Pete from Alfano Cycles was at Bespoked Manchester with a bike that I very nearly ignored because I was like, ‘Nah that’s a road bike”. However, it turned out this was no ordinary road bike, so Pete revealed what it was all about.
It’s not just a road bike, it is a fat road/gravel bike, – a froad bike! So, a drop bar bike designed around fat bike standards. Fat bike hubs, 100mm bottom bracket, 120/30mm axle on there at the minute, White Industries cranks. The customer has a collection of fat bikes, runs AXS on all of his bikes, and wants to be able to chop and change between his bikes. Now he can switch components between all five or six of his bikes.
So he’s got five fat bikes and one froad?
Yes, everything from a full sus, a hardtail and everything in between. He has the full collection of bikes and now he has a froad bike.
Well some people think fat bikers are a bit weird and perhaps this confirms it! But I do like it, it makes sense.
It is a bizarre bike, the closer you look the weirder it gets I think, which is one of the things I really love about it. From the side in profile looks like a kind of bog standard gravel, sort of slack gravel bike. And then you get a bit closer and realise you can fit a 4 inch 650b tyre in there if you take the mudguards off. It’s awesome!
And so how did you become a maker of things?
I learnt to frame build about six or seven years ago now. It’s been a hobby for a while and then about a year and a half ago I decided to make a go of it full time. I just love making stuff. The more exciting and eccentric the project, the more I enjoy it. I really love being able to work on a project with a customer and meet their expectations, nail the brief and come up with a bike. The nice thing about this was it was a sort of shared vision, he had a vision of a thing he wanted and then I took my road bike – I’m a road cyclist, time trial is the stuff I do mostly, a bit of gravel – he’s a fat biker, and we sort of met in the middle on this amazing project that has turned into this slightly mad bicycle.
Were you a maker of other things before, did you do anything creative before?
I’m an archaeologist by training, I trained PhD students how to do research. I had a previous career working in higher education teaching PhD students how to do research. I’d always been kind of a fiddler and maker, a taker apart of things and occasionally putting them back together.
Unique content like this takes time to create, and would normally be paywalled. But we’d like to support the independent builders and makers behind these bikes, and Bespoked. So you’re getting to read this for free. If you enjoy it, please consider buying an issue of our magazine, and supporting what we do.
I was going to say, archaeology is usually dismantling the ground!
Yeah! I was really interested in technology, stone tools and all that kind of stuff and so bikes for me are a wonderful example of technology. I love the fact that a bike now is not hugely dissimilar to a bike from 1884 – a Rover safety bike is still recognisably a bicycle and in 150 years nearly they’ve not changed that much. I think that’s the beauty of them.
So no stone tools for building bikes, but… What was the trickiest skill to learn?
I think the trickiest skill to learn is the patience, the patience in the brazing. Taking your time, learning to breathe, not trying to rush through it for me was the hardest. Measure twice, cut once, I think! I have several, several bicycles squirrelled away in the workshop where I should have measured more frequently! They’re just now collections of tubes for emergencies. Lessons I learnt.
And do you have a favourite tool and why?
I do like a half round file because you can do everything with a half round file, tidying up the frame. And the brazing torch, I love brazing – fillet brazing. There’s just a joy in watching the metal flow and stick the tube. Watching it go from a pile of loose tubes to a bike frame never ceases to be magic.
Is there a typical day?
No. I think coffee – there’s always a lot of coffee – and then invariably a lot of mess and me wishing I’d tidied up more before I’d left the previous day, I think that’s most days!
How long did it take to build this bike?
I think from initial discussion it’s probably been a year in total, from discussion of the first ideas all the way through to the finished bike. But in terms of actual building, I think four or five months to pull it all together. A long time going backwards and forwards, finalising the details on it. It’s been a real joy and he’s a good friend now. That’s one of the benefits, one of the joys of the bespoke builds, is you get to know your customers really well.
Is that a typical sort of time scale for a bespoke build for you or is that unusually long?
This is slightly longer than normal. I would say normally around, from deposit through to delivery of bike, I like to get them done in a month if I can. It depends entirely on how detailed and involved the customer is. How unusual the project is, is probably a better way of putting it. I think the more time spent on the discussion and finalising the details at the beginning before any kind of tubing is ordered or tools are put onto tubes, the better and the quicker the project can be turned around.
What’s the hardest part of being a maker?
I think getting out there and finding the right avenues to share your stuff is the hardest part. Loads of people love the stuff, they love all of the makers here – once they find out about us they’re always really enthusiastic. It’s sharing that message and I think convincing people that you don’t need to buy off the shelf. You get a better bike if you come and buy a bespoke bike.
And you can have a fat bike ready, road bike!
You too can have a froad!
What’s the best part of being a maker?
Giving your bike to the customer. Having somebody else ride your bike. I think for me, the best part of building bikes is when they go for a ride and they send you a message or they come back and they’re like ‘It was awesome, it’s exactly what I wanted!’. That’s perfect.
Is there another maker who you particularly admire?
Yeah, I would say Rob English for that slightly eccentric, incredibly detailed, really innovative sort of build. Or Chapman as well, Brian Chapman. Oh my god, those bikes are amazing. I mean, to hand make your brakes, that’s just next level. If I was ever that good, I’d be a happy, happy man.
Well you seem like quite a happy man anyways, thank you very much for talking to us.
Oh yeah, I’m happy here!
