Anybody Heard of George Bamford?

[Philster]

To partly answer this question;
He's the son of this guy.

'The BCD Custom Bike' sounds like the usual snake oil.

Well, Dad's taste in autos is mixed. Big Ferrari collector but he passed on Jaguar/Land Rover because he didn't want Land Rover. Both tasteless and, as it's turned out, stupid.

[Mr B]

Well, Dad's taste in autos is mixed. Big Ferrari collector but he passed on Jaguar/Land Rover because he didn't want Land Rover. Both tasteless and, as it's turned out, stupid.

Oh I don't know, I doubt JLR would be doing quite so well right now had TATA not got involved.
As for Lord Bamford's 'stupidity'; In 1969 he managed to relieve Eon Productions (makers of the James Bond movies) of both their Aston Martin DB5 publicity cars for a mere $3,750 total.
The movie cars had cost a slightly insane $62,000 each to build, a standard DB5 costing $11,250 at the time.
A year after he bought the pair, Bamford traded one of the DB5s for a '64 Ferrari 250 GTO (which he still owns) in a straight swap...

[Smiffy]

Hi all. Just thought I'd pop in and say hello.

I'm responsible for the creation of the Bamford bike. Sadly it isn't made in China, although we could make one there, and done with the correct manufacturer using good materials it'd be as good as anything else riders judge as being, good. We'd have to deal with long flights from the UK to go and see them though, and shipping, import taxes, VAT and customs too - so unless we were buying off the shelf geometry (and composite layup) frames it just doesn't make sense to make them there.
The Bamford frames are made in Italy by Sarto. We use a modified version of their off the shelf PF22 tubeset (modded tooling, six sets to enable anything from 44cm up to "damn tall"), and we use the RR02 rear triangle that you see on a lot of other bikes. The rear end is made by WR Compositi, the only difference is that we have our own layup options for our rear ends, other than that it is the same shape externally as any other frame with that rear end. Our top, bottom and seat tubes are all custom layup, per-customer, not just geometry (as that would be nothing new with a carbon composite frame... Some high-end brands have been charging an awful lot of money for that capability for years). We have ten different filament wound heatubes to choose from, depending upon the tubeset tools used, and the layup. The bottom bracket shell is a similar deal, but a customer can pick what BB system they want, most go for BB86 (done properly, they don't creak, but it wouldn't be at the top of my list personally).

The website? Yep, awful. That's not my thing though, I just do the bikes.
The press? I don't do that either.

I did however develop a datalogging system with a UK based company more commonly associated with race vehicles (and associated electronic systems) which I used to get the numbers from a whole bunch of bikes. You know those bikes that everybody just loves? The ones that have that certain special something about them. And also tested a whole bunch of more normal bikes, good ones, but they lack that "thing" that would make them special. Anyway... It turns out there is a correlation in the data from the measurements between all of those bikes with "thing", and the more normal feeling bikes didn't have that correlation. It threw up some surprises too, in that there is a 1400 dollar bike from the biggest bike manufacturer in Taiwan that also has a lot of that special something, and when the stock parts were swapped out for something a little better, test riding proved that "thing" was most certainly there. It also proved that "thing" was something which could be engineered into a frame. To a certain extent, that what happens with a Bamford. The parts of the frame and the layup of those parts all stay within the limits of "things" parameters. Picking a fork to suit is important too (steerer tubes and how they behave under load... Some of them are just... *shudder*), and after that some nice bits are hung off it, it gets painted (most have been full custom jobs, very few have been the Bamford coloured patches scheme - which is actually pretty nice in the flesh, but looks, errrrmmm... Not great on the website) and delivered/shipped/collected by the customer. One thing Bamford don't do though, is ship direct to the customer. I threw a fit when it came to selling direct, and got my way in that they ship to a bike shop local to the customer. The bike shop straightens the stem and put the wheels in, the customer collects from them, and Bamford pays the shop for that. The plus point is, it brings a person into a bike shop, it creates a chance for the shop folks to strike up a relationship with someone they might not otherwise have ever had walk through their door. And it gets the shop some beer money ;-)

Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble this far. If it is of importance by the way, I'm not employed by Bamford. I just do the contract work of sorting out the frame build, ordering all the parts, and then putting it all together, etc.

Cheers all

Paul

P.S. I mostly ride an old Storck Scenario Pro, or a Woodrup I made when I was 14 (I grew up a 15 minute ride from them in Leeds, my Saturday job was mitering tubes with a blunt hacksaw and a smooth file, which kept me out of trouble and gave me money to buy Campag). I have a Scapin Hysak, and one of the prototype Bamford frames that I regularly just beat the **** out of for the sake of "testing". Oh and a Dawes Galaxy, everyone should have one of those, if only to hide behind the the event of a local Nuclear explosion

[SteveP]

I'll get the kid who shovels my driveway to do it for $4,500. Payme, I'll see that he gets what he deserves.

So just to be clear, I get George Bamford to custom paint a China bike, I get to put some fancy script on the downtube of my choosing (immediate thoughts spring to "Ritte" or "Chicken butt"), and then hang Record EPS on it. And pay like um $7000 for the privilege. The world is a crazy place.

This makes that Merckx bike look pretty sensible.

[Mr B]

Hi all. Just thought I'd pop in and say hello.

Kudos for popping in. Your two main paragraphs should probably replace what's on the Bamford Cycle Dept website right now.
Going by what you've told us, the product is somewhat (well, hugely) undersold by the company sales pitch starting with "The core of the BCD custom bike is three groupset options, three cockpit options, wheel options and paint."
In fact, it totally fails to understand what the core of a bicycle actually is.

[Philster]

Thanks, Smiffy. Very interesting post especially the part about your research into bikes with the right stuff. Sounds like you have a real product and I hope the communications get fixed.

I'm afraid I'm not technically talented. How does what you are doing compare to, say, Parlee?

[Badonkadonk]

I'm picturing Euro-trashy guys in v-neck t-shirts, lots of gold, aspire to own a Lamborghini. How far off am I?

whoa whoa whoa - - i mean, is there something wrong with aspiring to a nice silver gallardo? would look great with a pegoretti on the roof, no?

[Badonkadonk]

whoa whoa whoa - - i mean, is there something wrong with aspiring to a nice silver gallardo? would look great with a pegoretti on the roof, no?

oh, and btw, the approach Smiffy wrote out sounds awesome and v smart. i'm in. i think that analytical approach roughly approximates rivers cuomo's approach to writing music for weezer. love it, hate it, not the point - that shit sells, yo. good luck bamford!

PS - Smiffy, of my gaulzetti, pegoretti, and time, which frame is most likely to have the "thing" you guys are engineering in? I need to know so i can decide once and for all which one i like the best ;)

[christian]

Hi all. Just thought I'd pop in and say hello.

Welcome, mate. Thanks for stopping by and setting us right. Sarto make nice bikes by all accounts. As for the rest, we're clearly not the target market, but good to get your perspective.

[nahtnoj]

whoa whoa whoa - - i mean, is there something wrong with aspiring to a nice silver gallardo? would look great with a pegoretti on the roof, no?

Would look great.

But the guy who wears "a traditional Rolex Submariner dive watch done in matte black with neon orange dial indicators", his Gallardo is wrapped in matte orange...