Tomo Bikes

Tag: bespoke bike

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Favourite build?

    At a recent event someone asked me what my favourite build was. That’s a difficult one to answer and probably changes over time or for different reasons but the one bellow is up there.

    I wanted to make one of these after seeing Paul Brodie produce a version of the Giraffe Bike on his excellent YouTube channel. Paul kept his pretty close to the original but I preferred to change the shape (length) slightly for a better fit and to ease traveling with it, I decided to make it foldable. It’s more Moulton than Brompton but it does make it appreciably smaller. I made this to show at the Brazin handmade bike show in Glasgow in 2024 and ended up finishing it on the day I travelled to Scotland so was completely untested. Can’t wait to take it on a proper tour.

  • Custom racks

    Racks are one of the nice accessories to produce for a bike, as it creates a level of personalisation for the intended use of the rider. If it’s made bespoke for the frame it doesn’t need adjusters and can be honed down to a simple and effective form. We’ve done a few this way recently but this is the reason they cannot be mass produced. They do provide an extra special something as part of a bespoke build or give something old some extra sauce.