Bicycle Frame Making in UK classed as ‘Endangered Craft’

The Heritage Crafts Association has been tracking the health of crafts in the UK since 2017, ranking traditional crafts by the likelihood they will su …

By stwhannah

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Bicycle Frame Making in UK classed as ‘Endangered Craft’

18 Bikes
Wilson Cycles
Gritspoke
Vernon Barker
Colina

That’s 5 in and around Sheffield they have missed… Crap research dressed up as facts.

Whether or not the list is complete doesn’t change the main point surely, it’s still not a growth industry.

Clandestine! Definitely full time and making lovely bikes – i have 2!

Erm…

Dawley bikes
Rå bikes
Tora cycles
Atherton
Howler
Coal bikes
Carbon Wasp
Sturdy

Off the top of my head, and that’s just MTBs

^ The article mentions some of them not being listed, and it’s about the craft of steel frames rather than 3D printing or carbon layups – arguably they should be included but it’s a different craft.

Size of market: based on research and figures of tubing and frame parts sales (from suppliers to the builders) over the past two years, there are only around 450 bespoke frames being made per year

You’re selling to a small section of the market and when you think of how long-term a purchase a custom frame is now (compared to the 60s and 70s road scene) that number’s not suprisingly low. I wonder if there’s a tube or dropout supplier who wasn’t factored in, but even so that may only bump the numbers up to ~500-600?

Of course it is an endangered craft. The products are high end and niche and not for the majority of bicycle buyers. Even buyers with money will typically be spending it on some big brand bike or frame.

As above… yes, it’s not the most secure way to trade but there remain plenty of players.
In the Lothians alone:
Shand.
Five Land Bikes. (Steel frame builders for Cotic)

^ Scottish govt seems to be supporting it too, quite a a bit of industry talk about manufacturing investment there.

BTR also missing.

Home page

Surely Brompton is the big one missed off the list? They have a robust apprenticeship program and make lots of bikes in the Uk.

Isn’t the point of the exercise not to point out how many brands there are currently, but how many there will be in the future? Many of the companies listed are one or two man workshops that are completely viable right now but aren’t going to be or may not be passed onto a next generation, and if that happens in sufficient numbers; hand making a bicycle frame will start to decline.

As an aside I see that Reynolds are no longer making 953. I know it’s niche but this doesn’t seem to be making the news.

Many of the companies listed are one or two man workshops that are completely viable right now but aren’t going to be or may not be passed onto a next generation, and if that happens in sufficient numbers; hand making a bicycle frame will start to decline

Not really any different to many small business especially enthusiasts based ones, just because it does get continued doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t set up shop. I remember ~15 years ago there several old school road bike frame builders retiring but loads of new builders have come onto the scene. I would argue the industry is better now than for some time due to easier advertising on the internet bespoked show, the bike field being more and more splintered allowing builders to have a speciality. E.g. known for flat bar, long dist nice off road bike packing suspension corrected rigs but builds MTB, road , commuter etc

Like most craft trades in the last 100 years it has gone mainstream-decline-low level resurgence, and now sort of stabilised.

The only recent bike specific difference in this (and the main driver behind the article) is the big decline in availability of training due to the covid induced demise of the Bicycle Academy. But things were definitely growing before BA started (the Bespoked show started before BA). So growth in interest made BA viable, not the other way round.

When I was a kid in the 80s, lugged steel frames still won the TdF. That was the cutting edge, and by happy coincidence you could make those locally. But it was a closed world and very difficult to buy tubes etc (In 1994 I could only buy Reynolds tube through friends with a trade account at Newman Distribution bike supplies).

The internet is the big enabler as it suddenly allowed sharing of knowledge and direct access to suppliers and customers.

I still think its a mess of a report.

There are probably another 1,000-1,200 (total) being made by larger companies – these may be made to order but not bespoke.

Brompton make 50000 frames a year by hand in the UK so that number is wrong.

there are only around 450 bespoke frames being made per year – so the market is quite small in that sector.

Based on the last number being wrong and the fact we’ve added around 15 to the list of builders I’d say 450 is also vastly wrong. because it also says

Use of different materials – carbon, titanium, exotic materials like wood and bamboo etc.

so that basically covers everyone.

with most makers in their 40/50s and some in their mid-30

I would imagine most people in the entire workforce are somewhere in their 30s, 40, or 50s.

The cumulative effect of COVID-19, Brexit, the energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine

That’s just lazy reporting. What has really caused problems for start up businesses, especially engineering / messy craftsmanship is workshop rent prices. If you don’t already have a garage to work from then it’ll cost you £2k a year to rent one without power & most landlords run a mile when you start saying you’re going to be wafting flames & sparks all over the place.

With the rise in eBike ownership I can see the custom sector declining further, along with any new small bike company start-ups. Start-ups who did it like On-One, Cotic, Dialled Bikes etc., will be a thing of the past. eBikes will be dominated by the big players.

The demand for a custom eBike will be pretty much zero.

Also forgot the Moulton Bicycle Company where I work, and yes those figures quoted are incorrect.

One of the biggest issues we face are attracting skilled staff or even apprentices, most kids these days don’t want to do manual work. The pay is fairly decent for a brazer at £30k plus a year with no weekend work and Friday finish at 1, yet we struggle to attract employees.

On the plus side we have a record amount of bikes on order and are expanding, although in fairness our product is extremely unique and industry downturns have never affected us. Over 90% of our product goes overseas, I can’t imagine other framebuilders can match that apart from Brompton maybe.

Do you allow remote working? I’d apply in an instant.

This is going to sound sort of harsh but, does it actually matter?

I mean no business or manufacturing method has a devine right to exist, and most of what you’re paying for with a UK made bespoke frame is specialist labour, based in a country with a higher cost of living and in direct competition with pretty good Far Eastern produced alternatives…

As wonderful as it is for expensive, niche products to be available so wealthier punters can distinguish themselves from the rest of us, are most people actually affected by not having ready access to an artisanal collection or tubes?

@cookeaa, at £2k for an average custom frame, Vs looking at the OTP MTBs around these days, it’s not about wealth.

I like the fact you can get a frame set made of tubes from Birmingham, brazed or welded in the UK, and it’s likely to be a considered long term purchase. As an alternative to imported product churn it matters.

Do you allow remote working? I’d apply in an instant.

I’m packing my bags as we speak.

There’s Chickens Frame Builders on the outskirts of Brighton too.

There is some sharing of knowledge and experience across cycle and motorbike brazing.

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnuF4J3A4Iw –

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjRMbBl_Tbs –

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_dohjvE18U –

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWF0zCcXR5A&t=321s –

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXNm63f2d9s –

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJWLbY9qlGI –

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbR_h4F2ADY –

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdU9seGqCA8 –

https://www.youtube.com/@brianashcroft4417/videos

Brian Ashcroft bronze welding Ariel Atom