Evolution of a Frame Builder

 
The fact that Ashley likes to build with lugs should come as no surprise given his influences and the people he chose to talk to at NAHBS. As he explains, “The best advice I’ve been given is get components that you know will work together, rather than trying to get a disparate collection of parts to work together and this applies to frame construction too, which is why we use lugs from Llewellyn, Richard Sachs, and Henry James. The quality of those is head and shoulders above everything else. For some of our early experiments we used other lugs and we had to manipulate them so much to fit that in the end they just went in the bin as they wouldn’t have been good for the bike after the hammering they took.
 
“We may do some fillet brazing in the future, but I like the way lugs look good, and as far as I’m concerned they give the bike a better ride, too. There is a much bigger contact area for the bond between the tubes so you get a comfortable ride. Whereas with fillet brazing you have to beef the material up around the tube joints.
 
“However, fillet brazing will feature at some point because we’re going to make our own lugs, so we can be as ornate as we want with them. There’s a lot you can do if you make your own lugs; you can get the exact angles you want without having to manipulate them…”
 

 
When it comes to choice of tube that gets brazed into those lugs Ashley looks once more to his past as a racer and a time when he rode bikes made from Reynolds tubing. “Tube choice depends on what I’m building as there is so much customisation goes into each bike; depending on the rider and what they want the bike for.
 
“These days it’s possible to buy individual tubes for each part of the bike instead of having to just buy a complete bike’s worth of tubes from just one maker or maker’s selection. Having said that, I’ve got an original complete Reynolds 531 tubeset sat at home that I managed to pick-up, but I’m saving that to build into a bike for myself. I prefer Reynolds tubing. I find it a bit more subtle to ride than Columbus tubes.”
 
However, it is not always Ashley’s decision as to what tubes are used as he explains, “If you’re paying the sort of money that a custom frame costs you’re going to want to keep it for life, so it had better be right. For me it’s become an act of creativity giving the person all the options and then supplying what they want. People ask how much it is to have a bike built using certain tubes and I explain to them the cost is dependent on how much bespoke work they want done.
 
“I’ll spend as long as is necessary talking to them to get the information I need to make sure I get to understand their riding style and body type, and what sort of detailing they want on the finished frame. It is a case of looking at the whole bike and the parts they want to use and ensuring it will all work together as a complete package. It can be a long process but that is part of what you pay for when you buy a custom frame from me. With a custom steel frame there is something special about them that is built-in as part of the process of the builder and the customer talking the project through.
 
“I hope one of the reason people choose me to builder their frame/bike is because they appreciate my knowledge of bikes and how that enables me to give them what they want at the end of the process.”
 

 
Having spent the day catching up with Ashley in the Brockley Bikes workshop it’s easy for me to see why he spends so long with each customer before he picks brazing torch up. His attention to detail is incredible and this is reflected in the time it takes to build each frame too. The other restriction on the build wait list for Malcolm Custom Bicycles frames is the fact that they are currently being built in the workshop of Brockley Bikes alongside the regular service and repair work after hours. However, if I bite the bullet, and for that matter you too, and order a frame up we can bring those wait times down as more frame orders will allow Ashley to employ someone to take care of Brockley Bikes while he concentrates on his frame building.
 
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Malcolm Custom Bicycles