In our second gallery from the annual Enve Builder Round-Up and Grodeo event, we have one more titanium build – but created with meticulous use of traditional fabrication rather than any 3D printing. That's followed by a Belgian stainless steel bike that fully embraces that new technology. And finally something with a more practical design brief that didn’t require an interview. 😉
Bingham Built Gravel
It turns out that Brad Bingham and I have a similar long-standing interest in seat post design – securely attaching two rails to a post is one of those puzzles that can be tackled in a myriad of ways, as the wide variety of designs on the market proves. In 2007 Brad was at Moots and undertook redesigning their seatpost. Simultaneously, Kent Eriksen, having by then left Moots (which he founded), was working on his own design.
Brad had intended to use the Sweetpost name, but Kent got there first, so the Moots post was named Cinch. The story came full circle when Brad took over Eriksen Cycles, which included the Sweetpost. This gave the chance for a redesign in 2022, with a carbon rail option added, and the holding force improved by 30-40%. The new design features concentric bolts that independently clamp the rails and adjust the angle. Brad has a streamlined production for the seat posts, which are built to order with a choice of setback from 0 to 30 mm. The modular tooling allows a one-day turnaround for seat post orders.
Bingham Built is mostly producing all-road and gravel bikes at the moment, and whilst a lot of riders want to have a bike that will clear 50 mm tires, many of them find that something in the 42-45 mm range works best for mixed-surface riding.
Brad and John can produce about 70 bikes a year, and the leadtime is around four months. The tubing is all straight gauge and mostly sourced from Alleima (formerly Sandvik) in Washington. Bingham has invested heavily in tubing stock, to be able to have a wide range of diameters and wall thicknesses available to tune each frame for each rider. The chainstay tubing is sourced from Japan, in a stress-relieved state that allows for it to be bent and manipulated.
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