Jonathan Thompson from Tomo bikes was at Bespoked Manchester with three very different creations. His Apocalypse build entry was pretty epic, while his mid-tall bike with giant hooter looked as refined as a Victorian penny farthing. And then, as if to prove he can be normal, there was a very elegant gravel bike.
As if that wasn’t enough, he was also on the big screen, as part of the Frankenbike film. Let’s start with that, a big injection of joy.
How did you become a maker of things?
The first bike I made, way back when, we used to pick up old scrap bikes when we were kids and we would hack them together to make all sorts of nonsense. My first proper bike was making a recumbent because I fancied making one, I had a rubbish old Peugeot road frame and chopped that up and moulded it together. And then when my youngest son was going to school, he wanted to cycle, but through the town was a bit dangerous so we welded together two BMX frames into a tandem so that I could ride him to school and come back on that. It just kind of grew from there. I like sticking things together and coming up with a bike. Bikes are my thing. That then morphed into trying to do it properly.
Jonathan’s bikes are beautiful but there’s a fairly wide range from sensible to silly in his builds, which some might not consider ‘proper’. What’s that about?
I think, I guess two sides. One is I’ve tried not to overly pigeonhole myself into one type of bike. There’s obviously lots that people do and that’s lovely. But maybe part of my personality might get bored, so I like the variety.
I’ve raced in the past and I get the speed thing, but there’s more to cycling than just that. So [I build things for] enjoyment, having fun, having something that’s versatile.
We’re looking at a semi-tall bike as we’re talking. They make really nice touring bikes. You can see the scenery around you. You have a nice experience when you meet people because they want to talk to you rather than want to run away from you. I think the whole experience of using one of these things can can be different to, without stereotyping, a head down roadie that’s just going fast, or mountain biker that’s speeding on the trails – which I personally love to do!
So I’ll definitely do some of that as well, but I think the variety and, I have said this before, but there’s a mental health element to why a lot of people ride, certainly why I ride. So whatever gives me that improvement or release or whatever is definitely part of it and I think quirky bike can do that in a slightly different way.
What has been the trickiest skill to learn as a bike maker?
There’s quite a few. It’s always been a part-time thing for me. I have a day job, it’s a desk job, it’s nothing to do with engineering or anything, but I’ve always had an interest in engineering.
So [there’s been] learning some of the technical skills. Brazing is not so bad. I think it’s more the quality aspects, you’re always trying to improve quality or speed of production and so that’s a continual learning process – it’s either building jigs or whatever, but also having the mentality to focus on quality and making it as good as you can possibly make it. So that’s continual, you never get there, it’s a continual thing.
I think there’s other aspects of it, everything from marketing and websites and all the social media. The interesting conversations that I find at these places [bike shows] is basically how to run a business and how to have a business model that works in an industry that’s really struggling. So that’s probably the biggest challenge that most of us face at the moment, I think.
Do you have a favourite tool and why?
People that know me would probably know the answer to this. My favourite hammer is an angle grinder. I hand cut all my mitres.
I do have milling machines and things but because everything I do is bespoke one-offs, you spend longer setting up the machine than you do cutting the thing by hand. So I tend to cut things by hand, and an angle grinder, it’s my friend. You do a lot with that and it’s really fast – as long as you’re careful and you don’t have to redo things too many times. So I think that’s my favourite: the angle grinder.
He’s in good company because Paul from BTR says the same! So what does a typical day look like?
At the moment I’m kind of in two jobs. Mornings are working on my wife’s company, so that gets that out of the way. Afternoons, I guess most people would say that you don’t spend as much time building frames as a frame builder as you would think, so there’s lots of other things to do. But ideally an afternoon of whatever the current project is. We typically start with some design conversations and so there’s a design program, Bike CAD, that I use to create a design.
Inevitably then ordering the stuff that you’re going to need, and waiting. And then a fair amount of time is obviously spent on cutting and mitering tubes, setting the jig up, putting that all together making sure it’s as good as it can be, and then brazing. The brazing, it’s good fun. I think as a one-off semi-part-time person you don’t do as much of any of these things as you would like. You’re not sat there brazing all day every day, so there’s always a kind of startup process of ‘do this again’, because you might not have done it for a week or two. But I really like the brazing part, and less like the filing and finishing. But you know that if you want that look, then you have to do it.
My next question was going to be what’s your favourite part of the process, so is that brazing?
Probably yeah. I quite like the design aspect. I think there’s a bit of problem solving in the design and there’s the problem solving of finding the parts and and making the parts so that it will actually fit. Everybody wants another five mm tyre clearance with a shorter rear end and a bigger chainring and a 15 speed cassette or whatever is going on! That problem solving of creating something that will work is probably one of the more stressful elements as well because inevitably the boundaries are pushed. That’s one reason why I think people build bespoke stuff – because you can’t buy it off the shelf and it will be a more tyre/shorter something/longer something/more of something and you’ve then got to work out how to stitch it all together.
How long does it typically take to make a bike?
That’s not a really straightforward answer because there’s no such thing as typical for me, everything is individual. The bike in the Apocalypse section for the Bespoked show took two weeks of afternoons and evenings, but they were fairly long afternoons and evenings and there’s quite a lot to that bike. I’d like to say within say 20 hours you could get something together, and then it’s quality of finish… If you take painting as an example. If you’re powder coating it’s a car journey to the powder coaters. If I’m painting it, the prep the design of the paint, maybe printing vinyl if it’s got patterns and shapes and stuff – it can be hours and hours doing all of that sort of stuff. Then the painting… the prep, the rubbing down, all of those and the finishing can take 20 hours on its own. So without ducking the question, it’s pretty variable depending upon what the spec is.
What’s the hardest part of being a maker?
There’s an obvious answer, unless you like being a pauper! I think you know most people who do it, they have the passion for it. So it’s maybe a frustration of not being able to do more, I think.
In a good way, the dealing with customers is the thing. Obviously it’s super important to make sure that you understand the requirements as well as possible, to create what they actually want. English language being what it is ,people being what they, are it can be quite difficult to nail that down, even if people know what they want. When they don’t know what they want, if you’re doing something bespoke, you’re potentially starting with a blank sheet of paper. Actually nailing the jelly to the wall can be quite tricky, but is part of the process. So that’s fine, but maybe that getting that spec right [is hardest]. And then the production – not necessarily the doing of it, but making it efficient. You spend more time making tools than you do making bikes, just so that when you do it the next time, it’s faster and/or better quality.
And so what’s the best part of being a maker?
I have to say the people. It’s a passion project. At the end of the day you’re doing something that you’re really invested in and I confess that my day job doesn’t do the same for me. That’s ultimately why any of us do it I guess, is that it’s something that you really love doing, and you want to do, and you can work on something you’re really passionate about. And you meet a load of people that are all similar – you come to these shows and you know you’re in your people, so it’s pretty nice.
Well that leaves me neatly on to my last question which is: is there another maker whose work you particularly admire?
Oh plenty yes, I almost don’t want to pick one out because there’s a few for different reasons! Pi who’s here [with Clandestine] I would say there’s a slightly ‘different’ vibe to them, but beautiful bikes and and a different vibe. I guess I do like a bit of difference.
I suppose on the other end you’ve got people like Saffron Bikes and Matthew who make beautiful things, really classy road bikes – or Ricky Feather or those guys that make amazingly beautiful creations and have businesses that (sort of – I know Ricky’s possibly not operating soon!) operate.
Probably too many to mention or I’ll miss somebody out… my manager, my wife, my manager!
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