Bespoked Bike Check: Two Bikes To Make Tarmac Tempting

For the first time ever, the Bespoked Bike Show is leaving the UK and taking place in Dresden, Germany. From 13th-15th October, people will be able to go and peruse gorgeous hand built bikes and accessories, and chat to their makers. Sadly we couldn’t make the trip this year, so we’re bringing a taste of the show to these pages. Maybe it’ll whet your appetite to head along, or maybe it’ll make you wish you were there enough to get organised for next time.

Here we have two bikes for you that are not mountain bikes. They’re not even true gravel bikes (whatever that might actually be). But they’re so deliciously gorgeous and stylish that they might even make tarmac tempting. If we owned these bikes we’d be finding excuses to go and swan around town in just so passers by could point and ooh.

Avalanche PBP 2023

• Brand: Avalanche
• Builders: Marie KERVELLA & Laurent BEURRIAND
• Web: Avalanche-cycles.com
• Instagram: @avalanchecycles
• Price: 9500 €

Paris based Avalanche has been building bikes for two years, from steel, stainless steel, and titanium. The build principally road bikes, gravel bikes, and travel bikes and randonneuse, and do most of the manufacturing steps themselves, from metalworking to painting.

This bike is made from brazed Columbus Spirit steel tubes, and stainless steel 3D printed assembly by TIG welding / Liquid painting. It was designed for the 2023 Concours des Machines, which was held during the Paris-Brest-Paris race. ‘The competition specifications this year required that the bike could be adapted to PBP, but not only that. We therefore designed a versatile road bike, which can also be used for gravel, but also for travel.‘ The maximum tyre clearance is 700x45C.

Most challenging part of the build?:

The choice of the truss fork allows you to gain comfort, by filtering vibrations during the long kilometers ridden by our client, but also during gravel practice. Its parallelogram structure also provides very good resistance to disc braking, especially if the bike is loaded when traveling. The Fork was designed partly in stainless steel 3D printing then with Columbus stays, allowing very good quality mechanical resistance, as well as a contained weight.

The different 3D prints designed and designed specifically for this machine allow us to combine different practices within the same bike, to fit tires up to 45mm, but also to route as many cables and hoses as possible. , electrical wires internally, as cleanly as possible. The design of these parts also allows us to work on a coherent design on the entire bike, to keep a fluid and harmonious line between the frame and the fork. The stem, also homemade, is made from 2 bases, allowing the line and design of the Truss to be followed.

Feature you’re most pleased with?:

For this bike we thought about how to protect the lamps, when the wheels need to be removed during transport. The rear lamp is protected within the structure of the bracket. Thanks to a folding front rack, the lamp but also the rack can be easily raised to save space and secure these elements. We also made the carbon fiber mudguards ourselves.

Any lessons learnt or things you’d do differently next time?:

Many parts have been developed specifically for this bike, with the aim of being able to be offered again on future bikes, and in particular this Truss fork made up of large parts of 3D prints. We therefore hope that on the next bikes which will be equipped with this fork, the development time would be shorter

Details of any optional extras customers can choose.:

We suggested that he work around a main graphic, clearly visible, on the frame, but not covering the entire bike. A landscape graphic was imagined, drawn and applied to the top of the top tube, in a nod to the Paris-Brest route. The idea is then to illustrate the journey, the crossing of different landscapes, while making a subtle nod to the departure and arrival at the sea. Finally, the formal language of drawn landscape has been taken up to create a series of patterns, covering a large part of the frame, but in a subtle way, in tone on tone.

If the Avalanche makes you feel like you’d need to ride a really long way to collect that takeaway (there’s food in the cupboard, you just want an excuse to parade your bike around town again), then this Steil might be more of a ‘just popping out’ machine.

Bettina’s Roadster

• Brand: Cycles Steil
• Builder: Johannes Steil
• Web: cycles-steil.com
• Instagram: @cyclessteil
• Price: 4500 €

Steil is based in Hamburg, Germany and has been building bikes since 2021. Working in steel, he’s made a Randonneuse, Porteur, and Race bikes. All fillet brazed with full custom geometry to fit the rider, mostly with classical tube sizes.

Bettina’s Roadster is ‘a roadster for urban everyday life and small tours for a tall woman with very long legs. Equipped with 650B wheels, brazed-on centre-pull brakes and a custom lowrider. And many special details from the headlight mount to the perforated trouser guard ring and the then exclusive rear light to the home-made reflector.’

Most challenging part of the build?:

Getting the tall but short frame looking just right.

Feature you’re most pleased with?:

It fits perfect. And the rear light attachment.

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