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British Steel Is Real, Malcolm Custom Bicycles Pays Homage To Cycling’s Heritage

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Malcolm Custom Bikes Head Badge Blue

In these days of carbon-fiber technology, the shaving of grams, and the boom in aerodynamic advantages measured in mere seconds per kilometer, it comes as a refreshing recalibration to see a bicycle producer revel in the classical lines and materials that our sport was birthed into.

This not new, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) has annually convened for nearly a decade due, in part, to the resurgent interest in classic materials and techniques. But the proportion of high-end bikes on the road that are not comprised primarily of carbon is very low. So let’s breathe in this rarefied air.

This builder of classics is Australian, ex-professional rider, Ashley Malcolm. The product of a lifetime in the industry, Malcolm Custom Bicycles is a bespoke crafter in South East London. Using strictly steel and lugs, Malcolm is crafting heirloom quality builds you will want to check out after the break…


Malcolm Custom Bikes

Check out those cable stops under the BB; that’s attention to detail.

Malcolm Custom Bikes

Bespoke birds.

Malcolm Custom Bikes
Malcolm makes lugs look good, very good.

Malcolm Custom Bikes Raw Frame

The raw steel. This one with internal routing. Anachronistic? Hey, that’s the beauty of bespoke builds.

Malcolm Custom Bikes

Malcolm states that in the build-interview he is looking for prospective clients who will “get us and what we aspire to achieve.” Apparently there are plenty who do “get” Malcolm – the queue is now up to twelve months for one of these beauties.

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Devin
10 years ago

Love it.

3D headtube badge? Gorgeous. The UK “bespoke” cycling scene puts out some nice bikes.

Thumper McDonut
Thumper McDonut
10 years ago

Dat badge!

Thumper McDonut
Thumper McDonut
10 years ago

But “bespoke” might be going a little overboard when you’re just using catalog lugs and braze-ons.

Devin
10 years ago

Are they “cata-lugs”? I don’t look at custom steel enough to know, but I think a little file work here and there and boom- custom.

David French
David French
10 years ago

@Thumper McDonut…. What you said ^_^

blacksmith
blacksmith
10 years ago

Firstly, Congratulations on making your ‘bespoke’ (Bespoke is a British English word that means a item made to a buyer’s specification (personalised or tailored)) Bicycle frames, secondly as an inspector of all things metal, I understand how expensive investment casting can be and as such can see the very reason certain people have made it their business to engineer lugs, talk is cheap, money buys the whiskey! Put me down on the list… and Good Luck.. I have PM’d you. B)

Derek Garner
Derek Garner
6 years ago

The lugs look like Prugnat Short Spearpoint of a few deacades ago. Simple and smart, though my old frames, made for me on the 60s, have Nervex Pro, very popular at the time. Derek.

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