The Carrier
For me, a bike can point to a way to live, it can be a prescription for the life lived with it.
If you build bikes with skinny tyres, no racks, no lights or mudguards, the rider is steered onto daylit roads, close to cafes or shops.
If you can’t carry anything, you can’t pick up roadside veg or carry a stove for a brew.
I wanted a bike that can liberate, that can roll anywhere, that isn’t precious.
The Carrier is that bike.
£3000
Includes frame, fork, stem, front porteur rack with removable lowriders, saddlebag rack, through axles.
Designed for town or tour, for audax or adventure
Each Carrier is custom sized to the rider, with my preference for an upright position with drops or upright bars - so tall headtubes, reach numbers appropriate for bar choice and a fairly low BB for stability. I use a size specific mix of Reynolds 853 and Columbus Zona tubing.
Truth to Materials
A key part of my frame building is the idea of Truth to materials. Like all my work, the Carrier uses fillet brazing as my joining method, as opposed to lugs or TIG welding. Traditionally, fillets were ‘finished’ which involves hours of filing and sanding to create smooth joints. I forgo that, leaving the joints unfiled. This is the essential nature of the fillet braze, where you can see exactly where I have controlled the heat, the brass. The result is not only a more honest bike, but a stronger and more affordable one.
650B wheels, big tyres
Air is the biggest bargain in cycling. The pneumatic tyre changed everything: death to the boneshaker. The Carrier is designed around 650B x 48-56mm slick tyres with mudguards, and will fit a 2.6” mountain tyre if you’re really getting out there. Many “gravel bikes” won’t take anything that big, but with a tyre this size, your ride will be more comfortable, more grippy, and, if you care about this sort of thing, faster. On the roads, you will glide over potholes, and you’re free to divert down promising little byways….
Porteur rack
Nothing else will change what you can do with your bike like a set of strong wobble free racks, with a big platform up front. The Carrier front rack is built specifically for the fork, making it stiff and strong, so the bike can be loaded with 70% of the weight up front for best handling. The removable low riders bolt on for bonus touring capacity.
Saddlebag rack
The Carrier comes with a mini rear rack to support a Wizard Works Shazam saddlebag. The rack supports the saddlebag perfectly, and has a light mount so you can move the dynamo light from the frame position to the rack so it's always visible, no matter what you're carrying. The legs of the rack have triple bottle boss mounts for extra water or bolt on bags. There are also guides for a Voile strap to secure a dry bag on the upper struts.
Don't be afraid of the dark
This may sound hyperbolic, but seamlessly integrated dynamo lighting will change your cycling life. Never worry about forgetting to charge batteries, about removing lights when you lock up, about being caught out by sunset. Fully integrated, neat internal routing. The rear light can be moved between the seat tube or the saddlebag rack with quick disconnectors, so no matter what you're carrying, you will always be visible.
Effortless mudguard mounting
Designed from the off with Gilles Berthoud’s incredible stainless mudguards in mind, the Carrier clears big 60mm mudguards even with really big tyres. The curved bridges are positioned so the mudguards bolt on perfectly with no hassle to clear up to a 2.25" tyre.
Twin plate, high rake
The Carrier comes with my own twin plate crown fork. With brazed in rack and mudguard mounts, this crown type goes way back in cycling’s history. Check out the work of Jo Routens to see the legacy. The fork has 64mm of rake, giving the Carrier responsive handling even with a heavy front load.
Bags make the bike
I've spent years thinking about how to carry things on my bike, whether that's on long tours, across town or into the hills. I've developed the Carrier Bag to help make best use of the porter rack. Made for me in London by my friends at Wizard Works, the Carrier Bag is a big expandable vessel strong enough to not need a basket to support it. The advantage of that is that, unlike a basket, it can be removed in moments so that an oversized load can be carried. A bolt in frame bag is also an option.
Gearing options
There are three options for gearing your Carrier: 1x derailleur, Rohloff gear hub, or Pinion gearbox.
Fillet brazed stem
Each Carrier comes with a matching fillet brazed stem, with the option of a brazed on mount for a brass bell made in the UK by Lion Bellworks. Custom sized for you, and seamlessly integrating the aesthetic of the bike.
Special touches
Every Carrier comes with my copper head badge, serial number, and dynamo and seat post reinforcements. The seatstay top eyes and twin plate fork crown hark back to the glory days of cycling’s history. As you ride the Carrier over the years, the copper will patinate, and always mark it out as special. This is a bike for the long haul.
Specifications
- Custom sized to each rider
- 650B x 48-56mm w. mudguards
- 650B x 2.6” w.o. mudguards
- 100x12mm, 142x12mm through axles
- 73mm BSA BB, Pinion gearbox mount, or EBB.
- EC34 headtube
- 27.2mm seatpost
- IS disk mounts
- 2 x h2o mounts, 1 x triple boss mount on downtube
£3000
Includes frame, fork, stem, front porteur rack with removable lowriders, saddlebag rack, through axles.