Since the start of Grinduro back in 2015, there has always been a search for the perfect bike to use. This search has been led by those who can produce their own visions, the hand built bike builders.
From workshops across the globe, bikes have been created to represent their builders interpretation of what a gravel bike actually is... drop bars, flat bars, skinny tires, fatter tires... nothing is off limits.
Grinduro has always set out to be a champion of these bikes; our courses offering no obvious solutions — forcing reasoned choices, compromise, and sometimes just a refusal to conform to any requirement.
At select rounds of the Grinduro series you will find examples of hand built and crafted bikes within the Columbus Bike & Art Show. We challenge our builders and artists to present what they feel is the perfect Grinduro bike.
Here is a look at the 5 bikes that were presented at the Grinduro Wales Columbus Bike & Art Show 2021.
Bike:Gravel
Company Name:ISEN Workshop
Builder Name:Caren Hartley
Location:London
Website:isenworkshop.com/
Instagram:@isenworkshop
Bike:No. 4
Company Name:Flying Fish
Builder Name:Sam Fish
Location:Norwich, Norfolk
Website:fishfabrications.co.uk
Instagram:@fishfabrications
Bike:Gravel-Singlespeed
Company Name:CMG Bicycles
Builder Name:Chris McGovern
Location:Surrey
Website:cmgbicycles.me/
Instagram:@cmgbicycles
Bike:Nomad
Company Name:Lord Cycles
Builder Name:Chris Lord
Location:Cardiff, Wales
Website:lordcycles.co.uk
Instagram:@lordcycles
Bike:Simply, the Grinduro Bike
Company Name:Teme Frameworks
Builder Name:Ben Yarnold
Location:Shropshire
Website:temeframeworks.co.uk
Instagram:@teme_frameworks
For each Grinduro which features a Columbus Bike & Art Show, Grinduro will drop in on one of the regional builders and learn a little more about the background and reasoning behind the design they have chosen. We start off this year by visiting Sam from Flying Fish, deep in the Norfolk countryside.
Sam got into cycling while living in London. Sick of the crowds cramming in the tube on a daily basis, he took to two wheels and never looked back. With his experience in metal fabrication for the artistic industry, Sam's approach to bicycle design is subtly different and his influcences come from early 1990's mountain bikes. A time when the genre was still experiementing with design and innovation, not held back by suffocating UCI rules and regulations... quite like gravel cycling today!
Want to join the Grinduro x Columbus Builder Programme in 2022? Drop us a message via our contact form with details of your bike build history and your ideas for the perfect Grinduro bike!
