You know the joke about tartan paint? Jack Kingston is a sought-after bike finisher and painter from Yorkshire who can make your tartan paint dreams come true.
Bespoked
Bike Check: Ted James’ Adjustable Moto Proto
On the Ted James stand at Bespoked Manchester, this bike was practically just cooling down, having still been being built the night before. Ted talked us through the build of this Moto Proto.
Alfano Froad: when Fat Bikers hit the drops
'Watching it go from a pile of loose tubes to a bike frame never ceases to be magic.' Meet the maker of the Alfano Froad bike
Bike Check: Harry’s HP Bike Project ‘My Downhill Bike’
Check out this impressive first effort at bike building!
Sideways – a journey from motorsports, fishing and sailing to custom carbon fibre bikes
Vee from Sideways makes custom carbon fibre bicycle frames. Mainly road and gravel and ‘single speed fun bikes’, but she also says there’s a ‘hardtail pending’. I spent a few minutes with her at Bespoked Manchester in order to find out a bit more about…
Bike Check: Creature Cycles Galago – with bushings, not bearings
James from Creature Cycles had one of the more eye catching bikes on display at Bespoked Manchester. The pearlescent turquoise paint, the low offset stem, and the organic form of the bike were all likely to grab your attention, but there was plenty more going…
Tomo Bikes: Tall Bikes and more, for more fun
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…
Meet The Maker: Rasch Bikes – second ever frame!
Kata Rasch was at Bespoked Manchester with her steel brazed hardtail. As a new builder landing in a foreign land and having a whole bunch of people ask you about your frame in a second language, it must have been quite an intimidating experience. I…
Meet The Maker: RTiiiKA’s bike art with attitude
Rosa Ter Kuile, who works under the name RTiiiKA, was at Bespoked Manchester with her range of bike inspired art, and drawing bike portraits. I’m in awe of anyone who can draw, and I liked the punk attitude in her creations, so I took a…
Burf’s Rat Bike Project: affordable UK made frames for making chores fun
Paul ‘Burf’ Burford is best known for his BTR range of mountain bikes and trail tools, as well as his Gasser downhill bike. On his stand at Bespoked Manchester, he had all those things on display (including the Forum’s own Tom ‘How Much!’ Howard’s new…
Craig’s StAyTB – old school bike with all mod cons
Craig, more commonly known as 2nd Life Bikes, brought this Stayer ATB to the Bespoked Manchester bike show. While this bike was built for him by Stayer, you can also go on one of their Frame Building 101 courses and build one yourself. Or, build…
Best MTB at Bespoked: Ballern Pressing Iron
Bennet Janz is the man behind Ballern Cycleworks, and the winner of the Best Mountain Bike Award at Bespoked Manchester 2025, for his ‘Pressing Iron’ full suspension bike. Bennet is described in Petor Georgallou’s article in Singletrack Issue 160 as ‘built like a horse conditioned…
BESPOKED Handmade Bicycle Show moves to Manchester
BESPOKED Handmade Bike Show returns to the UK for 2024, and Singletrack World will be there this year! Press Release begins: Embracing an enthusiastic response from visitors, exhibitors and international media alike, BESPOKED confirmed its position as the premier showcase of bicycle craftsmanship and innovation…
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 survive to the next generation. This year, ‘bicycle frame making’ has joined the list of ‘endangered’ crafts, shifting from a previous…
Hand Made Bike Show Bespoked Heads To Germany
After over a decade of successful UK shows Bespoked heads for the first time to Dresden, Germany, for its inaugural central European show on 13th to 15th October, 2023. Bespoked has opened applications to its first central European show, in Dresden, Germany. This year’s central…
Drool This Way: A Lust Worthy Gallery of Hand Built Bikes
This year’s Bespoked organisers made a point of getting nice photos of at least one bike by every builder at the show. Because bike builders might be good at building bikes, but they’re not always good at photographing them. Luckily, Adam Gasson is good at…
Podcast: Rampage thoughts, Hannah’s love of Bespoked and some ASMR beer opening sounds
Another week, another episode of four of the Singletrack team sitting around their laptops talking about the big issues of the week. With only a very passing reference to politics this could well be your aural refuge for the next hour. Give it a listen…
Best In Show – Judging Bespoked’s Best Mountain Bike
When I was asked to judge the Best Mountain Bike at Bespoked, I had no idea how hard it would be. Last year I’d been along and picked my own favourite bikes of the show, so I figured that repeating the process but handing out…
Bespoked Bike Check: SmithyFrameworks Ullassa
We’d love to tempt you along to Bespoked, the Handmade Bicycle Show celebrating handmade bikes and the people that make them. To give you a taste of what you might see, we’ve got a few bike checks from builders and makers who will be at…
Bespoked Bike Check: Coal Bikes 84
Coal Bikes turned a few heads at last year’s Bespoked show in Harrogate. This year, Bespoked has moved to the Lee Valley Velodrome in London, on 14-16th October, perhaps you’ll be tempted to head along and feast your eyes on some hand built dreams. Coal…
Bespoked Bike Check: ACTOFIVE Cycles P-TRAIN CNC
Want to see more of this sort of thing, or chat to the makers? Get yourself along to Bespoked, the handmade bicycle show, in London, 14-16th October. ACTOFIVE Cycles P-TRAIN CNC It’s a full suspension bike. The deep-feeling HIGH PIVOT suspension gives massive traction and…
Bespoked: Ryden Bikes’ Free 3D Print Your Own Bike Fit
Bespoked, taking place 14-16th October in London, celebrates hand built bikes and their makers. Sometimes those makers are making bits for bikes, as well as whole bikes. Here, we’ve got a frame builder who has also designed a 3D printable bike fit tool. If you’ve…
Bespoked Bike Check: The Variangle Mk5
We’ll be heading along to Bespoked in London for 14-16th October to check out all the hand built bikes and chat to their makers. It’s being billed as ‘a celebration of hand made bicycles and the people who make them’. With talks, races and presentations,…
Bespoked Bike Check: Quirk Cycles SUPERCHUB
We’d love to tempt you along to Bespoked, the Handmade Bicycle Show celebrating handmade bikes and the people that make them. To give you a taste of what you might see, we’ve got a few bike checks from builders and makers who will be at…
Podcast with Bespoked’s new co-owner Petor Georgallou
Perhaps you’re in the boat of thinking ‘one day, for a special birthday, maybe I’ll get a hand made bike’? Petor hopes that for the sake of the many small bike builders out there, you’ll decide to go for something sooner than that, or at…
Bespoked Show 2021 Moves To Harrogate For Its Tenth Year
We’ve just heard from the organisers of Bespoked, the British handmade bicycle show, that it is moving next year’s show to the Harrogate Convention Centre, from its previous home of Bristol for Bespoked 2021. Not surprisinly, this year’s show didn’t happen. Like many spring 2020…
Bespoked Bike Show Delayed To October
Another event has been postponed thanks to Coronavirus: Bristol based Bespoked, the UK’s handmade bike show. Looks like us bikey folks are going to find ourselves with a lot of free weekends this spring. The press release reads: Bespoked is a celebration of our global…
From Mood Board To Muddy Bike – the birth of a dream bike
You may have seen ‘Andy’s Hardtail’ by Mercredi in Wil’s round up of mountain bikes from Bespoked this year. You may also have dribbled a little bit when you saw it. And that’s OK, because, as Andy explains below, he wanted it to be a…
8 Fabulous Handmade Mountain Bikes From Bespoked 2018
Otherwise known as Bespoked, the 2018 UK Handmade Bicycle Show was held over the weekend in the centre of Bristol, with a plethora of beautiful and unusual bike-related goodies to discover for those who stepped inside the old Engine Shed exhibition centre. If you’ve not…
This handmade bike has a 60-70° head angle that you can adjust on-the-fly
Now that we’ve moved on from being dicks about wheel size (well, mostly), the new super exciting topic for debate in mountain biking right now would seem to be geometry. Yes, numbers. Having taken over as the focal point for online debates between bike designers…
Making Carbon Bikes Is Easier Than You Think – Carbon Wasp Is Hiring
Want to build carbon bikes, but don’t know where to start? Well, Leeds-based Carbon Wasp might have just the job for you… We first saw the company at last year’s Bespoked Show and were impressed to hear that it builds bespoke carbon bikes in its…
10 Stunning Steel Full Suspension Bikes You Cannot Ignore
Steel is real! With more manufacturers building full suspension steel bikes than ever before, we've decided to list some of the best on the market
Bespoked 2017 – The Singletrack Winners
There were so many great bikes on show at last weekend's handmade bike show, Bespoked. Singletrack chose three winners - and here they are.
A Look Inside Shand Cycles
We spent a couple of hours in the busy workshop of this Scottish framebuilding company
Bespoked UK: It’s not (all) about the bikes
Part two of our report from the weekend's Bespoked show - warning, bikepacking content!
Bespoked, The UK Handmade Bicycle Show, returns to Bristol across two venues
The UK Handmade Bicycle Show returns to its Bristol roots.
UK Handmade Bicycle Show Tickets Now Available
Bespoked 2014 opens for early bird bookings - and it moves from Bristol to a new London venue
The Bristol Bespoked Show
Steve Makin reports on the UK's first, modern, hand-built bike show, plus an exclusive on the 18Bikes full susser
Bespoked Bristol – The UK Handmade Bicycle Show 2011
This weekend, on the Saturday 11th – Sunday 12th June, the British answer to the North American Handmade Bike Show will take place in Bristol. Bespoked Bristol will showcase the talents of independent makers and designers of bicycles, small-scale makers of premium products, components, clothing…