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The season of drool-worthy bikes is upon us. First on the calendar is Spoken, the event formerly known as the Handmade Bicycle Show Australia (HBSA). The name change better represents the show, which has increasingly grown to be a showcase of boutique bikes and a curated array of other desirable cycling gear from around the world. If you like bikes, you’ll surely like what this show has to offer.
Running over two and half days in Williamstown, across the river from Melbourne CBD, the old ship-building facility used as a venue is transformed into a sprawling hall where potential customers can chat to those who make the bikes or those who represent the related products.
Expect three full-size galleries to be published over the coming few days, each one offering a broad mix of conversation-driving excellence. In this first edition, we look at a stunning ride from Bastion, a new titanium gravel bike from Perth-based Mooro, classy disc-equipped road bikes from The Lost Workshop and Palmer Bicycles, and a new flexstay mountain bike from Devlin Cycles. And speaking of flexstay mountain bikes, there was also what appears to be an unreleased alloy version of Specialized’s Epic sitting in plain sight for all to see. [UPDATE: As announced just after this story posted, it’s actually in the Chisel line. – Ed.]
The show has the builders as the focal point, with plenty more sprawling beyond this image. Mooro Cycles made the long journey from Perth to show off a classical titanium rim brake bike and this, the latest iteration of its Kwibidgi gravel bike. Mooro started in titanium and was one of the early adopters to integrate 3D-printed titanium at key sections. Both of those elements remain true to today for the Australian-made frames.The head tube here is formed by welding two 3D-printed titanium bearing sleeves with a central a titanium tube. Mooro is stepping up its use of 3D printing. This particular prototype frame offers 3D printed titanium at every junction point between the butted tubes.Previous editions of the show has seen Mooro impress with its skill in anodisation. Now the company has expanded into Cerakote finishes, too. This new Kwibidgi prototype uses a huge 3D-printed titanium T47 bracket bracket junction. The 3D-printed titanium junctions allow for a little native design flair. Kwibidgi is a Noongar term for “the escape.” I couldn’t not cover it once I learned this.Mooro often uses forks from No. 6, the carbon-fibre division of USA-based No. 22 bikes. The 3D-printed titanium brand badge inserts are the typically high-quality feature seen in Mooro’s creations.The Spoken show always features businesses adjacent to the boutique bike world. Stewart Morton of RiderFit.cc was present to discuss his bike fitting processes.Devlin Cycles is one of the Australian names I’ve seen progress over the past few years. While builder Sean Doyle still makes more road and gravel bikes than mountain bikes, his real passion seems to be in longer-travel full suspension frames. Pictured here is a bike Sean built for himself as a challenge, made entirely out of spare pieces and without a CAD drawing to follow (Doyle is an engineering draftsman by trade).It’s the first flexpivot rear end from Devlin. This light trail bike has approximately 120 mm of rear wheel travel (more wth the shown rear shock), and earns its ‘Deamon’ name through its 66.6° head angle. It’s extremely clean for a bike thrown-together with spare tubes and frame pieces. Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH), of course. The fillet brazed joins are all impressively clean. These inserts were intended to be another fun experiment. The long 480 mm reach figure (for an equivalent medium-sized bike) gives room for two bottles to be mounted on the down tube. Devlin’s head badge remains one of my faves. it’s surrounded by rich colour from Wallis Paints. Please excuse the excitement, they’re still learning. Brompton was represented by its Australian distributor. The company had commissioned this special painted version to show at Tour Down Under earlier this year. Yes, that’s paint! It’s done by SunGraphics.In tribute to The Clash’s London Calling. The Lost Workshop continues to make some of the cleanest-looking steel frames around. This customer bike is made with a rare-as-hens-teeth Columbus Cento 100th anniversary tubeset.Steel on steel, and colour-matched, too. The bi-laminate (aka, faux lug) detailing on the seat tube is part of the anniversary tubeset.More anniversary details are seen in the head tube. And again at the bottom bracket shell. Flawless work from Melbourne-based builder Ian Michelson. When not building bikes under his own label, Ian can be found at one of Australia’s premiere paint shops, VeloCraft. Look at this pedal history showcase. Look was back at the show via its Australia distributor (Groupe Sportif). This speedy Look 895 Vitesse is an example of what the French federation will soon race in circles come the Paris Olympics.Victorian-based builder Chris Palmer debuted Palmer Cycles at last year’s show with some flyweight rim brake road bikes, and this year he returned with a prototype all-road disc bike (35 mm max tyre clearance). With a career background in chassis engineering for the likes of Holden, Ford, Toyota, and Tesla, Palmer hopes to follow his cycling passions through building bikes. The construction method combines filament-wound carbon fibre tubes brought together in a wrapped tube-to-tube constructoin method.A close look also reveals a few 3D-printed titanium pieces in use. The headset bearing seats are also 3D-printed titanium.Palmer purposefully gives the joints a lug-like aesthetics. More 3D-printing is found at the integrated seatpost topper. This one is Palmer’s own design, too. Integrated seatposts aren’t new, but the likes of Prova Cycles have brought them back into popularity amongst custom builders.This particular bike has an interesting build to it. Campagnolo Ekar shifters and brakes matched with an Ingrid drivetrain. Reflections. Silver hubs and spokes tie the classic aesthetic together. Ingrid cranks and rear derailleur. Meanwhile at the SRAM booth, this bike was being built up with a host of the company’s best. It looks exactly like an Epic cross country bike, but those welds tell its an unreleased aluminium version (see note above).Specialized often puts its model names at the back of the seat tube. This one had a piece of tape covering the name. Specialized recently just announced an aluminium version of its Crux gravel bike, and it looks like a metal version of the Epic is all too near.It has a flexstay pivot just like the carbon Epic. Custom clothing manufacturer Cuore just became the exclusive cycling licensee of the Australian Football League (AFL, aka Aussie Rules Footie). The company will be retailing kits related to each team. And speaking of AFL, this rather stunning Bastion Road bike belongs to unconfirmed past-or-present player of the Collingwood Football Club.Already ridden and then cleaned up for the show, this bike offers a number of personalised details for the Australian athlete.The black and white paint is offset with a bling copper leaf finish on the downtube logo and head tube badge. Meanwhile the titanium lugs are polished and then given a tinted candy paint to match that copper leaf. Pictured is Bastion own 3D-printed titanium stem and carbon handlebar. All made-in-house, in Melbourne.The fork is Bastion’s own, too. Also made in house. Bastion has expanded in recent years, now running four 3D titanium printers all under one roof. More Collingwood-related details are found on the top tube. The painted titanium head tube lug is nicely done. A family crest sits on the top tube. In years past we’ve seen a lot of custom leather-covered saddles on this level of bike. There’s now an obvious swing toward 3D-printed saddles (Selle Italia SLR Boost 3D on this bike).Bastion now prints its own cranks, but this customer elected for carbon cranks from SRM. A super close look reveals the raw carbon still visible between the white stripes. Collingwood is colloequally known as the Magpies (an Australian bird that strikes fear in cyclists come spring).
