, which I would never buy, looks lovely.
Last time I was at Victoria baths, we played canoe polo and then went to boddingtons for one of the very last tours then got even more scuttered in the brewery pub on the corner.
Would love to go back and I’m in England then…
Saw the build challenge last month when it first came out, but to be honest the original entry cost, detailed requirements and short notice kind of turned me off – maybe next year if they announce something a bit earlier (plenty of us previous exhibitors / hobbyists still mucking about).
Last year was a nice day out in a great venue and will be a little gang of us going again this year.
I’m with TheArtist…that Dawley is a really beautiful bike. Thats a potential new bike. Trip to Manchester I think.
Bespoked webite is not working though?.
working fine for me?
Where’s that Bespoked apocalypse image from? Hopefully a real human artist? Can I get one please?
Sorry to dissapoint, but that image has all the hallmarks of an AI generated one.