Rob English – framebuilder and contributor to Escape Collective – returns with a second round-up of some of the standout bikes he saw at the Made bike show. Find part one from Made 2024 here.
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A show the size of Made can be quite overwhelming for any enthusiast walking through the gates. In years past I’d often stand in my booth talking about my work, and this year, I truly enjoyed stepping away to learn more about what my peers are up to.
Perhaps the thing that stole my focus the most was how each builder was tackling the conundrum of balancing growing tyre widths with chainring clearance and chainstay lengths. It’s this puzzle that had me focussing largely on gravel bikes. Well, that and the fact gravel bikes were the obvious strong theme of the show.
Still dazed from the show and processing all that I actually saw, I just recorded a bonus episode of the Geek Warning podcast with Dave Rome. See below.
No. 22
Mike and Bryce once again brought their amazing paper display booth, and whilst their fully printed aero road bike was getting a lot of attention, I was drawn to their Drifter gravel bike.
Built more on the adventure side with a suspension fork and dropper post, this Drifter hides the No.22 couplers to enable packing for travel. The monkey-puzzle couplers are very subtle and just require a hex key to release – and presumably removing that third bottle cage under the down tube! Once the frame is split, an internal hydraulic line quick-disconnect (No. 22’s own item, again) is revealed.
The slick-printed UDH dropouts include fender mounts for versatility. The titanium specialists haven’t used a yoke for chainring clearance; rather, careful shaping of the chainstay makes everything fit. The finish is impressive, too, with a painted-to-match fork tying into the anodized frame finish and matched 5Dev titanium crankset.
Belgium Cycles
These bikes were a new brand at Made. Belgium Cycles is a partnership with Wittson who have been building titanium frames in Europe for 40 years. Using the experience enables them to offer a wide variety of custom builds, from road and gravel through to racing trikes for Paralympians. This gravel bike is an example of what they can produce.
Mischief
Mischief was another new brand at Made. Owner Chris is an orthopedic surgeon who took an obsession with custom bikes to the point where he took over the Seattle-based workshop of the retiring Bill Davidson (of Davidson Bicycles).
The frames are all titanium, with Chris cutting and preparing the tubes before a Boeing-certified welder comes in to join them together. For the show they brought only white and Campagnolo-equipped bikes. The gravel bike features a curved seat tube and printed yoke for tire/chainring clearance. The randonneur build has large-volume 650B tires, Rene Herse-style geometry, and the full set of fenders, dynamo lighting, and front rack.
Efficient Velo Tools (EVT)
Brett Flemming has been making his EVT right arm repair clamp and shop stands for many years, and now has a mobile version for the first time. The goal was to have a folding, freestanding bike stand that would set the standard for rigidity, for complete control of the bike with no shaking or movement. To this end he partnered with Minoura for his first outsourced product. They manufacture the whole stand for him, including a version of his clamp, which allows for a competitive price point. This will be priced at US$600, but is reduced to US$500 until September 28.
It seems I’m making a habit of returning home from Made shows with new workstands. Last year, I brought home a Remco electric stand, and this year, I purchased one of these new Field Unit stands.
Co-Motion Cycles
My Eugene (Oregon) neighbors at Co-Motion have gone far towards the mountain bike side with their drop-bar adventure model, the Tumalo. The bike here features the Pinion smartshift gearbox, with 12 centrally located gears controlled electronically by the TRP shifters. But this bike can be had with any sort of drivetrain, and a rigid or suspension fork, with the design intended for off-road bikepacking and touring. The custom symmetrical yoke easily clears the 3” tires fitted here.
HiFi
Local Portland wheelbuilder HiFi revamped its carbon line about a year ago. All of its road/gravel wheels now feature a 21 mm internal width with a micro bead hook. The intention of this design is to provide mechanical security for the bead without impacting the tire shape.
Pictured is the 45 mm-depth (with custom graphics); they also have 30 mm and 60 mm options. Meanwhile the mountain bike rims are a true hookless asymmetric shape, with a lightweight 25 mm internal for cross-country and a 30 mm internal width for everything else. Wheels are built with Sapim CX-Ray spokes and secure-lock nipples, laced to hubs with Japanese stainless steel bearings. They also had a prototype freehub with offset pawls, to provide 612 points of contact, or about 0.6º engagement.
Btchn’ Bikes
Tyler at Btchn’ Bikes always has something interesting to show. This year it was a prototype Geo-shift mountain bike.
Taking inspiration from Albatross’ decoupled seatstays (where the stays are not joined to the seat tube, to increase the ability to flex), a heavily modified dropper post sits inside the top tube and activates against the pivoting seat tube to allow for a 10º increase in seat tube angle to create a powerful position for steep climbs. This makes sense when I think about how I barely perch on the nose of the saddle when trying to power up steep, technical climbs. The bike also has a custom bullmoose bar/stem, plus it’s pink!
Meanwhile, Tyler has expanded his range of titanium components, and has added an in-house ISO testing rig to ensure safety. Alongside the titanium dropbars with 3D-printed corners (revealed at Made 2023), there is now a wider range of MTB bars including bullmoose bar/stems. The titanium seatposts come in two styles: a single bolt in-line clamp and a setback model that uses a printed titanium cradle paired with printed aluminium hardware. This comes in at just under 200 g for a 350 mm length in 27.2 mm diameter.
There’s one more gallery still to come. Stay tuned!
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