One Eye Grey

The third volume of One Eye Grey, the penny dreadful for the 21st century, is now available and can be bought from our shop.

The booklet features modern stories based on traditional London tales of the uncanny, paranormal and supernatural. One Eye Grey is a collaborative effort bringing together people who fancied creating something chilling and pocket sized to read on the tube.

The full 2007 trilogy is also available from us. The first section (Transpontine drift) came out in February and part two (A goose in Southwark) came out for July. The final episode (Out of orbital) of these interlinked tales of folklore has just been released.

One Eye Grey
Volume 3 - Out of orbital: £2.50
2007 trilogy: £6.50 (save £1)
Ask for your copy at the counter.

Find out more here.

Witcomb Afterwork - The Pictures

Last night, twenty or so local cyclists came down to visit the shop and workshop. After tea and cake, Ernie welcomed them and went through a quick history of the business.

Everybody then moved on to the workshop where Barry explained about his work and the state of the industry, evocating memories of past builders and shops.

Gasps of awe welcomed the appearance of the book listing all the bicycles made by Barry between 1960 and 1984.

Having arrived around 7.30, people left around 9.30 and comments about last night on the Southwark Cyclists website are very positive:

Witcomb's was fascinating last night...Witcomb senior was even a steward at Herne Hill Velodrome for the 1948 Olympics. Maybe 15 of us at Southwark Needle and another 7 at the shop. Wonderful to see local bike craftsmanship just about surviving in an amazing tiny workshop. Their relaunch plans deserve all the support we and other local groups can give them. Lovely stuff. Beautiful frames. They're looking for apprentice frame-builders - 3 of America's finest trained there and they helped the two that started a little set-up called Marin years back. - Barry Mason

The group will be coming back in a few months to check the progress of the work on the shop. We were really pleased by the success of the event last night and hope it marks the start of a fruitful collaboration with our local cycling groups. Thank you to Barry Mason for organising the event.

View more pictures of the event (or add your own) on our Flickr photo pool.

Southwark Cyclists
Southwark Cyclists forum

Another customer with their Witcomb Track bicycle

Ashley KimSing is now the proud owner of his Witcomb Track bicycle, finished in perlescent white with the world cup bands. Mr KimSing is taking his bicycle to China where he hopes to start enjoying some time in the local velodrome.

For this bicycle Barry hand-crafted the frame using Columbus steel and cast steel lugs.

Update

We have made a start on clearing up the shop, re-arranging customers' bikes to make more space, removing part of the carpet and the clutter that used to block the windows. The front part of the shop now only displays Witcomb bicycles. A new wooden flooring will be added in the next few weeks.

Not Just a Ride

On Wednesday, Matt Seaton explained in his weekly column on cycling for the Guardian why hand-crafted bikes are better:

[...] if you take your custom to an artisan operation, you are buying a bike where more of the price you pay has gone into making the bike than into subsidising the marketing campaign. You are also more likely to be offered a custom-made option. Instead of buying an off-the-peg bike in a standard size, you can buy one not yet made until your particulars have been fed through a computer program that will enable the frame-builder to size the bike precisely for you (and it doesn't have to cost a fortune; prices start at a few hundred). It's like having a tailored suit made, or a hand-stitched dress.

There is, of course, a snob value and perhaps an element of bogus mystique to the bespoke bike. But there is something special about riding a bicycle that has been designed around you. All-day comfort and the banishment of backache are the practical side. More transcendently, there is a sense of dynamic harmony, a blurring of boundaries between where you end and the bike begins.

[...]

what you get may not, in a technical, performance-oriented sense, be as good as the off-the-shelf machine, but it will have a personality the mass-produced item can never match. That bike is not just a ride; it's a relationship.

Two wheels, Matt Seaton - The Guardian, 11 October 2007

Southwark Cyclists, The Witcomb Afterworker

We are working with Southwark Cyclists together with Greenwich and Lewisham Cyclists to organise a visit our workshop with a chat with Barrie Witcomb about his craft. We will be offering tea and cakes to our visitors.

Witcomb Afterworker
Wednesday 24 October - 6.30pm
meet at the Southwark Needle (corner of London Bridge and Tooley Street)

A slow riverside ride to Witcomb Cycles, 25 Tanners Hill, SE8. Including a guided tour of their historic home before modernisation starts, an in-depth introduction to hand-made steel frame making and a fascinating slice of local bike culture. Optional pub after.

Contact: Barry Mason on 07905 889 005 for more information.
www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk

Ernie and Barrie on ITV

While at the Cycle Show, Ernie and Barrie, were asked for a quick interview on ITV. You could say they got rather more than they wanted with our own Ernie Witcomb.

You can watch the video here on the ITN Local: London website.

Cycle Show - Day 4

Despite the nice weather outside, visitors were still quite numerous today on the Witcomb stand. One of them was one of the youngest members of the Witcomb team, Shaun, brother of our designer, Tony Malone, seen here with his brother's bicycle.

In total around 2500 people came to our stand over the 4 days of the show and as we have mentioned before, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. If what we heard from our visitors was not enough, we were told by other exhibitors that we had made a real impact and that the Witcomb's come back had been noticed.

The next step for us is to tidy up the appearance of our shop and workshop in Deptford. We will also be busy answering the phone and taking orders as well as starting the work on a new range of elegant merchandise and cycling items.

As was mentioned in an earlier post, we made friends with champion triathlete Fiona Hoare. She can be seen below on our stand with the prototype of our white carbon frame. We are hopeful to see her riding the finished product next year in competition.

Cycle Show - Day 3

It's been another amazing and humbling day for us today. We have now overtaken our order expectations twice over and people keep coming and tell us how beautiful our bicycles look. Some of our existing customers also visited the stand and were seen later flaunting our flyers around the Show's venue: "flying the flag" for us.

Our Girl Saturday, accompanied by her mum, joined us for a while and give us a hand with the visitors to the stand (pictured above with Ernie). Niamh is 16 and first joined Witcomb as a work experience, not knowing much about bikes. She now comes in every Saturdays and can do all sorts of minor repairs and lots of other useful things around the shop. And she is lovely. She wants to study engineering and we hope to turn her into a frame-builder one of these days.

For some times now, we have been mentioning our prototype white carbon frame. The visitors of the stand have all been very complementary about it, saying how beautiful and sexy it looks. So finally, here is a photo of the thing itself.


The whole frame, including the handle-bar, the bottle holders and the saddle (which looks gorgeous but also damn hard!), is build in white carbon fibre to Barrie's design and we hope to be able to sell a bespoke version of this frame early next year.

The day closed with a drinks party for all exhibitors at the show and many people drifted off to a nearby pub to go and watch the Rugby match.

Cycle Show - Day 2

The Cycle Show was open to the general public today and we had our first real encounter with our customers since we have decided to relaunch Witcomb Cycles in a bid to give it the prominence it deserve.

And just like yesterday, the reaction was amazing. We received so much encouragement from so many people, telling us how good it is that there are still people like us around (people making "real" bicycles). Others were both surprised and glad to see that we were still going. It was also an opportunity for many people to discover us and the quality of our products. As of today we have already gone beyond our expectations for the show with many people joining the waiting to own one of our unique bicycles. We may even have an order from the owner of one of our competitors.

Our customers obviously have a strong emotional link with Witcomb. Several of them told us with gleaming eyes that their first bicycle had been a Witcomb or how they used to own one years ago. One recent customer made a point to come and tell Barrie how wonderful and "perfect" his new purchase was.

During the day, like yesterday, Barrie renewed contact with some old cycling friends. We had more former members of our Racing Team visiting the stand to say hello. We also made new friends and the day finished with a glass of wine with triathlete champion, Fiona Hoare and her colleagues. More on this later.

We have been warned that tomorrow will probably be the busiest day of the whole four days...

Cycle Show - Day 1

Today was the trade day at the Cycle Show, and we are really thrilled by the amount of attention and support we received. The day went very fast indeed occupied that it was with talking to a steady stream of visitors. Barrie and Ernie, however, found some time for a quick interview with ITV London, which was broadcast earlier this evening.


Barrie Witcomb, Phil Liggett and Ernie Witcomb.

Later in the afternoon, we received the visit of an old friend, Phil Liggett MBE came to say hello, joke with Ernie's wife who happened to be on the phone and generally reminisce about the good old days.

Phil started his London cycling career in the Witcomb Racing Team in the mid-60's after coming down from the north. A picture of Phil and the team can be viewed here (he is the first on the left). A little later, Phil's wife also dropped by for a while.

You can view other pictures taken on our stand (including one featuring our bicycles) here.

Stand i7

A sneak preview of the Witcomb Cycles stand at the Cycle Show in Earls Court. Today was reserved for exhibitors to install their stands and it is difficult to convey the amount of energy and money that were spent today! Tomorrow is the Trade and Press Day and the show opens to the general public on Friday for three days.

As for us, we are almost ready. A little hoovering session will make the stand ready to receive our creations. We will have four frames on show with some striking new designs and that white carbon frame we have mentioned earlier.

Come and say hello if you are in the area.

Press release: Witcomb Cycles

Press release
For immeditate release

Witcomb Cycles will be present at this year's Cycle Show in Earls Court as part of ambitious plans to rejuvenate the business.

Witcomb Cycles is the only company in London (and one of the very few in the UK) retaining the skills and craftmanship to build steel bicycles by hand. Capitalising on 80 years of experience in frame-building, Witcomb is about to embark on a new exciting venture.

Barrie Witcomb, the master frame-builder, is joining forces with leading designer Tony Malone and his associates to create a new range of bespoke bicycles, bringing together the best of British craftsmanship and British design. This will allow customers to order bicycles hand-made in the great Witcomb tradition and have them personalised and made even more unique with an exclusive livery, designed according to their specifications.

Future plans include the creation of a cycling club and the resurrection the Witcomb Racing Team which served as a starting point for the likes of Phil Liggett, David Burwood, and Richard Williamson. An owners' club will be placed under the control of Ernie Witcomb, the founder of the company, who is still going strong at 89.

The stall at the Cycle Show will be an opportunity for the brand to unveil the new service and to renew contact with its many fans. Several of Witcomb's concept frames will be on display, including a revolutionary prototype white carbon bicycle.

Tony Malone said: "For me, designing bicycles presents an exciting challenge and many opportunity for good design. I am very honoured to be working with such renowned craftsmen as Witcomb Cycles and to present examples of our new designs to the public and the rest of the trade at the cycle show. I see my role as helping Witcomb develop to its full potential but retaining the existing values of the business."

Witcomb Cycles will be on stand i7 at the Earls Court Cycle Show.
www.cycleshow.co.uk

Notes to the Editor:

Witcomb Cycles is an old south London business. The company has been based in Tanners Hill, Deptford since its creation by Ernie Witcomb in 1949. Ernie's father, Tom, who was a steel worker in the local dockyards, started hand-making bicycles in 1928. A Witcomb bicycle was the last British machine to compete in the Tour de France in 1958.

Barrie Witcomb started his apprenticeship under the guidance of Malcolm Barker in 1958 at the age of 15. He has worked all is life with Witcomb Cycles developing his unique skills. He is also a former racing champion and a mechanic for British Cycling Federation's teams in many prestigious international races. Along with many others, Barry has trained renowned American master frame-builders Richard Sachs and Peter Weigle.

Tony Malone BA (Hons) MCSD MISTD FRSA (dip) is leading a graphic designer. Working closely with Barrie, Tony heads the design department, designing livery and working on
special projects. He is a very keen cyclist with a track record as a road safety campaigner. Tony is also creative director at Design for Diversity, the only creative agency in the UK to integrate creative design, marketing, equalities, diversity and accessibility.

Witcomb and The Incredible Shrinking Man

Here are all the symptoms of a contagious disease. My clothes hang off me; I spend hours each week soaked in sweat; I am half the man I was. I am a cyclist.

Such was the shocking confession made by Andrew Gilligan, best known for his 2003 report about a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, recently made in the Evening Standard, where he is now a columnist.

The article, while extolling the virtues of commuting cycling and debunking a few myths, explains how cycling has helped the writer lose weight; almost 30kg (about 4 stones) in 14 months.

A good fifth of the double page spread was taken up by a picture of Mr Gilligan and his bike, revealing it to the astonished world to be, you have guessed it, a Witcomb bicycle, a mountain-bike.

The incredible shrinking man, Andrew Gilligan, Evening Standard, 18 September 2007.

(The picture showed on the link below has unfortunately been cropped differently from the one in the paper)