Since settling into our Spitalfields store we’ve set about making new friends and finding local brands who share our values. What we found was a small community of frame builders, each offering their own bespoke experience, all sharing our love for cycling. We went and met a few of them in their workshops and asked a couple of questions.
ISEN is built upon the award-winning heritage of UK custom frame builders Hartley Cycles and Talbot Frameworks. Allowing them to combine hand crafted elements with cutting edge frame building technologies, so they can deliver bikes that are at the forefront of frame geometries and are finished to the highest standard.
What were you doing before you started frame building and what led you to it?
Caren: I trained in 3D Design, specialising in metalwork, and was working as a fine jeweller as well as sculptor/visual artist. So I was working on all sorts of projects from intricate gold & diamond rings to large scale public art pieces made from cast iron and bronze that could weigh as much as 250kg! I had become dissatisfied with my career as an artist and not really sure where I wanted to go next, and keen to avoid both having to make a decision, and throw away the skills I’d spent years developing, I was cycling a lot and fell in love with the cycling community here in London. It was through that I realised that by making steel bicycles I could continue to use many of the skills I already had.
Matt: I've always worked in the bike industry, initially as a bike mechanic, then began working as a trainer to bike mechanics.
What is the strangest request you’ve received from a customer regarding their new frame?
Caren: I was asked to make a frame in the shape of the letter ‘A’ once. But I wasn't convinced I could make the frame both like an ‘A’ and functional to the level I would want and my customers expect... so the project didn’t come to fruition!
Matt: Perhaps not so much a strange request, but I've developed a niche building bikes for customers with achondroplasia, which is a form of dwarfism. They're probably the hardest but most rewarding bikes I've built, in the sense that there really isn't a product in the mainstream market that is fit for purpose if you are a person with achondroplasia.
What do you think will be the next major innovation for road bikes and is there anything you’d like to see become the norm in the future for cycling?
Caren: I think we're going to see a revolution in shifting. Not a small change like e-shifting, or even the ceramic speed concept, but someone will come up with something truly different e.g. a tiny gearbox that fits in a BB or something, way ahead of a Rolhoff and pinion gear boxes. Tiny, light, less fallible to to the elements.
Matt: Hopefully wireless will be taken on by all manufacturers. as it lends itself to very clean builds, and structurally is advantageous for building frames.
What was your favourite ride of 2018 and which ride are you most looking forward to/dreaming of this year?
Caren: My favourite ride of 2018 was a birthday campout along the North Downs Way, it was just a relatively short off-road route, but it started a monthly habit of mini off-road adventures all through the winter! Escaping the city by bike, even just for 2 days, has become like hitting the factory reset button for my stress levels! This year I’m taking part in the Torino Nice rally, which is a 700km bike packing route from Turin in Italy to Nice in France, and can’t wait!
Matt: We did our yearly pilgrimage from London to Paris via Dieppe. Glorious weather, glorious beer, mussels and chips, all in 24 hours. Can't be beaten.
If you could build frames for a cycling team past or present, road or otherwise, who would it be?
Caren: One of the Tour De France teams in the first Women’s tour!
Matt: Mapei, if only for the amazingly offensive kit… and hopefully free grout.