Of the bikes seen on The Spoken in 2015, one of the most stunning was a road bike that London’s Andy Carr built for himself at The Bicycle Academy. Covering Andy’s frame was thirty hours of brush and pen work by illustrator Sam Dunn, and it caused a sensation.
Andy jumped from a lightweight road bike to a burly BMX for his second project and the results are no less spectacular — just a wee bit smaller. Its new owner is only ten years-old, but Andy still managed to squeeze a whole lotta bike into the tiny frame.
Andy’s frame-building enterprise is called Spoon Customs, and the BMX project was initiated during the building of the road bike. As it turns out, it was completed with a little help from his friends.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the project very nearly didn’t happen, but it was guided back on course by Andy’s good mate, Tim Rowan of Rowan Frameworks. Renowned frame builder and engineer, Ted ‘Superted’ James, also collaborated.
The commission was for a Junior BMX racer in London named Lucas who rides Track in the Nationals, but his uncle wanted to get him a bike for thrashing around the streets. It needed to be more compact than a full-sized BMX, but big enough to grow into.
The standover height and top tube was reduced slightly, but the rear end is still short enough to manual and nose-wheelie nicely. Andy mitered the front triangle from T45 steel tubing, while Ted machined the short head tube, bottom bracket and seat tube.
Ted also helped out with the Reynolds rear triangle and the TIG welding. Once the frame was completed, it was sent to Cole Coatings in Peckham for the Kandy Apple paint and a custom head tube monogram, designed by James Warton.
Andy wanted to use as many parts from the Odyssey catalog as possible, as a throwback to his own days of riding BMX. It’s almost too good to be thrashed, but there’ll be no avoiding that. Sparks will fly.
Follow Spoon Customs on Instagram, and you can also email Andy.
