Malcolm Custom Bicycles

Crikey, it rolls faster, smoother; it’s more comfortable and just goes through corners exactly where you point it. And when you put your foot down the power really goes to the road!!
 

So, we set up a prototype scheme for Malcolm Custom Bicycles. We sent an email to all of our customers asking if they would be interested in being a part of our prototype scheme. We basically wanted to build ten bikes and hone our product in. As Ian and I have one each there were eight places to fill. We offered the frames at cost price for materials and paintjob. The hours and hours of labour to build them came gratis from us and gave us a good opportunity to use different methods of brazing and different components to make the frames. It also gave us a varying spread of customers and requests. The smallest owner is just over five feet tall and wanted all of the cables inside the frame giving a sleek finish. The tallest is close to six and a half feet tall and a solid build requiring a strong smooth ride with a dazzling paint job.

Malcolm Custom Bicycles frame

Through this we have developed custom frame parts ourselves to develop aesthetics while improving functionality to the frames. We have built frames that men big enough to crush houses can’t break… in fact quite the opposite – they are comfortable, fast and responsive.

Though Ian and I spent many of our free hours over the last two years, sometimes late into the night, to get the prototype frames built, we couldn’t have moved the product so far forward without the investment of time and feedback from all the prototype owners.

Blue frame detail from Malcolm Custom Bicycles

Inspiration – both childhood and current…

I grew up in an era where steel was the only material used to make bicycles as it had been for 100 years before. It is only in the last twenty to thirty years that other materials such as aluminium, carbon fibre and titanium have been used and already we are coming back to steel as the material of choice for the serious non-racing cyclist.

My inspiration came from having custom racing frames made for me by Geoff Scott, childhood heroes Sarroni and Zoetemelk who rode Colnagos, and Argentin on a Bianchi.
 

I spent two years in my twenties as head mechanic of Condor Cycles and was privileged to still build custom bicycles from the era and work on those made in the fifties and sixties… this really was an era when handmade custom bicycles were at their most beautiful – that is until now. Though I have done a lot of my own research, being Australian has afforded me the opportunity to tap into the experience, insight and products from one of the world’s best current frame builders, Darrell McCulloch (Llewellyn Custom Bikes).

In addition, I was fortunate enough to have known master frame builder Ron Cooper for over twenty years. I first rode one of his frames in 1991 and went on to have the advantage of spending time in his workshop learning the art of frame building and skills necessary for this craft.

Why build with steel?

I build with steel and lugs because I believe it is the best way to construct a bicycle frame. Putting weight to the side for a moment, steel lugged frames have the best properties for strength, comfort and longevity when compared to other materials commonly used to construct frames. And sure, steel is a heavier material than either carbon fibre or aluminium.

Most people don’t realise that you must use a lot more of either of these materials to make it as strong as steel. Then we are looking at the weight difference not being as great. These days, with modern steel bicycle tubes being very thin and large in diameter, it is possible to get the lightest steel frame within a pound of the lightest carbon fibre frame.

So, the real question is more about what you want to use the bicycle for rather than its weight. If you are also looking for a bicycle you will love to ride, cherish mile after mile, year after year, you’ll need it to fit you like a glove and be balanced for your particular body style. Steel is where you have to stop looking for a better solution – there just isn’t one!!

 
[rps-include blog=127.0.0.1 post=30120]