Luft Cycles – Luft Cycles – Bespoke Bicycles

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My new(ish) MTB - slightly more teal/green in real

My new(ish) MTB - slightly more teal/green in real life. It was one of the last bikes made in the @thebicycleacademy workshop and serves as a nice reminder of the good times.

I built it mostly with components donated from some friends - thanks very much to all those who helped out. One of the best bits about working at TBA was meeting loads of other like minded bike-centric people.

It’s the classic mix of fatty long Reynolds DT, Deda chainstays and Columbus/Paragon everything else - I LOVE those dropouts - seat stays also feature some custom tube block bendy bends. Little 3D printed stainless internal routing parts as well.

Geometry is probably best described as XC but it’s a touch slacker and longer than some - it’s got a bit more handlebar stack to make it less racey and a bit more forgiving (it’s a bike for someone that is bad at bikes).

It’s almost exactly a year ago that things came to an end at TBA so I thought the timing was appropriate - here’s to all the cool people I met and the fun times we had 🚲 ❤️ 🖐️ 👨‍🏭

Richard and I just had a little evening spin on hi

Richard and I just had a little evening spin on his new bike. I handed over the frameset a few weeks ago and he’s done a great job building it up.

The brief was for a comfortable, practical and clean looking road bike. We spent a bit of time settling on the right component spec and design but when we were both happy I got to work.

The creamy creamy powder coat 🍦compliments the tan wall tyres and Wolf Tooth Espresso ☕️ accessories perfectly. Is there anything classier than Arundel cages on a nice steel bike? Good choices Richard!

#DeliciousCreamyBicycle
#Coffee&Cream
#SteelRoadBike

Here’s Richard’s road bike finished in a lovel

Here’s Richard’s road bike finished in a lovely matte Oyster White. I really enjoyed making this one - it’s the first Luft made in my new little workshop and came together faultlessly.

Featuring @columbus_official Spirit and Zona tubing, Syntace dropouts, Columbus Futura Disc fork, internal routing around a @rideworks T47 bottom bracket. Destined to be built up with Sram AXS groupset - this will be a really nice summer road bike. I can’t wait to see it come together.

Small build details include:
-Extra TT and under DT bottle bosses
-Stainless HT badge
-Stainless seat post shim and reinforced seat post slot
-Extra SS bosses for possible future rear rack usage

A few little stainless braze on details for Richar

A few little stainless braze on details for Richard’s bike including:
-head badge
-extra bottle bosses
-seatpost topper and slot washer thing

This frame is heading to powder coating next - very happy with it.

Richard’s bike is taking shape - lots of cleanin

Richard’s bike is taking shape - lots of cleaning and TIG prep to do alongside a bunch of other small jobs. It’s going to be a really lovely bike 🚲

A new road bike for Richard! It will be the first

A new road bike for Richard! It will be the first bike made in my new workshop. 🚲 🏠

I haven’t had much time to make Luft bikes over the past few years - nice to pick it up again. Got a super busy April but I’ll be squeezing this in whenever possible.

We’ve got a few really cool builds upcoming at @

Lovely to see Grant today - He made this bike at T

Lovely to see Grant today - He made this bike at The Bicycle Academy last summer and it’s looking great!

I helped design and build quite a lot of bikes whilst teaching at TBA but I rarely get to see them all built up. He’s got himself a fixture and is ready to start making some more cool things soon. Best of luck duder!

All the best to any other former students that are still having fun playing with metal and fire 🔥

Finally using my winter/gravel/road bike for a bit

Finally using my winter/gravel/road bike for a bit of cycle touring. Obviously loading it up with tons of crap makes it handle like a truck but boy-oh-boy is it stable!

I like to think that I’m a person of simple pleasures however one of those pleasures is riding properly nice, bespoke bicycles… but I’m also pretty happy sleeping in a field and eating pot noddles.

#Fancyman

Lightening Bolt, Chubby Bobcats, Glitter, An Owl,

Here’s a few pictures of my new town bike - it’s essentially a flat bar/flat pedal road bike.

It’s mostly assembled using spare parts from other bikes so the build kit is a bit random but it’s perfect for what I need. It might even see the odd bit of off-road action.

Special features include:

-10 speed 1X Deore/Tiagra/GRX/Non-series groupset with extra knackered old KMC #superG good chain

-Deda carbon fork with #megalush post mount adapter (recovered from an old build and rattle-can painted)

-Shimano #Value levers and calipers (except the front caliper which is Ultegra for some forgotten reason)

-Various other actually really nice parts such as @hopetech clamp, @ridepdw cage, @fabriccycling saddle and grippy grips, @wildernesstrailbikes fatty tyres, @hunt.road 650b wheel set, @paragonmachine frame components, @columbus_official tubing

-Siiiiiiiiiick flippy iridescent powder coat from @williams_oakey_engineering

Future plans include:

-Mudguards for commuting (recommendations appreciated - mounts are hidden in stays and back of seat tube)

-Front basket/rack with some sort of thru axle adapter

This started as a budget build but ended up looking much cooler than initially planned.

#FancyCheapBike
#OldBitsAndNiceBits

The flat bar gravel bike has been plundered for co

The flat bar gravel bike has been plundered for components and added to some of the other former bikes hanging in the rafters.

Being able to test different geometries is brilliant - there’s always something different/interesting to try out.

If you’ve always wanted a second hand, slightly random 650b X 2.1” flat bar gravel frame with steel thru axle/post mount fork, ISO brake/135 QR rear end, PLUS a curvy sloped top tube then let me know!

#GoodnightBlueVelvet
#JustBecauseItLooksLikeAMountainbikeDoesntMeanItIs
#BasicallyaMTB

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Just finished another fun bike. This one is a flat bar, fat tyre, 1X road bike for commuting.

It’ll be built up with all the random components that I have knocking around the workshop.

This bike will never be ridden hard enough to really need a brake brace but I couldn’t resist adding one when it occurred to me that I could weld one up in the shape of a lightning bolt!

It’s off for some zingy flip colour powder coat tomorrow.

#ZingZing
#ZapZap

It’s NBOBD (new bike old bits day) for me today!

Nice! Fresh powder coat on the frames I built a fe

Nice! Fresh powder coat on the frames I built a few weeks back. Minty green for Finn’s cyclocross bike and Navy blue for my road/off road/winter bike thing.

They’re pretty similar bikes with a few differences in geometry and tubing spec. Lots of nice @ParagonMachine works bits including an IS41/47 tapered head tube, boss mounted cable guides, dropouts and those little single cable guides.

Bonus features include stainless dropout faces & seat tube shims, braze on logos, mudguard mounts and chain pips. The blue bike also has added zits for touring accessories.

#MuddyBikes

If you like 90’s era bikes then check out my mat

If you like 90’s era bikes then check out my mate Omar’s page @OhmsCustom ⚡️

He finds bikes that have seen better days and gives them a new lease of life.

I had a go on this awesome Specialized Rockhopper today and it rides like a dream! If I could do stunts I’d do them on this and look 10X cooler doing them.

#LetsPartyLikeIts1993
#DoAKickflip

Finishing the last little bits on these frames and

Finishing the last little bits on these frames and the mess is taking over. I’m sure it’s impossible to keep the worktop tidy in the finishing stages.

Hopefully these frames will head over to powder coat this week.

#TidyUpTime

About this time last year I bought @sturdycycles o

About this time last year I bought @sturdycycles old TIG welder and (with his help) I’ve been working my way towards melting some bikes together ever since. Finally welded some full frames and it went pretty well... although I did poke myself in the eye with a bit of TIG rod.

Still a few bits to finish before powder coat but I’ve made myself a new winter/all-road/bikepacking thing and my mate Finn a lovely cyclocross bike.

Here’s a few pics of the almost finished bikes and some close ups of the good bits.

#BasicallyGravelBikes
#WeldYourDreamsTogether

Great to see this photo of Ash out in the cold wea

Great to see this photo of Ash out in the cold weather today. Loving his Luft!

#LuftLove

Here are a few close up photographs of the cargo b

Here are a few close up photographs of the cargo bike.

Big respect to people who frequently make non-standard bespoke bicycles. The little details, unique features and other random problem solving activities absolutely hoover up time.

The frame, fork and racking is made up of 47 tubes and 77 individual mitres... SEVENTY FLIPPING SEVEN! Perhaps unsurprisingly the whole build process was quite biscuit intensive. 🍪 🚲

#FrameBuilding
#PoweredByBiscuits
#TinYWheeliesOnMyTinyBike

Photos 📸 @joe_____thomas

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