Welcome to this month’s edition of Internet Rummagings, where I rummage around in the more embarrassing parts of the internet, so you don’t have to! (for clarification, that’s weird and wonderful bike websites…)
Dawley Bikes
Prize for the best bike manufacturer web address goes to Dawley Bikes with www.properpushirons.com. ‘Bike Manufacturer’ may be doing a bit of heavy lifting here, as what they actually are, are Thom Dawley, his workshop, and a desire to make something that wasn’t available off the shelf (his blog on the website discusses BB height and drop at length). Now, the generous soul is offering that service to you lovely people. His current MTB offering is the Eponym, which is a traditional steel hardtail, blessed with modern design. Here’s a purple one.

While this one is purple, you can have yours powder coated in any RAL colour you like, and that’s not the only thing on the options list. Pretty much everything in front of the BB is customisable, from head tube angle and reach, to head tube and seat tube length even material of the front triangle, T45 is standard, 853 £100 extra. Speaking of cost, these frames are £900 as standard, in a custom colour, with a Rideworks (more from them later…) headset and semi custom geo (or full, if you ask nicely £POA) all made in Britain, seems like pretty good value to me. Speaking of custom, the sky really is the limit, from this banana holder to an integrated phone charger. Thom has just released details of his standard Eponym frame sizes, for those who want a base to start their customisation from, or the indecisive.
Variety is the spice of life though and Thom is working on an adventure frame, the Gravital, and a prototype single pivot 140mm 29er/mullet, the Activist, which you can gawp at here or his Instagram account @dawley_bikes

Locked Components
Locked are the new components division of Ti bike tinkerers Kingdom. This is their current project, an apparently unnamed Ti crank.

Students of the current Titanium crank market will be aware of the eye-watering (four figure!) cost of entry so it’s my hope that, in line with Kingdom’s Ti frames, they might be a bit more affordable, though no word on pricing yet. In fact the only word I have is that they will have a 30mm axle, have direct mount chainrings and be available in 165, 170 and 175mm lengths, and it looks like chainrings are in the works also. Looks wise. They seem to have quite an industrial look, with a nod to Cook Bros cranks of yesteryear at the tip. Thumbs up from me. Register for more info at https://www.lockedcomponents.com
Braking, err, Brakes
Fans of internal combustion engine powered bikes may well already be familiar with Braking, they’ve been around since 1990 making brakes in Italy for MX applications, but what we are going to look at here are their pretty special INCAS 2.0 MTB brakes.

‘But Tom’, I hear you ask, ‘these are just another set of expensive (roughly £800 a set)), CNC’d brakes, what’s different or interesting about these over all the others?’
Two things really stand out for me. Firstly, INCAS stands for INterchangeable Cartridge System, which allows you to use either a 9 or 10mm diameter cylinder and piston to alter the lever feel by adjusting the amount of fluid that is moved by the lever. Like modulation and a steady build up of power, use the 9mm. To replicate a stick through the spokes on/off feel, 10mm is the one for you. Pretty cool eh?.
Secondly, I’ll let you mull over this pic for a moment.
Beefy brake pad isn’t it? Wrong. That right there is a vented spacer the sits between the two caliper halves, to allow a 3 (three!) millimetre thick disc rotor to slot in there!

The benefits are extra cooling from the spacer’s fins, reduced brake fade and less chance of warping if you drag your brakes a bit more than you should. Plus presumably the ability to heat your house for a week if you do drag your brakes down every decent. There are downsides though, namely cost (an extra £80ish per end) and weight (262g for the 203mm rotor, plus a bit more for the spacer) but if it means your brakes are still straight and working at the end of for 10th run down an Alp, worth it, right?
Check out www.Braking.com (another ‘does what it says on the tin’ web URL) or @brakingbrakes on the ‘gram
And Finally.
This time, the and finally section is a little different, as I was unleashed from the internet into the real, well relatively, world at the Bespoked show, and this is what caught my eye.
Clandestine stem, 25mm, matchy matchy.

Matched to this, the Combe, a 140mm forked 115mm bike that can be ridden all day with out the need for a pack thanks to massive bottle clearance and custom frame bag. Also note 28t front chainring, and smaller rear cassette, giving lower unsprung weight.

There were a few frame builders at the show, obvs, this is one of their jigs? Right?

Wrong. That’s an on the fly adjustable head angle (with no other changes in resulting from it) frame from Variangle. With a fixed seatpost.

Yes that is a wooden ebike behind it.
Super new, super terribly kept secret Hope Tech 4 levers. Did the obligatory bike shop squeeze, felt good.
More not so secret Hope creations. Out next spring, geo still being dialled in.
The prototype Rideworks pedals are massive. And chunky. And light, really light. Around 330g a pair. Obligatory approving nod deployed.

Spaghetti eating stem

Gloriously shiny machining, equally shiny paint on this RÃ¥ .12

As lovely as all the machining on show was, my bike of the show was this, a Rå.410 rowdy little steel hardtail. Fellow forum dwellers may be hearing more about this in the future…

More High Pivot loveliness from Howler Frameworks, with this Fenrir.

Here’s a logo, with some nice frame details.
It has a dropper, or maybe a suspension seatpost, discs, big tyres and a suspension fork, therefore it qualifies as a MTB. Proof that long, low and slack is faster (lets brush over the small wheels…), this Moss tops out at 174mph. Standing start acceleration may not be quite so impressive.

I guess by the previous definition, this Ted James design bike is also an MTB, it even has an extendable post (if not strictly a dropper) to save your knees on the ride home!

So, how to ‘and finally’ the and finally section? Have you ever dreamt of a bike that can be switched from fixed to free hub, without stopping to flip your wheel over? Have you also wanted it to have gears?
OTT cycles did, meaning you no longer have to dream.

Peace out.