Building a brand, one Legend at a time
One particular treat at the Bespoke show in Bristol was to find Marco Bertoletti, and his aptly-named Legend range of road racing bikes – he being something of a legend himself.
One particular treat at the Bespoke show in Bristol was to find Marco Bertoletti, and his aptly-named Legend range of road racing bikes – he being something of a legend himself.
The bespoke bicycle industry – Daccordi makes around 2,000 frames a year, almost exclusively to order, in its workshop at San Miniato Basso, near Pisa – needs customers who want to be unique, says Sena Daccordi.
You can’t buy heritage – but you can sell it. That would seem to be the lesson to take from Faggin, established in 1945 and one of the truly grand old names of Italian framebuilding – and a delight to find still in business and pitched up at Bespoked.
For a whole different take on earning a living by making bicycles, talk to Dániel Merényi. Nine years working as a graphic artist and art director in an advertising business in his native Hungary made good money but left him with “no life”.
Like many one-man bicycle frame shops, Christy Boothroyd is trying to turn a hobby into a business.
SaiTong Man’s first outing at Bespoked, having built a grand total of seven frames, saw him win “best finish/paint”.
A former professional road rider, Tom Sturdy has studied engineering and biomechanics.
Bikes on show at Bespoked 2014 & 2015
There were many fixed-gear bikes on display at Bespoked. But while fixies have been a feature of city streets for years now, many of the Bespoked machines reflected a more recent trend.
Daccordi has returned to tempt the discerning with the romance of Italy.
The basic product concept is a high-quality, minimal-maintenance steel-framed machine.
Like many one-man bicycle frame shops, Christy Boothroyd is trying to turn a hobby into a business.
There were many fixed-gear bikes on display at Bespoked. But while fixies have been a feature of city streets for years now, many of the Bespoked machines reflected a more recent trend.
Now head of art and design at a college in Winchester, Mark Jones once worked as a bike mechanic and it shows.
Bamboo may be the composite tubing that literally grows as trees, but while any gardener who has let it get out of control knows all too well, this wonder material is not easily mastered.
You can’t buy heritage – but you can sell it. That would seem to be the lesson to take from Faggin, established in 1945 and one of the truly grand old names of Italian framebuilding – and a delight to find still in business and pitched up at Bespoked.
Like many one-man bicycle frame shops, Christy Boothroyd is trying to turn a hobby into a business.
This husband-and-wife outfit was literally on a research trip to Bespoked, showing off two of the four bikes built to date by racer-turned-builder John Ross. His first and so far only blog entry, of 28 November 2013, is a photo of a shipping container being deposited in what could be his back garden in Bristol: “Its …