As part of their Open Factory event, Brooks England invited a selection of builders and small British bike brands. Some of the longest-running brands in cycling had the opportunity to show alongside relative newcomers. Buckle up for another ride with our European correspondent, Petor Georgallou, and enjoy the show…
Moulton NS Safari
The first bike that caught my eye is among the most unique available: a Moulton NS Safari, a space-framed, stainless steel, full-suspension, small-wheeled road bike. Moulton, based in Bradford Upon Avon, is a surprisingly small company building out of Dr. Alex Moulton’s historic estate. The NS Safari is the Moulton of my dreams. The space frame has a central coupling which allows the bike to break in half for transport (it breaks in half rather than folding – a Moulton is not a folding bike) and is built with 20” wheels rather than Moulton’s historic 16” wheels.
This opens up a world of tire choices and availability. It’s also built with modern “standards” in mind, so it runs thru-axles and disc brakes, which has called for a much-needed update in the bike’s geometry that leans into feeling more like a normal bike than historic Moultons do. It also has a major fork update, which looks amazing, with custom butted cigar-shaped Reynolds 853 fork blades with machined linkages at the top and bottom that remind me of old AMP Research forks.
It’s super easy to get distracted by the space frame and miss all the other little details that I’d imagine make the NS Safari a far better bike to live with. It’s a beautifully well-thought-out bike that builds on Moulton’s legacy of fast, high-performance and comfort-oriented road bikes, which also happen to be extremely eccentric in their design. More than anything, I just love that this exists completely in isolation from anything else available. The sheer number of hours required to miter, bend, and solder all the tubes, let alone finish all the joints, is remarkable.
With no aspirations towards ever being something for serious athletes, the Moulton’s approach to performance is completely unique, and kind of ironically better suited to the needs of most riders than the Pro Tour-ready bikes they’re sold. This one was built with 13-speed Campagnolo Ekar, 45 mm Schwalbe G1 speed tubeless tires, and mudguards.
Stanforth Kibo and Torro
I’ve not seen a Stanforth in a minute, so it was a relief to see a gaggle of them at the open factory. Stanforth specializes in touring bikes with a decent amount of overlap in use case between a few different models. They are customizable in terms of geometry, tube spec, and finish. The frames are built in the UK by Lee Cooper, a batch production powerhouse and veteran of British framebuilding, from Reynolds steel. The first bike I picked out was a conservative but classy lugged 631 Kibo drop bar built with a mechanical Shimano Deore XT groupset, bar-end shifters, TRP brakes, and a Brooks B17 leather saddle with matching bar tape. It’s the kind of bike that has everything you need for serious cycle touring on the road and nothing you don’t.
The second bike I liked from Stanforth was a red Torro. A lightweight, fillet brazed, Pinion-equipped Reynolds 853 gravel frame with Hope cranks and a Gates carbon belt drive. Aside from having all the stack I imagine a carbon fork can offer, this build was simple, practical, and at the most utilitarian end of the spectrum of handmade bikes that the UK has to offer. I’m a sucker for the little silver-soldered bottle boss reinforcements. While 853 is pretty stout material and likely doesn’t need them, they’re a sweet little nod to classic UK builders of the past, who worked in inferior and thinner material like old 531 and nonsense tubesets like Reynolds’ short-lived, 0.3 mm-thick 753 of the late ’80s, which would crack bottle bosses if a rider over 60 kgs even thought about sprinting anywhere near it. Things are better now, much better… but I’m still a fan of the bottle diamonds.
Brother Stroma
I’ve been Brother adjacent since we swapped t-shirts in the foyer of the Barbican after a Bicycle Film Festival screening a long time ago, when we were pedaling mediocre fixies like everyone else. We were cringe, and I hope that some years in the future we’ll look back and realize that we still are. For a long time I thought about Brother like English Surly, or maybe a slightly more conservative Crust. At some point in the last 5 or six years, that really changed, at about the time they started running Brother in the Wild events, or perhaps with the launch of the Mehteh. Whatever happened, Brother seems to have found their stride and an identity of their own, especially with their last crop of bikes.
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Mr. Wooden, their off-the-peg, rando-ish bike. While I’ve had a go on the prototype of their most recent, soon-to-be-launched Pinecone, and really enjoyed that it follows the same design ethos as Mr. Wooden while taking it in a different direction, the two models on show at Open Factory were new colorways of classic models that have been around and remained mostly unchanged for a while. These are perhaps my favorite ever Brother colorways, and feature updated downtube logos with an off-white and further-off-white colourway for the Stroma that begs to be paired with classic silver parts to go full early ’90s throwback, and a borderline John Player Special black and gold Mehteh. Bring cigarette advertising back to sports!
Pashley Britannia and Pathfinder
Pashley is the biggest continually running bicycle manufacturer in the UK and, as such, can build a huge volume of bikes, with the capacity to carry out most aspects of manufacturing in-house. Pashley has had its fair share of successes and failures over the years, with hyper-functional, affordable masterpieces like the ’90s Royal Mail Special – which, if you were a bikemonger in the UK in the early 2000s, you’ll be intimately aware of, as Royal Mail dumped them by the thousands.
An aside on the Royal Mail Special: Essentially it was a simple, relaxed mountain bike geometry with a 1” steerer, drum brakes, hub gears, and a special lug set, coupled with a huge and indestructible front rack. I have carried more people home from blurry nights out on the front of those bikes – which were, at one time, basically disposable – than on any other bike. They are amazing and just about ready for a reissued, diet version with an 853 tubeset and decent dropouts.
Pashley was also the manufacturer of the Moulton APB for a number of years, the TV Series, some weird and now very rare and sought-after UK-made trials bikes, and the Picador. The Pashley Picador trike, while on paper only moderately bad, is in reality the sickest, most twisted, and joyless perversion of what a trike can be. It’s hard to imagine anyone riding a Picador and being okay afterwards. They have, thankfully, been discontinued.
The spectrum of Pashley’s current models is perhaps best bookended by the Britannia – the higher-spec version of their ever-popular Princess lugged step-through frame town bike, often adorned with a basket of cut flowers – and the Pathfinder, Pashley’s most up-to-date “grav grav” offering.
The Princess (or in this case, Britannia) has been popular for decades as a shop display for florists, butchers, bakers, and greengrocers, as well as casual cyclists around London. The brand and the model have been synonymous with a certain brand of sartorially elegant cyclist, especially in London, spanning popularity for events like the Tweed Run, and even serving as the vehicle of choice for designer Vivienne Westwood (whose Pashley Britannia I used to service when I worked at Phoenix Cycles on Battersea Bridge).
The Pathfinder is a welcome surprise coming from Pashley, as a polar opposite to the majority of their classically styled and traditionally manufactured bikes. It’s TIG welded from Reynolds tubes, with a Columbus Futura gravel fork, and additive-manufactured rear dropouts and seat cluster.
Mercian Restored Custom ATB
For a very long time, Mercian had a reputation for being the very best bicycle frame manufacturer the UK had to offer. Mercian makes, for the most part, traditionally lugged bikes, which I believe are brazed or soldered in a furnace. They offer options for the ornate King of Mercia lug set, and in doing so, they are one of the last companies offering ornate lugs as an option.
Another signature of Mercian’s visual identity is the seat tube barber pole, which is available as a finishing option across models. With all of Mercian’s current models on show at Open Factory, the most interesting was this recently restored customer bike, which I assume was made at some point in the ’90s. It’s a pretty clean, simple frame, with hints of Mercian all over – from the trademark top eyes to the barber pole and the choice of colors.
On the subject of understanding why front V-brake mounts are sometimes on the rear of a fork rather than the front, especially on old touring bikes, I’m not really sure why the rear brake bosses are on the inside of the seat stays on this frame. In theory, this should either not impact braking, or the bike has seriously overbuilt stays. Perhaps it was built for a big saddlebag or a particular rack? I can’t see how the brakes or the cable routing would be in the way. There must be a reason.
Shimano Parallax hubs have to be the epitome of serviceable, indestructible hubs, with absolutely hanging examples showing up on unserviced, decades-old bikes in community bike shops all over the place, and continuing to function when they have absolutely no business doing so. It’s very unusual to see a set in new-looking condition.
Singular Peregrine and Kookaburra
Singular is a small UK-based brand, batch-manufacturing frames abroad, whose ethos centers mostly around big tires and drop bars. There were a few Singular bikes on show. My favourites were the ever-popular and recently-updated Peregrine, which John reviewed here, and the forthcoming Kookaburra.
The Kookaburra is the bike I’m most excited about, although the one on display was a prototype that will probably undergo a few changes before it launches. It’s similar in many ways to the Peregrine, but represents the possibility of underbuilding the frame while still passing ISO testing by doing away with disc brakes in favor of cantilever brakes, and reducing the head tube and steerer diameter to run a 1” threaded steerer and a 1” quill stem.
While I didn’t get a chance to test ride it, it has all the hallmarks of a super plush, lightweight touring or long-distance road bike, with an ultra-smooth ride quality. It was a super kooky build, with a mix of old Deore XT rear mech and a silver Shimano GRX chainset, Nitto bits, Campagnolo headset, titanium bottle cages, and a very nice White Industries/Astral wheelset with a radially laced front wheel, which has become a real rarity with the ubiquitous use of disc brakes.
The Kookaburra looks like a bike I might really like to ride.
Quirk Cycles Durmitor Ultra
Quirk’s Durmitor Ultra is a steel all-road bike with additive-manufactured stainless lugs. Few steel road bikes are using additive manufacturing as part of the process, since most people associate additive manufacturing with titanium construction. On the face of it, that makes sense as there isn’t much, if any, difference in cost between stainless and titanium additive-manufactured parts. However, steel tubes have a very different ride feel and might make a good choice for road or crit racing.
This bike is painted in Cinelli Lazer metallic blue, and the additive-manufactured parts feature Quirk’s new head tube logo as well as a few hidden details about the bike model and its origin. This saves on adding loads of details to the paint. This particular build is also pretty much top-end spec, with a Dura Ace groupset and Enve on more or less everything else.
Stooge Cycles Speedbomb
Stooge’s klunker-inspired 29+ mountain bike is reassuringly weighted for surprisingly gravity-centric riding for a fully rigid bike. I love that this thing has clearance for any tire you’ll ever need in the UK. It comes in one size (18”) and has an eccentric BB shell to run it with gears or singlespeed. It’s a pretty short frame with heaps of standover, so 18” should work for a lot of people, bearing in mind it’s for a type of riding where bike fit is seen as a preference rather than a necessity. I liked the monstrous Duro Crux 29 x 3.25″ tire on the front, which gives all kinds of float and cushiness. The Stooge titanium bars added further flex, and the silver PNW Components dropper gave it some added panache. Silver droppers for the win.
Tomo Cycles Tall Bike
While not strictly on display, “not on display” is not an option with tall bikes, especially when they’re as considered and well put together as this Paul Brodie-inspired mini tall bike by cycling high connoisseur John Thomson of Tomo Bikes. This little tall bike hits the goldilocks spot between practicality and silliness by being tall enough to be tall and being small enough to be ridden by someone with no experience at all. The back end also detaches to be small enough to fit in a regular car, or to claim “folding” aboard a peak-time London-bound train. Nothing screams practicality like a brass bugle horn and an acetylene lamp! Everything is tied together nicely with custom-made racks and stem, all in a matching burgundy powder coat. Chapeau.
Van Kleef Groadinger UG DIY
Louis Van Kleef works at Rapha, where, among other things, he runs the Pennine Rally, an ultradistance gateway race. This frame is essentially a Stayer Goradinger UG that Louis built at Stayer’s Introduction to Framebuilding course a couple of years ago. Louis describes it as a “rubbish Stayer” based on the fact that there’s little difference between this and any other Stayer Groadinger UG except for the fact that Louis built it himself, with no prior framebuilding or brazing experience. As you’d expect, the brazing isn’t as pretty as one brazed by someone who builds full time. Louis still loves it because it’s also the best Van Kleef to date.
It’s a bike that works for almost all the riding he does, with clearance for 700 x 55 tires. The only bad bit about this bike is the dynamo cable routing. Louis told me about it and I assured him he was just being modest and self-deprecating, as is the way in the UK, but then he showed it to me… and it really is actually very bad. The rest of the bike looks great, though, with a classy mix of parts and an old-fashioned pump peg keeping in place the too-short Silca Impero frame pump, which he already owned prior to building the frame. Nice touch!
Medusa Cycles Road
Pete Skelton (Medusa Cycles) personal road bike is a thing of beauty, it’s been on the site before as part of John’s coverage of Bespoked but I couldn’t resist photographing it again. It’s made from Reynolds 931 stainless tubes, has clearance for bigger tyres and is built up with a mix of the best parts the uk has to offer. Tying together the brooks, hope, USE, middleburn and exposure parts is a ton of detail in both the construction but also the subtly textured paint and build. The colours running through paint, components and decals all look like they landed there working perfectly by accident, but when it keeps happening and there’s a pattern it’s more likely to have happened that way on purpose. What a bike! I want one.
Marlon’s Bianchi Grizzly with Dura Ace
Lugged Bianchi mountain bikes with 1” quill stems are definitely not a thing you see around in the UK. Even less so with a mint, unrestored celeste paint job from 1988. This one is an insane and unique build by Marlon at Babyldn with a mad mix of all the good stuff, old and new, to make the most luxury town bike available. It’s all Tune and Nitto and Paul, but almost best of all, it’s running 8-speed Shimano Dura Ace 10-speed with a replacement cage on the rear mech and a reasonably wide cassette. There’s a Campagnolo headset in there as a funny joke, and I love the low flange Dura Ace front hub laced radially. There seem to be some black and gold aluminium bolts which scare me, but other than that, I really like this dream build of an esoteric old bike, which I think is currently for sale at Babyldn.
Pineapple Supply Trek Composite
It would be remiss of me to miss this kind of nicely-built Trek composite. The early days of carbon fiber bikes were wild – it’s super interesting to see a three-decades-old iteration of a construction technique which is kind of back. In the UK, I’ve worked on loads of Raleigh Dynatechs, Giant Cadexes, and Alan frames with carbon tubes bonded into aluminium lugs, but MUSA Trek carbon frames from the ’90s don’t tend to show up. Even better, this one showed no signs of delamination or corrosion on the insides of the aluminium lugs. My favorite bits were the Kona rear cable stop and the Jo Burt Mint Sauce sticker as a recent addition as a head tube badge.
Fairlight Strael
The Strael has almost everything I’d want from an all-road bike; it’s moderately light, has heaps of tire clearance, and is designed to be relatively supple, with custom butted and heavily profiled tubes designed in collaboration with Reynolds. It’s a very nice shade of yellow. The top tube is squished down, as is a good section of the seat stays, for flexibility. It also has custom dropouts made by Bentley Components. The 105 drivetrain with an Enve-rimmed wheelset struck me as a very sensible way to build a bike in terms of spending money in the right places, and aesthetically, the Silca pump looks great tucked into the top tube, although I wish that was yellow too!
British Bikes
All in all, seeing this particular gaggle of bikes at Brooks England was interesting because it highlighted the breadth of collaboration that there has been historically, and still to this day, between local companies making things at a very high level in and around Birmingham. Brooks saddles and Reynolds tubing were very much a theme, but it was great to see a show of relatively local makers spanning historic builders and manufacturers, as well as the fringes of modern mainstream builders and small manufacturers all together. I’m confident that this will continue to be what bicycles look like in 100 years, if the world holds out that long.
The Radavist would like to thank Brooks England for supporting this Independent Reportage!