Cameron is a Graphic Design Teacher at TAFE Queensland. That might make you question how he was able to pull together such a top-shelf build as he has with this delicious Alchemy Arion on a teacher’s wage, but he got by with a little help from his friends (to paraphrase a famous song).
Cameron had been drooling over the frame at his local bike shop for a couple of years, but when Crankstar in Brisbane sold up and moved on the frame got reduced to a price that he could stretch to by selling off his existing bike and doing design freebies. You might recognize his branding work from Australia’s Fixed Dot Org.
Of that photography brief, Cameron told us: “I gave the photography students a bunch of mood boards, pointed out the good bits, told them the rules of shooting a bike and left them alone for the day.” All these shots were taken by Emily, whose work can be found on her Indecent Exposures Instagram feed.
Alchemy’s Arion is a two-time winner of the Best Carbon Bike award at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Built by hand and in-house at Alchemy’s Denver-based facility, each tube is laid-up to order; and in a manner that aims to avoid the typical aero bike compromises in comfort and handling – intending it to be fast yet “supple, sophisticated and comfortable”.
As a competitive Masters track rider Cameron puts his Arion through a solid training workout there or four times a week, as well as some ‘crit flogging’, as he so eloquently calls it, over the winter months – no doubt putting Alchemy’s intent for the Arion through its paces in the process.