Tomo Bikes

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  • Bespoked 26 Apocalypse bike

    Screenshot

    After last years offering, I thought I’d go small this year, not least of which because of shed space! The Apocalypse build off has some rules, that change every year. A few things led to the design of this. I still had some ex rental bikes that needed a use. The fact they were shaft drive seemed perfectly bullet proof. The rule that scored an extra point if the wheel base was less than 100cm drove the mini velo design (although not being able to change the chain stay length because of the shaft drive didn’t help matters). I had a knackered old snowboard I had been waiting for an excuse to use on a cargo bike so seemed perfect for cycle truck duty here. And lastly I wanted to use some of my Tailfin bags for their Apocalypseproofness.

    From donor bike to full cycle truck mode. It grew a rear rack from an elephant bike and a custom set of handlebars that were really comfy and more than enough accessories. Now the event is over I think it will get a lick of paint, ‘reduced’ slightly and be pressed into service as an actual cargo bike for local stuff. Very tempted to try it for a bit of bike packing too:-)

    GCN Tech review of the Apocalypse bikes – very fair;-)

  • Longtail bikepacking bike

    This had taken its time being finished, partly because it’s for me so at the back of the queue! I had been contemplating how to paint it. I really liked the colour way from the old Valiant Porsche 935 Racecar but could quite get a design with hard panels that I liked so as spring had arrived I go inspired to go a bit more organic.

    The bike started life as my 29er and after many years and miles it needed a freshen up. I have a long tail cargo that I love riding and had been wondering what a bike packing version would be like so after a nip and tuck, now we can find out.

    These shots were captured at the Bespoked bike show in London in April 2026 by John Prolly from the Radavist and Steve Behr. I felt honoured and love the pictures. Thanks guys.

  • Amy’s TCR 2025

    This was an amazing project to be able to do. I was contacted by a previous customer to see if we could create a bike for Amy to do the TCR. She had got an entry as part of the organisers desire to get 100 women entries. She had done some bike touring before and was an ultra runner but this would be her first Ultra.

    We organised a bike fit, agreed a design and this is what came out. Dot watching along was amazing as she showed true determination and successfully finished the event from Santiago de Compostela in Spain to Constanta in Romania, 5100km away, in 37 days. That equates to around 85 miles a day, self supported and during a super hot European summer. What an amazing achievement.

  • Bespoked Apocalypse Bike

    This was an amazing opportunity to get off the leash a bit. The bike was no more than a faint idea until 2 weeks before the event. We had to finish and prep the other bikes, do some other work and build this thing so didn’t get through every idea but I was pretty happy with the result and especially the lack of issues given that it had literally run for about 10 yards in a straight line before stuffing it in the car for the show.

    A few folks braved a test ride and this was the default expression of most:-) To categorise it, I think this is a Tall, Fat, Cargo, 2 Wheel Drive, Rear Suspension Apocalypse, Bikepacking bike.

    It was based around my son’s old fat bike, with some added bits of Apollo and Marin and a whole bunch 4130 tubes to glue it all together.

    The Apocalypse Bike built off had some ‘spec’ to built to but it allowed for some free thinking. As part of the event there was some racing, round a small car park and through a building! We did the practice lap with the 2WD in place but went all ‘short tail’ for the racing!

    Thanks to John Watson from TheRadavist for the photos. You can see his write up here: https://theradavist.com/2025-bespoked-uk-apocalypse-build-off/

  • Bespoked Gravel Bike

    In the rush to prepare for Bespoked, I finished up Sam’s Gravel race bike frame and built up with a fairly standard set of components, i.e. Shimano GRX. Most of the parts are what I had available and won’t be the final build but it gives an idea. I was super please that it got voted 2nd best Gravel Bike there especially considering the other bikes there.

    The frame is built from Columbus Spirit, Life and Max tubing. It’s designed for racing so has cables in places making the bike easy and comfortable to shoulder (flat profile top tube, hoses/cables on top of the downtime), easy to maintain (no internal routing) and take the current popular standards (T47 bottom bracket, flat mount brakes) and efficient (double ovalised downtube).

    The colour is transparent copper powder coat that should provide some toughness and also shows off the fillets:-)

    The tyres in these pictures Schwalbe Racing Ralphs in 29×2.25. Although they fit, it’s snug so a more realistic 2.1 or less would work in places that have mud. Can’t wait to see this out on the trail!

  • Bespoked 2025

    I made a very decision to go to Bespoked in Manchester in 2025 and was so glad I did. Lovely time meeting people, customers, builders, media and suppliers. The bikes seemed to go down well too. We got 2nd best gravel bikes, 2nd best Apocalypse bike and lots of nice comments about the Giraffe bike.

    Big thanks to everyone we met, took photos and especially the organisers for an amazing show. Bravo.

  • Battle on the beach race Fat Bike

    To those that know this race it’s brilliant. The largest XC race in the country with about 1000 people in it. This was my second time going. First was on a tandem with Mrs Tomo (her first ever race!). This time I had done some modifications to my fat bike so thought it would be perfect to take. The weather and headwind were kind. It was a great day out.

    Super happy with how the frame modifications worked out, the bars and setup changes. It rode much better and wasted less energy.

  • Custom Beach Race Handlebars

    For various reasons I ended up entered into the Battle on the Beach race this year. It gave me the opportunity to sort out a few issues on the fat bike – slacker head angle, straighten the rear end, a bunch of nice Hope Technology components and a lighter tyre/tube combination (that saved 880g per wheel:-).

    I had also wanted to build some bike packing bars that might also work for a minimum bit of aero on the 3 mile beach straight. I had an old set of narrow bars I had made so cut bits off and added bits on to create these:

  • Custom rack and frame mods

    For my entry into the recycle project, where we took old city bikes and gave them a refresh for a future useful life, I (obviously) did a bit of fabrication.

    I chose to do some frame changes, to make it look a little more unisex, add some branding, a custom rack and some paint in a hardwearing coating in BMW Mini Orange.

    Custom with ears
    Primered frame
    Brazed rack base
    Frame mods complete
    Rack base
    Brazing Frame mods
    It’s a win

  • Recycle project

    As well as new frame builds and repairs, it’s also great to be able to save things from going to scrap. I had the chance to rework a number of city bikes that had come to the end of use under a contract.

    It was especially nice to do this a number of other likeminded folks so I donated a few for others to make their mark and see what we all came up with. Big thanks to Dave from @Dave.bike, Marlon from @babyldn and Felix from @thebikefelix for being up for it.

    The party piece of these bikes is they are almost maintenance free with shaft drive, hub gears and drums brakes. I wanted to give mine a slightly more unisex look, tidy up a few ugly features and add some carrying capacity (and add some branding:-). This should become our family go to the shops bike.