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Master of Steel

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Photos by: Wig Worland | Words by: Tom Donhou

Bespoke bicycle frame builder Tom Donhou has crafted another stunning bike to celebrate the Rapha + Liberty collaboration. Below, he tells us how he built it and if you are interested in purchasing one for yourself you can contact Tom at his website.

The Print

Taking the Rapha + Liberty houndstooth print, I had to adapt it to work on a bike frame. We wanted to stay true to the original concept, with speed and movement a key element, so I ‘exploded’ the houndstooth to give the impression that the bike is moving fast enough to rip apart the pattern. It is quite detailed so I needed to work out how I was going to apply both colours. In the end I used one mask spraying the green and then individually covered up each of the green spots to then overspray with the blue. It was a painstaking and time-consuming process.

The Liberty Cup

I took the original drawing of the cup [which Liberty would award to the winner of their annual staff bicycle race] we found on a results card from the races, then traced it. We formed the stainless steel piece so it matched the shape of the tube, brazed it in place using silver (as it has a low melt temperature) and then brushed it back up with various grades of emery paper. The badge actually gets painted and we then carefully masked around it and filed back through the paint to reveal the exposed stainless badge before one final finish.

The Componentry

The bike’s componentry reflects the technical nature of the Rapha + Liberty range. Running Shimano Dura-Ace, Chris King and ENVE, this bike is a no-compromise machine built for speed and function.

The Frame

The Columbus dove symbol tells you the tubing manufacturer. The frame is built from their HSS tubing, a race-inspired, light and thoroughly modern set, taking advantage of advanced tube-forming techniques to produce shaped tubing optimised for power transfer and handling.

Made of Steel

Steel is wrought from the earth – it has soul and strength. When you’re finished with it, you can return it to the earth, where it breaks down into its elements and the life cycle continues. Steel is still the bike frame material that all others are compared to. While it is true that you can build stiffer, lighter, higher ‘performance’ machines from other materials, nothing is as much of a joy and pleasure to ride as a well-crafted steel frame.

 

View the Rapha + Liberty Collection »


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