Bespoked 2014
If the Paris-Roubaix paddock represented the cutting edge of cycling technology, then Bespoked, the UK’s handmade bike show, offered a showcase for the time-honoured skills of the frame builder.
We headed to the show’s sumptuous new home – the London Olympic Velodrome – to sample the wares of some of cycling’s finest craftsmen, including Dario Pegoretti, Ted James, and Darren Baum, winner of the show’s best road bike award.
Jason Rourke is a man who will need no introduction to the cycling cognoscenti, but who took a step into the wider public consciousness earlier this season with the broadcast of Channel Four’s Speed series with Guy Martin.
We chatted to Jason about his work with the Isle of Man TT rider to build a bike capable of being ridden at speeds in excesses of 100mph, and about the skills required of a frame builder to produce a ‘fast road bike’ – Rourke Cycles’ stock-in-trade.
