Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Black Market Bikes Roam

BLKMRKT Roam

Cycling is often called a Beautiful Sport, mainly because of the heroic feats of the champion riders. But there are some real heroes who operate behind the scenes, like those who dedicate 110% of their energies and finances to establishing rider-owned companies.

One of those legends is Carter Holland, the entrepreneur behind Black Market Bikes. Carter’s passion for riding is the blood in the veins of the iconic MOB and EDIT1 hardtail frames and, more recently, the dual-suspension Roam frame.

BLKMRKT Roam

The Roam offers 6.3″ of plush usable travel and, thanks to the proprietary AWD System Dropouts, enables you to run your choice of either 26″, 650B & 29″ wheels. The AWD Systems also provide an additional 12mm of rear axle adjustment.

BLKMRKT Roam

Other practical aspects of the Roam include the K.I.S.S. (“Keep It Simple Stupid”) cable routing, which allows both brake and rear derailleurs to be removed without tools, and the availability of all shock and AWD System hardware through local hardware stores. Handy.

BLKMRKT Roam

BLKMRKT is based in the US but this Roam lives in the UK. It belongs to one of their factory riders, Sheffield’s Matt Jamieson. We’ve featured Matt’s EDIT1 before, and he already looks to be warming to the Roam’s suspended capabilities.

BLKMRKT Roam

Matt is a strong proponent of the UK hardtail jumping scene — he was never really comfortable on BMX during the 90s, so built up a small Giant 840 with a set of Judy XL forks and Azonic bars before finding himself when DMR brought out their Trailstar.

After a stint with Geekhouse Bikes and their SG1, then Germany’s NPJ, he found a happy place in 2009 with Black Market for the exact reason Carter started it: the love of riding strong bikes. See more on Matt’s Vimeo channel and view the full range of BLKMRKT frames and components on the website. Special thanks to Richard Baybutt for the shots.

BLKMRKT Roam