Bespoked 2022 BEST FINISH

So Bespoked 2022 is over. Gone and done.
Months and months, even years of work distilled into one weekend about hand made bikes, the culture and the community behind it.

The efforts show exemplary work of the highest standard. Innovation, ingenuity, engineering, art and design combine and overlap to make some of the most beautiful bicycles in the world.

This year, I was invited to judge on the panel and help select the winner of ‘Best Finish’ alongside James Capper and Ted Rogers; two nicer people I couldn’t have hoped to spend a day with. The process was surprisingly taxing, literally taking a whole day to decide a winner between the three of us and still hand over our choices late! We could easily have created a handful of sub-categories and given dozens of accolades but sadly that’s not how life works.

Making the announcement in the evening and sharing a few comments about the works didn’t seem to do nearly enough justice to all of the superb finishes we considered, pored over and scrutinised so I’ve cobbled together some of my own personal thoughts about the finishes of the winner and runners-up, and thrown-in some honourable mentions too in the hope that this can demonstrate what I saw and what I thought in a more meaningful way than simply reading names off our list. Also of course because I know that much of the event will be well covered in the industry press and I know too well that often finishing is an afterthought… there sadly isn’t such a thing as “Bike Painter Weekly”, although that’s a publication I’d subscribe to in a heartbeat.

All the images on this page have been culled from social media or brand websites and linked back to their original sources. If these images are yours and you want them removed, please let me know. Ian x

I should pre-emptively start by saying - in case you don’t know me or my work - that my personal approach to this judging process was to be primarily informed by my experience and understanding of refinishing and detailing, and the knowledge of those processes as were taught - or more accurately gifted - to me by working for such a long time alongside Dan Cole. With Dan, in past years, we refinished hundreds of bikes for frame builders, many of whom would be recipients of Bespoked awards, for amongst other things, ‘Outstanding Finish’; rosettes which we didn’t actively seek out but which we hung in our workshop and took as motivation to always improve our offerings. I mention this not to humblebrag, but rather to express that I came to this task specifically to critique paint and finishing in the language I know how. I intended to be detail-focussed and effectively work backwards from my understanding of what perfection in paint looks like. I made a list of somewhat quantifiable criteria and planned to deduct imaginary points for anything falling short of that unreachable “perfection”... equipped only with a clipboard, a clicky four-colour bic pen, and a swirlfinder torch in my pocket! Contrarily however, in what I believe to have been a refreshing and enlightened approach by the event’s new organisers, the other panelists judging this award were not bicycle or finishing specialists but rather, creatives of renown in their respective disciplines. This angle of critique altered my own viewpoint on how to appraise the finishing and what factors should be considered. I’ve already seen and heard some amusing/cringey ‘hot takes’ which serve to disparage the results of some other awards from this year’s show and I don’t wish to be embroiled in that sort of nonsense but, to clarify from the off… if you’re a finishing enthusiast and the results makes you baulk because you spotted bleeds, unpolished clearcoat, underspray, overspray, dry spray, a run, a sag, a blade mark, an hour-glassed pinstripe, a fish-eye, a nib, peel, hazing, product build, grins, a furry edge, a contaminated fade, a burn through etc… I know. I saw plenty of that too BUT this award wasn’t for “Best Executed Traditional Automotive Style Paint Finish Techniques and Detailing on a Bicycle Shaped Substrate”, it was for “Best Finish” which covers a great many other factors outside technical paint skill and to a significant extent is quite subjective.

As I and every other judge in all the other award categories intimated on the night, the process of distilling down so much exemplary effort into a handful of runners up and a singular winner was not simple; for every name that made the list, ten did not. There were a good few finishes worthy of that top spot and an even greater number who could have sat comfortably in the runner-up positions. So without condescension, if you’re reading this and you think your work was a contender… I can say confidently that it was indeed, a contender.

Tasked with selecting only three runners up, we couldn’t narrow it down so we exercised creative license and expanded the parameters to include four.

These were, in no particular order:

Best Finish Runner Up 04 - Saturnum by Salitter Cycles

Sarah was a deserving recipient of the inaugural SRAM Inclusivity Scholarship and brought with her a beautifully hand-crafted hardtail mountain bike, fully decked-out with high-end SRAM kit. The finish was exceptional. Working alongside Quinntessential Customs Workshop and interpreting a design from the print archive of Lucienne Day, the Saturnum was decorated in a technically proficient paint scheme which demonstrates multiple stages of product application and a variety of techniques.

The primary base colour is a subtle splatter intended to emulate the fabric of Day’s original design. Above the fabric effect is a cast of coloured shapes crisply airbrushed and further connected by meticulous freehand illustrations which weave delicately around the branding.

There are one or two tasteful detail elements, a highlight of which is the cute stack of dots on the back of the seatpost which acts as an inventory of the range of colour products implemented on the bike. Finally, there’s a high gloss polished clear coat to add vibrancy and a premium feel to the whole affair.

Best Finish Runner Up 03 - Picnic Bike by Etoile

This one is special. Elodie is another recipient of the SRAM Inclusivity Scholarship and brought with her, two bikes. The Picnic Bike, which captured so many hearts over the weekend was all about fun.

Finishing aficionados will perhaps be aware that this wasn’t painted, it was powder-coated. As a quick explanation of the difference; paint is liquid and usually atomised into a controlled spray wherein the painter chooses how and where to direct the colour, offering greater control for complex layered designs. Powder is exactly as it is named, a powder, no solvents. It’s electro-statically bonded to the metal and then baked to form a hard skin. Detailed multi-stage graphics aren’t possible but the trade-off is a much more robust colour finish - usually in a single colour and a basic layout.

The three-colour design of this bike in powder coat is made possible by utilising the lugged areas of the bike as an edge or lip by which to separate the colours, not common on a powder finish as the higher baking temperatures make quality masking quite tricky.

In order to reveal the details in the build, post baking, Elodie filed away the hardened powder coat from key areas to show us the copper coloured stars strategically dotted across the bike; the “chain slap” area, the head badge and a few similar accent details.

If you saw this in real life you will of course have spotted this bike wearing it’s heart on its sleeve… or rather, it’s saddle in this instance, in the form of a hand-stitched dangling transgender pride flag. What you may not have noticed is that the colours of the bike make up that of the genderqueer pride flag. The front, a lavender colour combining pink and blue, traditional colours of the gender binary and representative of androgynous identities. The middle, white section, representative of an agender identity the same as contained within the trans pride flag. The rear of the bike in a green is intended to be an inversion of the lavender frontmost hue, representative of those people with a gender identity outside of the binary.

The show this year was held at the Lee Valley Velodrome, home to many an official British Cycling event, an organisation notorious for their consistently poor handling of queer athlete rights and who regularly land on the wrong side of history. By simply showing up, this bike uses its platform to stridently give the middle finger to anyone who needs to see it.

As a non-binary person, this one spoke to me and I would love to own it.

Best Finish Runner Up 02 - Time Trial Bike by Sturdy Cycles

This bike is no slouch having won 'Best in Show' this year too. Titanium bikes were significant in their number at this year’s event so it was important to acknowledge the efforts involved in executing unique, quality finishes on these substrates.

Titanium of course has many favourable properties as a material and one key feature is that it doens’t need paint. Paint finishes on ferrous metals are both cosmetic and protective as they can prevent exposure to elements which might otherwise cause corrosion. Titanium bikes don’t suffer this fate.

Given that another of the beneficial properties of ti is it’s comparative light weight, it’s common, even the norm to avoid painting a titanium bike entirely. The convention is to utilise a combination of polishing, brushing and media-blasting to achieve uniformity in the appearance of the metal, and then in some cases, to further introduce an anodisation processes to add colour. These processes require a variety of precision steps, specialist tooling and a strict order of operations, coupled with surgical cleanliness to get a crisp, uniform appearance.

The Sturdy time trial bike features a soft and inviting satin texture across the whole of the frame, fork and bars giving a clean uniformity throughout. From front to back, by controlling the voltage in the anodising process, Sturdy created a gradient of colour which starts with a rich and vibrant blue, shifts gently into purple, then transitions softly into a magenta, blends into a golden orange-yellow before finally dissolving into nothingness and allowing the raw metal to take centre stage. Painted fades are perennial in bikes so witnessing this effect on a bike steeped in modern innovation was delightful to see.

Throughout the bike there are also custom anodised accents dotted around to act as jewellery adornments whilst avoiding pulling focus from the main colour fade.

Coupled with its aero shape, the finish gives the appearance of a vehicle in a wind-tunnel or perhaps the nosecone of a rocket re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Even when static, the bike looks fast, and the finish makes it look even faster!

Best Finish Runner Up 01 - Sharp Centre by Spoon Customs

This one was a painted finish, for painters. With a playful colour scheme based on the somewhat divisive architecture of the Rosalie Sharp Centre for Design in Toronto, this scheme demonstrates an unfathomable number of technical masking hours and masses of wet-sanding to get the result smooth-to-the-touch.

Across the bike, over a crisp white ground coat is a smattering of likely hundreds of tiny black and grey squares which are sporadically arranged in parallel and perpendicular with one another. These squares appear random in their application but are in fact matched on an invisible grid with laser-point precision which is evident when viewed at the perfect angle.

Bands of blue, red and yellow wrap around the tubes at angles which contradict the bike’s geometry - an effect that looks simple and minimal but one which can’t be achieved with just a roll of tape and some patience; it often involves literal lasers, and levels, and custom jigs, and maths, and trial and error to get perfect. These swathes of colour interrupt the square “dots”, appearing to bridge and separate areas of space and emulate the angular supporting legs of the building from which the design scheme takes its inspiration.

Elements of the steel have been left raw but the transitions between colour and metal are flat and even, and most impressively, the finished matte clear carries with it the same texture and feel as the bare metal throughout.

The carbon ISP has been left unpainted to allow the mixture of materials to remain a key feature but it does host one tiny guest in the form of a three-colour Columbus dove graphic in paint, rather than as a sticker, just another additional technical flourish to demonstrate the levels of detail and attention involved in the scheme.

As if that weren’t enough, the stem and seatpost topper have also been colour-matched too. It’s an impressive overall package for sure. Quite clearly a bike finish that was always intended to be a significant presence at the show.

Best Finish Winner - Kintsugi by Velofique for Quirk Cycles

This year’s choice for best finish was another masterclass in technical finishing skill which simply went a little further in terms of blending and mixing techniques.

The basic composition of this bike is at it's core, a simple contemporary style front-to-back split… but with extra hidden details to enjoy on closer inspection.

The front half of the frame hosts a clean, palate-cleansing aubergine hue, topped with a non-gloss finish. Aside from a small smattering of katakana “translations” of brand accents in gold, the front-end offers an unfussy calmness which offsets what is to be observed within the rear.

The minimal front is separated from the dramatic rear by an imperfect wrap of gold banding. This band is intended to emulate the aesthetic of kintsugi; the Japanese practice of repairing (usually) ceramics. The process leaves veins of gold at the joins of the clay. The philosophy of kintsugi holds proudly the idea that the newly mended object is more beautiful than the original unbroken form, both in visual appearance and the now storied history.

The back end of the bike – and also the handlebars – are where this finish shines. Under a high-polished gloss clear coat which offers a dynamic contrast to the matte front-end, is at first glance, a delicate, pretty and somewhat busy amalgam of rich, regal colours. There are dozens of hues to take in here, swathes and washes of pearls and metallics, the colours of peach and red apple coalesce over a mica-filled black base to offer a truly deep and animated composition. At a casual glance you'll observe the effect of dappled light on tranquil fresh water, cherry blossom gently swaying under a timid breeze, or perhaps the shimmer of koi in a pond.

Staring into the layers of colour is a truly calming experience. Once you start to really observe the animated hues and shapes you'll see that they are not haphazard or slapdash brushstrokes but in fact they are clearly quite deliberately and delicately applied, and amongst the melee, they even contain some tiny compositions. You'll see bonsai trees, tumbling waterfalls and moss-gilded rock formations amongst other delights.

Thanks to a fully internal setup, all this art is given the freedom to exist unencumbered by external cables which might otherwise interrupt the flow of the design or obscure our view.

The owner of this bike works frequently in Japan, hence the theme, and with this finish they are instantly transported back there.

Presented to us at the show alongside Nikoo Hamzavi’s lush large-format prints of the bike shot against the backdrop of Holland Park's Kyoto Garden, we too are able to experience a little of this magic just by looking at it.

Images below are borrowed from: https://www.instagram.com/quirkcycles/

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As promised, here's a few of the “best of the rest” from the show and I urge you to seek out photos so you can see some truly spectacular finishing.

  • All things Feather. Jack Kingston pulled it out of the bag with an overflowing handful of exquisitely executed finishes. Some crispy and minimal, some organic and filled with movement but all completed to a standard rarely seen on a bicycle.

  • Mosaic demonstrated immense skill and product understanding with their ability to match not only the colour but also the texture of a carbon fork to pair it perfectly with their raw titanium frame.

  • That Stayer. Copper plated and alive with a verdigris. This finish will bloom and blossom as it ages and that is something that really must be commended. You have to see it… and you can, at Cloud9 for a limited time.

  • Crossley Metal has some playful hand-painted scenes of gore and horror hidden and not-so-well-hidden on a couple of their builds.

  • Donhou did an excellent job of deconstructing the ubiquitous Mondrian scheme in order to offer a playful and cost-effective iteration to a customer.

  • Faced with the common dilemma of an idea surpassing a budget, Condor Cycles mixed a little bit of paint and a whole load of custom-cut stickers to offer their customer an affordable Camille Walala inspired finish.

  • Custom Paints had a stand this year kitted out in panels and speed shapes. Have a search for it and check them out… they’re an excellent place to choose the colours for your next custom bike build!

  • Velo Craft is responsible for the finishes on Prova Cycles builds and at the show, they brought a mixed-material road bike which showed the depth and variety available from a single candy red.

The level this year was so high that I'm really not sure how it can be topped next year in Leipzig but I can't wait to see it!

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Cheers.

Ian

  • @artpornblog

    A dance and movement specialist, looked to approach critique utilising their emotional response to the visuals offered by the bikes, considering drama, fashion and immediate impact without the limitations afforded by scrutinising for orange peel or holograms!

  • @jamescappersculpture

    A sculptor and fabricator, who creates intricate moving machines to amongst other things, manipulate paint, brought with him a unique insight into the relationships between substrate and finish informed by his own diverse practices.

  • @ian_greyharbour

    10 years in cycling retail, 7 in bicycle-specific refinishing, 20 as a multi-disciplinary designer maker. Worked on many award-winning Bespoked show projects.

The three of us on this judging panel held complimentary and contradictory points of view which I am confident were combined in such a way as to qualify our choices and ensure that our decisions were credible, considerate and authentic.