Six years ago in Adelaide during the Tour Down Under, we had the pleasure and honor of meeting local frame builder JR of Rogers Bespoke and photographing his first build. Today we feature what may be his last custom bicycle — for his fiancé Gloria.
The TDU is the first leg of the UCI World Tour, held in Adelaide’s searingly-hot summer. Hardly a holiday for the pros. It is for fans, though, who converge on the South Australian capital to enjoy a weekend of racing and to celebrate the cycling community.
In January during the Tour Ebenezer Place in downtown Adelaide is the place to meet. It’s a small strip of cafés and small shops which, in 2014, included the Treadly Bike Shop — the best LBS in South Australia and a hub for the local scene.
It was outside Treadly that I met James Alderson by his moniker JR. Or rather, I met Proto, his first handmade frame, a matte black track frame with a gold retro-inspired downtube logotype. Even standing still, the bike silently screamed like a Hemi-6.
Over the years since, we’ve featured many of JR’s builds and admired the finish of his frames, from the cyclocross bike that was a collaborative work with artist Sam Songailo, a tourer built for Sam Neeft of Treadly, to the production-style Ronin bikes.
There are more than a few Ronin riding around today underneath highly impressed owners. The quality of construction is up there with the world’s best handmade steel road-riding frames and, what’s more, they’re Australian-made.
James recently made the decision to move on from the custom frame building scene and sold off all of his tooling to focus on other avenues. He didn’t call his enterprise Rogers Bespoke for nothing — he’s hinted at work in the motorcycle arena.
Today we’re honoured to feature the last Rogers to leave the workshop, built for none other than his partner Gloria, who James will be marrying in less than two weeks. It’s to replace her own faithful steed and will carry her for many more years of commuting.
Gloria rode her last bike every day for eight years, so JR built her something that will withstand heavy duty riding. It’s a utilitarian but comfy commuter with 32c Panaracer rubber, mounts for fenders, a 1×11 SLX groupset and Chris King and Thomson hardware.
The paint, however, ain’t utilitarian, it’s out of this world. It’s a pearl bomb effect applied by motorbike painter Daniel Stone, who painted every one of JR’s frames bar two. And I’m sure Gloria will agree, this is where dreams come from.
The Spoken would like to congratulate Gloria and James on their engagement and wish them good luck for the future!
Big thanks to James Raison for the amazing photos.
