Cycle 2009 : The Joy Of Less

By the time Cycle, the UK's annual bike show held in London's historic Earls Court Exhibition Centre gets under way, most of the trade, press and public have already had more than their fill of what's coming in 2010.

Thanks to shows like Eurobike and Interbike, the Internet and the mainstream bike trade's obsession with strategically-placed mid-season 'spy shots' (AKA...yawn...viral marketing opportunities), we all know what's out there by the time the UK bike trade sets out its stall.

Or do we?

This years' Cycle was a little bit different to the editions of the last few years.
Sure, you had the global megalo-brands doing what global megalo-brands usually do; flexing their corporate muscle and pushing everyone else out into the fringes of the hall.
But hey, that's OK; because out there in the fringes some real real gems were to be found; the kind of stuff that made the trip really worthwhile.

Thanks to the resurgence of cycling in the nations' capital, there's a healthy, growing interest in bikes and bike-riding again.
London's Congestion Charge – a levy on vehicles entering the the Central Zone - means the number of cars heading in and out of town and along the commuter routes has been drastically reduced, making riding to work a far safer, more pleasurable option for many.

There's still a way to go yet, but London is moving in the right direction.

And London, thanks to its position as one of the leading international centres of design, has risen to the occasion. There's a whole new scene, featuring some very talented young designers getting involved in the design and manufacture of functional, stylish bike wear and accessories.

It's not just in the capital either; outside of London, there's a new wave sweeping across the UK's bike design and manufacturing base.
There's a renewed interest in in the building of bikes, with new names appearing and established names re-thinking and re-working their ranges.
It's a wave rolling from Southampton on the south coast all the way up to the Western Isles of Scotland

All have one thing in common; there seems to be an almost universal rejection of the values held dear by the global brands. For the new kids on the block, its all about fresh ideas, quality, functionality and style.
Less lycra and cordura; more merino and tweeds.

Out in the fringes of Earls Court, there was little talk of stiffness, weight or Pro Tour; the buzz was all about craftsmanship, individuality, function and above all, passion.
The contrast between the two was plain to see; those staffing the booths scattered around the outside were more than happy to take the time to go over the finer points of their creations, their quality and attention to detail, while the closer you got to the middle of the hall, the more it became about filling order pads, doing deals and meeting targets.

Its sad to see the way the mainstream trade has succumbed to the excesses of globalization and corporate culture, but reassuring that so many are stepping up to the plate with an antidote.

It's a joy to see there's plenty of life left in the UK bike trade; still lots of vitality, creativity and highly talented individuals around to carry it through into the next decade.

Heart-warming stuff!

Click images for a bigger view:

Condor of London can always be relied upon to come up with great-looking bikes and this year was no exception.

This is their Squadra model, built with the excellent hyroformed EM2 tubeset from Dedacciai, married to a Deda carbon rear end.

Condor Website HERE
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Carradice of Nelson, producers of some of the finest luggage around, now turn their attention to finely-tailored clothing.
These stylish jerseys are produced locally and feature an exclusive Merino wool-based fabric promising outstanding performance and comfort.

Carradice website HERE

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Amy Fleuriot's Cyclodelic: just one of the new crop of British designers getting into cycling in a big way.
With a major deal signed with the Top Shop fashion store chain, and a host of stylish, functional designs for women, the future looks bright for Cyclodelic.

Cyclodelic website HERE

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Demon Frameworks, first seen at EHBE earlier this year, are one of the most exciting brands to emerge from the UK in recent years.
The quality of their work belies their recent introduction to the marketplace.
These are frames you would be forgiven for thinking had come from age-old veterans of the framebuilding scene; their attention to detail is superb and the design flair of the Southampton-based workshop on a par with the best from Italy or the USA.
A name to watch for sure, and one promising to go on to bigger things.

Demon Frameworks Website HERE

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Enigma, best known for their titanium road and MTB frames and bikes, are reporting healthy interest in their steel range.
To add some glamour to the show, they brought along a UK-built titanium road bike reworked by Hatton Garden jewelry designer Nick James.
The look is one of understated elegance, rather than over-the-top bling.

Enigma Titanuim HERE : Enigma Steel HERE

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Moulton, legendary bike designers and pioneers of the small-wheel, foldable, suspended do-it-all bike, had their exciting new range on display.
Positioned firmly at the luxury end of the market, the build quality on their all-new Reynolds 953 stainless steel-framed model had to be seen to be believed.
Exquisite welding coupled with superb finishing and a truly exceptional design makes the Moulton New Series 'Double Pylon' design one of the outstanding bikes of this - or any other - show this year.
A remarkable achievement, both for its design and craftsmanship.

Elsewhere, there are great-looking new models, including the highly-desirable Moulton/Dunhill special edition.

Moulton Website HERE

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Meanwhile, across the aisle, another heritage-rich British company was unveiling its own new look.

Pashley of Stratford-On-Avon have been giving their range a make-over. There are new colours, new models and new designs all featuring that unmistakable Pashley 'house style'.
On display were a couple of road bike designs; one with derailleurs, one with Sturmey Archer hub gearing; both featuring Reynolds 531 tubes.
About time too, given Pashley's undoubted reputation for quality, sturdy, no-nonsense bikes.

Pashley Website HERE

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Quoc Pham is a graduate of the prestigious St. Martins College of Art and Design, one of the world's leading centres of learning in creative, art and design studies. The family business is shoemaking and Quoc's passion is cycling.
Put them all together and you get some outstanding new designs of contempory cycling shoes with a traditional look.
The quality is superb, and the design and functionality of the shoes first rate.
Look out for a full 'on the bike' test soon....

Quoc Pham Website HERE

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Meanwhile, traditional was shaking hands with cutting-edge on the Sabbath stand.
Sabbath have slowly been making inroads into the quality end of the titanium scene for a few years; steadily growing in stature and confidence and as each year passes.
At Cycle '09 they firmly stepped into the spotlight with a striking array of models, underlining their intention to step up to the Big League via a commitment to research, develop, design and engineer a range of radically different bikes.

Their Silk Emperor features a host of radical departures from the norm; the swoops and curves of each tube not only packing visual punch, but delivering some knockout bike-tech at the same time.
With its bowed down tube, curved top tube which wraps around the head tube and cradles the seat tube, then forms a monostay supporting its multishaped, curved stays, this is a bike that if the designers have got their sums right, will easily outperform the competition.
The reasoning behind all the curves is simple; increase the surface area of each tube at the intersections and you increase rigidity. Get the curves facing in the right plane and you increase compliance.
Not only that, the cold-working of each tube to give the Silk Emperor its unique shape takes its 3/2.5 titanium up to the strength levels of 6/4 titanium.
There's a whole host of features and explanations for each of its unique attributes warranting a separate, in-depth feature, so stay tuned....

Sabbath Website HERE

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One of the hits of Eurobike '09 was Viva, a relatively new company specialising in qualiy, traditionally-styled road, track and town bikes.
The Danish company proved to be just as popular at Earls Court with their range drawing plenty of admiring glances from show-goers, perhaps thanks to Viva's distinctly British-inspired looks.

There's a lot of thought gone into the range; these are not simply 'badge-engineered' bikes with a trendy paintjob and fake heritage, but bikes designed from the ground up.
The frames feature unique touches and many of the components on the spec list are manufactured from in-house designs.
The look may be trad, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a range of better-looking and better-designed bikes.

Viva Website HERE

So there you have it; British design, British craftsmanship, British ingenuity and British inspiration.
Seems there's plenty of life left in the British bike scene after all!



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