Even today, after a couple of hundred years, the bicycle keeps evolving. Frame materials have changed, factors such as economics and fashion also exert their influence, then governing bodies like the UCI change the rules regarding equipment which inevitably filter down through the market. Cyclocross bikes and have risen sharply in popularity, due in no small part to the excitement of the sport, but also their versatility as all-rounder adventure machines.

Now the UCI has relaxed their disapproval of disc brakes on ‘crossers, we, the everyday cyclist, have increased access to the technology. The Asylum Meuse is a new carbon cross bike that fully integrates the power and reliability of disc brakes and is currently being funded on CrowdSupply, as a full-carbon, disc-only ‘cross bike. Portland’s Patrick Croasdile is the Product Manager for Asylum, which has happily reached the funding goal.

Over the course of the project, which finishes on the 18th of May, the Meuse has been offered in various configurations at a special price of $895 for a frame only and $1,595 for the complete single speed, as seen here. The Meuse, named after the Belgian river, features a PF30 bottom bracket, allowing the use of a Problem Solvers Eccentric unit for single speed conversion. The cockpit is built around a tapered head tube with a carbon Columbus fork.

Check out the full details on the Asylum CrowdSupply page where you can still secure a Meuse for the discounted price.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

Many artists achieve greatness after they die, but Barry Sheene was revered for his legend status well before he was taken, sadly, by cancer, in 2003. His antics on, and off, the track are still fondly thought of by those of us who remember them and if he were still alive, he’d definitely have a chuckle at a certain bike in the New Builder’s Room at the 2013 Bespoked Bristol show.

The UK Handmade Bicycle Show, Bespoked Bristol, profiled several new builders this year, one of them being Ped Baker, a writer for the UK publication and website, Motorcycle News. Ped is bike mad. We’ve seen another of his frames on Cycle EXIF, built under the tutelage of Dave Bohm’s frame building school in Arizona. His latest project pays homage to Barry Sheene and his Suzuki RG500.

Ped fillet brazed the main triangle from Reynolds 853, then used Columbus Zona for the seat and chain stays. The custom fork, built from Reynolds chain stay tubes, is designed to mimic a motorcycle’s triple clamp fork and achieves similar geometry to a standard gravel grinder, despite the looks. Two brass rings on the top tube represent Barry’s world championship wins in ’76 and ’77.

The number 7, carved out of the bottom bracket shell, is synonymous with Barry, who raced with it over his whole career—even when he won the world champs (riders were expected to replace it with the number 1). His team, Heron Suzuki, along with the partners of Brut 33 (the smell of the seventies), Texaco, and Champion, inspired the paint, expertly applied by Hydrographics in York.

If you’re wondering about the duck on the stem, Barry wore it on his helmet for most of his career as a summary of his Cockney ambivalence, often quoted as saying, “I don’t give a Donald Duck…” Ped intends to build more ‘Pushbikes for Petrolheads’, so bookmark his website. I’m sure we’ll see more from him soon. Special thanks to Ian Jubb for the photos.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

There’s few parts of the United States that better conjure up images of the Wild West than Arizona and, in particular, Tucson. The cactus of Saguaro National Park, the Santa Catalina Mountains and its lions, even the boneyard of the Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, are icons of both ancient and modern America. The bikes built in Tucson by Ron Stanage and his Hex American Cycle Works are equally essential parts of the landscape.

One of the most striking features about Ron’s bikes are the head badges. “So far every bike I’ve done has had its own completely unique head badge. This is all thanks to Ed Foster at La Suprema. He decided to hand make me a batch of head badges that were all different so that I could chose one for every bike I make. This particular one is copper with a cloisonne white enamel inlay. The ‘H’ is the same font as my logo (or close to it… it’s changed a few times), and simply stands for ‘HEX’.”

This is the second frame of Ron’s to be featured on Cycle EXIF and is equally individual. “Its a cross bike that I made for myself when I was in the middle of having an extreme case of city-itis,” Ron tells us. “Day after day I was dreaming of riding through dusty, desolate patches of the Arizona wilderness with little more than my rifle and a good sci-fi book. I really needed an escape from my day job so I decided to manufacture a means for adventure.”

“The frame is a blend of True Temper and Columbus tubing. I’m a real fan of True Temper and I really like Hank and Monika at Henry James. They’ve always got some story to tell you. If you’re not careful you end up on the phone with them for an hour. The main triangle is a blend of OXPLAT and S3 tubing, the rear triangle is Columbus ZONA. When you use a Richard Sachs BB shell you’re kind of limited to Columbus tubing since its the only thing that seems to fit in the sockets somewhat easily.”

When I asked Ron if he really went riding with a rifle, he thankfully replied in the negative, but he did say he’d bring one along if he went on a long tour through the mountains by himself, both for peace of mind and “to see what kind of small game he could scare up”. Quite an appropriate accessory for the region. It did make me look at his ‘crosser again, which seemed to want to rear up and fire off a round even while standing still.

Yes, it’s got dust and grime on it, but that’s because Ron loves riding it. As yet, he hasn’t got a website, but you can reach him via email. Special thanks to Ed Foster for the photography and Preston, Ed’s new apprentice. From the sounds of things, we’ll be seeing more custom frames from Tucson in the future.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

The 2013 Bespoked Bristol Show has finished for another year, after profiling a varied range of exhibitors intrinsic to the UK scene. There were some well-placed bets on a few of the award winners, while others were pleasant surprises, especially the award given for Best Off Road: a heavily modified version of Shand Cycles‘ ‘all-road’ bike, the Stoater.

There’s plenty of terrain to be explored by bicycle in Scotland, home to Steven Shand, his business partner Russell Stout and some of the world’s most rugged and breathtaking landscape. Steven started Shand Cycles in 2003 and was joined by Russell in 2011—as much to help with the business as to get him away from a strong interest in fell running.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a stoater can mean “Anything that is exceptional in quality, or a person who is a bit of a fool or a chancer”. An apt title for Shand’s all-roader. Built from Reynolds 853, it’s a capable machine built with serious bike packing in mind. It’s offered as a production model, but this one features a 73mm bottom bracket shell and clearance for 2.2″ tires.

With increasing interest in bikes that can handle tarmac and fire roads equally well, it’s no wonder the Stoater was smiled upon by the judges. See more of their bikes from the Bespoked show on the Shand Cycles flickr stream, and you can contact Steven and Russell via their website. Special thanks to Gold Seal Photography for the shots.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

Is there anything more appealing to the eye than a well-crafted titanium frame? Moots have been assembling frames from American-made tubes of ti, all with those perfectly spaced beads of filler, since 1981. A Moots frame is a work of art in itself, but this Psychlo X has been embellished by Justin Bauer, an LA-based artist whose work makes the MOOTS look even faster standing still.

Justin’s good mate Steven Ocheltree owns this Moots, built up with a heady mix of Campagnolo 10-speed Record and Chorus, Tune, Thomson and ENVE. The Alpha-Q forks were handed to Justin for a bit of aftermarket artwork. Justin tells us about his process: “I work mainly on canvas. My work is often an exploration of motion and inertia centered around some stable concrete shapes.

“Since I ride though, it seemed a worthy experiment to paint on the 360 of a bike fork and see how that motion would translate to something that is used for motion. Steve was finishing up his bike so I got hold of his fork and went to town. The result of painting on a practical everyday rider could end up a little over-the-top so I painted some wild strokes in two simple colors, black and mint green.

“These primaries feature on my canvasses and they still come off as tough and aggressive on the bike. I’m now working on a more conceptual series using crashed car fenders, motorcycle tanks, bike forks etc. Often an artist will simply translate work done on a canvas directly to these parts. I’m more interested in reacting to these pieces as destroyed products and working with what’s already there.

“I’d like to explore what nature has to say about it. We all crash at some point, most of us that do usually use that point as a landmark about the mystical relationship we’ve built with our machine of choice. It’s that confrontation that I want to paint about.”

Have a look through Justin’s portfolio and his tumblr, then come back to the forks he painted for Steve—they’ll really come alive. Special thanks to Steve, Justin and especially Kyle from Golden Saddle Cyclery for the awesome photography.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

La Stazione delle Biciclette is a small, but well-stocked bike shop in Milan that, despite its size, is driven by a great passion for cycling. Apart from the usual spare parts, accessories, service and sales, they offer tourist guides and bike hire, urban planning consultancy and a velo-library. They recently built up Maggie666, a sleek cyclocross bike for a photographer, Stefano Maggi.

Stefano is an incredibly talented wedding photographer with an exacting eye for details. He also rides a Specialized MTB and a KTM enduro motorbike. He explains his need for a new bicycle from a photographer’s perspective: “Why a new bike? Because every means of transportation—car, plane, motorcycle, bicycle—has its own charm and allows me to see the world from a different angle.”

Maggie666 is titled after his nickname and is constructed from the Nivacrom-based Columbus Zona with a Salsa fork and a Shimano 105 groupset. His rig is hauled up by Avid BB7 brakes, turns on a Chris King headset and is topped with an always-handsome Brooks saddle. Sure, it’s a good looking ride but Stefano’s shots really show it off in a new light.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

There’s a little bike shop in Shibuya, Tokyo, called Blue Lug, who never cease to amaze with me the eclectic combinations of color and styles they apply to their bikes. You’ll find them in both subtle and multi-colored schemes but never without a respectful nod to tradition. They’ve just released a production frame, the Fairweather CX, created in association with Toyo Frame.

The Fairweather is a versatile, multi-butted chromoly frame that can be dressed in any number of combinations, already evidenced by Blue Lug’s flicker set. We can see a navy blue townie, a traditionnel cork-gripped and Brooks-saddled pink tourer, and an eye-searingly colorful ‘crosser. With both horizontal dropouts and a mech hanger, the frame caters for either single speed or geared configurations and the rear 132.5mm spacing means both road and MTB hubs can be used.

Here’s another ‘cross bike, built up with Shimano’s 105 components, which are just as reliable as they were when first released. The White Industries hubs, cranks and chain rings will stand up to a vast amount of abuse, fitted alongside Paul Components and Thomson hardware. The handmade stems are supplied by Nitto and there’s even an expandable saddlebag available.

The deal includes the straight-blade fork. A completely custom paint job by Cook Paint Works requires an additional charge (a vast array of 80s inspired finishes is available), but a solid color is included in the price of ¥63,000. The frames come in small, medium and large and to top it all off, you can choose one of three different brass head badges and decal designs. The Fairweather is sold in-store only, but you can read more about the brand on the Fairweather website.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

One of the biggest stories to emerge from the 2013 North American Handmade Bicycle Show was the new collaboration between two of Portland’s most renowned custom builders, Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira. Ira and Tony have joined together to form Breadwinner Cycles: six models of the most essential and beautiful bicycles you’ll ever want or need.

There were six bikes presented at the NAHBS: the JB Racer (a 29er inspired by Tony’s great mountain biking friend, Jeff Bates, who was, sadly, taken by cancer), the Hole Shot (a champion cyclocrosser), the Continental (based on Ira and Tony’s experience with building frames for Rapha), Aufderheide (the ultimate tourer), Arbor Lodge (the perfect Portlander) and the Lolo (the modern club racer).

Tony and Ira share 15 years of frame building experience between them, producing elegant, sturdy and award-winning frames. They’re both hard cyclists, having covered thousands of miles on—and off—road. Each of the bikes by Breadwinner Cycles represent a genre in which they both have extensive experience riding and building frames for.

Lolo

Arbor Lodge

Aufderheide

Continental

Hole Shot

JB Racer

All of the bikes are showcased on the slick and functional Breadwinner Cycles website, but their true background is that each are built by two of Portland’s most dedicated builders. Whatever the path you choose to ride, there’s a Breadwinner built for you. Frames start at $1,795 and ship in eight weeks or less. You can also follow along on the Breadwinner tumblr, Facebook page, twitter and Instagram.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

Tennessee-based photographer Dan Henry recently emailed me to let us know about his new custom Lynskey cycloross machine. As you can see, Dan’s a tall boy so a custom frame was the ideal solution to the challenge of finding a perfectly-fitting bike. He also tells a good story, so I’ll let him fill us in:

“The Lynskey family started their bicycle building career with Litespeed in the 80s, sold the company to American Bicycle Group in 1999 and missed building bikes so began building again under the family name in 2005. It is a great privilege to own and ride a bike that has been hand built, but even more so when the craftsmen built it specifically for the owner.

“I am 6’5″ tall and after falling in love with the sport of cyclocross, I quickly became disappointed while trying and not fitting on most stock bikes without major tweaks. I am fortunate to live a few miles from where these titanium bicycles are born so I placed an order and waited patiently.

“Pictured is my custom 2013 Lynskey Pro+Cross with trademark Helix shaped down tube and flattened top tube. The oversized head tube points the ENVE carbon fork and Easton EC90 stem and bar in the right direction, and to stop the rig the new lightweight Avid BB7 SL disc brakes were added.

“The use of full length cable housings were a custom request so that the brakes can be upgradable to hydraulic lines when they become available. To finish off the bike a Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Iron Cross wheelset, Lynskey 27.2 matching ti-post, and Sram’s workhorse Rival groupset were enlisted.”

Very special thanks to Dan for the words and pictures. Dan has also produced a short video that provides an amazing insight into the pure alchemy that goes on behind Lynskey’s doors. Check it out on his Bici Photo website. It’s worth the watch.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show continues to conquer, every year, each quarter of the United States. In the nine years it has been held, it has traveled to San Jose, twice to Houston, Austin, Portland, Indianapolis, Richmond, Sacramento and, in 2013, Denver. Mosaic Cycles, Colorado locals, were, thus, very proud to have taken part in this year’s edition.

This titanium cyclocross frame was actually entered into last year’s Sacramento show, but is no less eye catching than their 2013 entries — bar the Gates belt drive that appeared on their single speed ti ‘crosser. Mosaic’s founder and head builder, Aaron Barcheck, loves working with titanium and is a firm believer that it’s the ultimate frame building material.

Aaron’s fondness for titanium is evidenced by his flawless welds and exact mitering, but his love for cyclocross is manifest by Mosaic’s creation of Team Small Batch, a gang of riders who ‘promote a love of cycling and local community through active involvement and volunteer work’. Kudos to them, and to Mosaic Cycles for promoting our love of highly-honed titanium frames.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

CX 001, the first frame borne from the torch of Vigo Cycles’ Troy Selvaratnam, drew upon the flamboyance of the French New Wave. CX 002 takes a different direction, although there’s a brief Francophile connection: its graphics pay homage to the former French colonies of Indochine.

Troy was commissioned to build CX 002 by Nicholas Simon, a mate from college who went on to forge a career as a film and TV producer in Vietnam as one of the founders of Indochina Productions. “Nicholas,” Troy tells us, “raced as a junior in Wisconsin (including the US Nationals held in Milwaukee back in the 80s), wanted to get back into racing and requested a dedicated race cross bike — hence, no bottle cage mounts — that he could put through the motions in the Northeast cross circuit.”

“He deliberately chose as many US-made components as possible for the build. The only directions on the look was that it should be all business, black and bear Indochina’s logo and the flags of the countries where the company operates — Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.”

“I built the bike under the tutelage of Toby Stanton of Hot Tubes at his shop in Shirley, MA. We used Columbus Life and Zona tubes, Llewellyn rear dropouts (kudos to Mike Zanconato for lending them to us) and a cast bottom bracket shell.”

“The frame is a mixture of TIG welding and brazing. Toby and I conceived the paint scheme together, but the the stellar execution was all him. Prior to the bike being built up, I received word that Indochina Productions expanded into four new markets and a request that their flags be on the bike as well. So the flags of Myanmar, Philippines, Maldives and Sri Lanka went on the ENVE cross fork.”

“My plan is to make just three more bikes this year, renting shop space while still looking for a place of my own. I’m still working on the Vigo Cycles website, but inquiries can be sent to me at troysel (at) earthlink (dot) net.

Special thanks to Troy for the story and Ian Rutter of Haute Capture.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

When I spotted a tiny corner of a familiar logo on a down tube in my Instagram feed, I had to stop scrolling and take a closer look. It belonged to an aluminum Ciöcc cyclocross, owned by Neil Berrett — one half of California’s Cedar Cycling. I managed to convince Neil to show us more.

“The story of the bike is riddled with a mish-mash of opposites,” Neil tells us. “I bought it in the Summer of 2009 from a racer in Boulder. I knew Ciöcc briefly dabbled in some aluminum road frames but had never seen a ‘cross version, much less with a steel fork.”

“The previous owner had ridden the bike hard and put it away wet, repeatedly. I split the cost of the bike with a friend. It came with a Campagnolo Record 10 Speed group, and my friend swapped that group out for his existing Record 9 Speed group. I ended up getting a great cross bike for a good price and he got a 10 Speed upgrade…”

“The bash guard on the Record cranks is actually a 52T chain ring that’s been ground down. New cranks will be going on the bike — a Sugino XD wide double with a Shimano Italian-threaded bottom bracket. I ride this bike like a small 29er rather than a ‘cross bike. Doing on/off road rides with lots of rad-gettin’ requires strong powerful brakes — hence the TRP CX 8.4 mini-V brakes.”

Special thank to Neil for the story. Cedar Cycling are dedicated to creating high-quality kit that’s crafted from merino wool and manufactured locally in their home state of California. Their range already includes T-shirts, base layers and jerseys. They regularly test their own gear on trail rides like this one in the Oakland Hills. Check out their website here.

PS: January is almost up… Have you ordered your 2013 Cycle EXIF Custom Bicycle Calendar?

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

Adam Eldridge of Stanridge Speed has been putting in some long hours over 2012. His facebook, flickr and Instagram pages are a constant stream of images from the workshop, giving us a valuable insight into his work ethos. This cyclocross frame is the result of a whole season’s race research and prototyping, and is now ready to get very dirty.

Utilizing aspects of Adam’s pursuit frames, which won both this year’s Brooklyn and Milano Red Hook Criterium, the CX is a mix of True Temper and Columbus Zona tubes. The component list is a mixed bag also but selected for supreme functionality: Shimano’s CX70 brakes and front mech, coupled with SRAM’s Rival crankset, Force rear derailleur and levers. An ENVE CX fork spearheads the operation.

See more on the Stanridge Speed flickrsteam, contact Adam through the website for more information.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

It’s exciting to watch the current explosion of cyclocross, it’s nearly getting as many bums on saddles as the ‘fixed gear’ phenomenon did a few years ago. It’s a community sport, and custom frame builders and designers are also finding fertile foundations in the mud between the bunting. Single speed cyclocross is proving to be a popular category, as mud and grass are the derailleur’s mortal enemy. This titanium weapon hails from the muddy fields of Winnipeg, Canada.

Dark Red Racing is a ‘cross club in Winnipeg, made up of highly passionate riders who also dabble in road and mountain biking. Larry Klassen is a member who had been working on his own titanium fat bike designs for several years before being approached by Mark Reimer, a fellow Red River Racer. Mark tells us: “I created a frame design based on the geometry of my current geared ‘cross bike, with a few small tweaks – Chain stays that were a hair longer and a seat tube that was one degree steeper.

“I opted for titanium S&S couplers as I travel fairly often for work and always wished I could bring my bike along with me. I wanted a bike that would be versatile – something I could race competitively with during the ‘cross season, pack up and use to explore while traveling, and also ride daily during winter. In Winnipeg there is usually snow on the ground more than half the year, so (a ti) SS ‘cross bike is the perfect choice for everyday riding… without worrying about it turning to rust by the spring.”

“I’m sure I could drop a few pounds off this bike with a full carbon fork, different wheels and dumping the square taper bb, but building a super lightweight bike was never the point. The bike already accelerates like crazy with the low gearing, making it awesome for ‘cross, and the ti frame gives it a really smooth and enjoyable ride. It feels really lively, like its jumping out of any dip or bump I hit.”

The components were chosen to balance durability and weight:
Thomson Masterpiece post
Thomson stem
Phil Wood hubs: 32 spoke / DT Swiss Revolution spokes / H+Son TB14 rims
Challenge Grifo XS tires
Phil Wood BB
White Industries cranks: 32t ring
White Industries freewheel: 18t
Fizik saddle
Deda Newton bars
SRAM S500 levers
TRP cx8.4 brakes
Chris King headset
Easton EC70X fork

“Oh, and one last thing. The fenders were custom made by a local guy here named Lyle Wiens. He built them specifically to the frame dimensions and stained them a beautiful ebony color to match the components. If you look close the grain still shows through. They have great clearance so I can still ride 32′s in the winter without snow building up. The fenders probably get more compliments than the frame does!” Big thanks to Mark for the story and photos, stay tuned for more from Red River Racing.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.

Burke Swindlehurst is a lifelong Utahan and professional racer who, after competing all over the world, still prefers riding around his local Tushar Mountains. So much so that he organized a 69 mile race, the ‘Crusher in the Tushar‘, from the town of Beaver to the Eagle Point ski resort. Portland’s Tonic Fabrication created this soft tail steed for Todd Littlehales to contest the event.

‘The Crusher in the Tushar’ is nearly half-and-half fire-road / dirt and pavement, so the question is: what type of bike is the most suitable… MTB or cyclocross? Tonic Fab combined the best of both worlds with this build and introduced a suspended rear end at the same time — an element which isn’t new at all, but refreshing to see again on an American race vehicle destined for the harsh Utah terrain.

The spring is a cylinder formed from 4130 cromoly, providing enough ‘give’ at the rear end to ensure a small relief from the washboard erosion that can be expected on the route. The front end is just as smooth: a custom-machined 44/56 tapered head tube houses a Chris King InSet 2 headset and an ENVE Cross Disc fork. Portland’s Studio 112 added the final touch with their paint and branding.

Brenton Salo is another Portland local, a photographer who is well-known around the cycling community. Brenton has been documenting the work of Tonic Fab for some time, as well as many other aspects of the culture. Check out his tumblr for more of his work.

Cycle EXIF supplies a daily dose of commuter bicycles, custom bicycles and classic bicycles.