Bespoke | iNDi Bikes

With the “Soft-Ride Bike”, you’d never get another flat tire in your life!

This bike appears to use a normal frame, but instead of the standard metal rims and spokes with rubber tires, the wheels on this bike are made up of 18 individual strips of sprung steel that are pinned at various tension points to act together as one single unit.

And it actually works!

Designed by Ron Arad, “The sprung-steel wheels give the bike a natural bounce, acting as shock absorbers on the otherwise rigid frame. While aesthetically pleasing and possibly comfortable, they don’t look like they would offer much grips, especially when cornering.”

The bike was created as part of a collaborative fundraising event between Elton John AIDS foundation and W hotels and will be auctioned off eventually along with other bespoke bikes designed by a select group of designers like artist Benedict Radcliff, fashion designers Patrick Cox and Alice Temperley, singer Paloma Faith and illustrator Natasha Law.

Here we have our very first bike shop feature from a stalker’s point of view!

I chanced upon this bike shop online called Vanguard; and at first I thought it was one of those new hipster bike shops but it turns out from their press releases that they’ve been around since 2006! That’s longer than I’ve been cycling and I sincerely regret that I did not chance upon it earlier. Check out their entire list of press release and exhibitions here – some very cool and interesting exhibitions like the Paul Smith S/S 2010 collection launch at Paul Smith stores and press releases in the New York Times tell me this company means serious business!

So I think they are a dealer/distributor of a gentleman bike brand called Pashley as there is a clear ‘available now’ sign on their website but their main business is most definitely bespoked bikes – custom made, unique, specialized, limited edition bikes.

They customize cruisers, messenger bikes, velocommute bikes, and they also have what they term the collector’s series and special projects. According to them (and I couldn’t put it any better): “Vanguard specialises in the design of unique one-off bicycles, as well as in the customisation and restoration of classic rides and collectors’ pieces. Vanguard bicycles are recognised worldwide for their unique designs and ergonomics.”

Very very impressed with what I see and I’ll be sure to make a visit down to their bike shop soon.

Here are some coolios bike pics I stole off their website: