News & Events

Monday 16th December 2024

Reynolds Newsletter – Winter ’24

End of 2024 – Out With the Old, In With the New!

It’s the end of what has been an exciting, and at times tense 2024 in the cycling industry. We at Reynolds are looking forward to a nice break with friends and family. We hope you will all be able to do the same. The Reynolds office will close for Christmas on 19th December and re-open on 6th January. We will have no shipments between those dates, so please ensure you get any orders in with plenty of time to ship them before the break. We have some big news for our US and Canadian distribution.


Reynolds Change of US distributor

On 2nd February 2025 Firsthand Framebuilding will officially take over distribution of Reynolds steel tubing in the USA and Canada. Our dear friend Andy Newlands who has been our Distributor for over 20 years has decided to pass the business onto Chris Blandford and go fishing or more accurately go drinking by the river.

Chris has spent the last 9 months working with Andy to ensure a smooth transition and we are pleased that it will remain in Portland. Chris has big plans to establish a framebuilding school, and to become a hub for the many craft builders in Portland and along the US West coast. He is also launching an on-line shop for easy efficient ordering. Please see www.firsthand.bike

L to R Chris Blandford, Andy Newlands and Dave Levy.
Reynolds Team USA.

Chris has been around the Portland framebuilding scene for a few years now and has worked with several of the gurus of Portland. His own frames are exquisite urban and trekking bikes, which ooze luxury and indulgence.We welcome Chris into the Reynolds family. He has a lot to live up to, following in Andys footsteps. We shall especially miss Andys Monday emails which usually cover food, wine, beer, dogs, the changing seasons, kayaking and only occasionally touch on bicycle tubing.

Doing shows with Andy is always fun – he’s prepared a full list of dining and drinking options ahead of our arrival and you get introduced to the most diverse range of people you will ever care to meet. After MADE there’s always been great evenings relaxing. The key is to get positioned neatly between the grill and beer cooler. And we should also say thank you to Kelley Newlands who has been a welcoming host to all the weird and wonderful people who make framebuilding a unique business.

A Little Bit About Chris Blandford

Originally from Arizona, Chris fell in love with bicycle commuting while at university in Boulder, Colorado. In 2015, he attended the framebuilding course taught at United Bicycle Institute in Oregon, and soon after moved to Portland to carve out a spot for himself in the city’s vibrant framebuilding scene. He has built bicycles in many capacities: as a dedicated hobbyist; as an apprentice to Oscar Camarena at Simple Bicycle Company; full-time as Oscar’s business partner; and, most recently, professionally under his own brand, Blandford Bicycles. Today, Chris builds hyper-detailed, fillet-brazed frames, forks, stems, and racks for discerning commuters.

In 2024, Chris founded Firsthand Framebuilding, a new venture based in Portland. Firsthand’s goal is to support framebuilders through resources, supplies, and education. He is beyond excited to represent Reynolds in North America, create a shared framebuilding workshop in the city, and develop a new, world-class framebuilding school in the months to come.

Check out Firsthand Bike (or follow along @firsthand.bike on Instagram) for more details.


A Farewell From Andy

A Little history of the distribution of Reynolds Technology cycle tubing in the USA Torch And File of Portland, Oregon Andy Newlands, a bike rider since a toddler, graduated from Civil Engineering School at the University of Washington in 1970 then took a year off to tour and race his bicycle around England.

He caught the bicycle framebuilding bug after visiting several English bicycle framebuilding shops including Hetchins in London. In the summer of 1970 Andy lived in the Cotswolds near Stroud, a few miles from Gloucester. Once a week he rode in a massed start road race in the Bristol area and during one of the train trips down to Bristol he learned of a road race across the England/Scotland border in the Cheviot Hills held the week before the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. This sounded like an adventure so he headed north on the train with his new Bob Jackson bicycle.

The road race included national team members from the Commonwealth and it was no sooner apparent that he was out of his depth than he was desperately off the backof the pack touring the Scottish Highlands in the pouring August rain. Returning south he stopped in Birmingham for a visit to the Reynolds Hay Hall factory and enjoyed a nice lunch with Mr. Terry Bill, Reynolds Sales Manager at the time. Since 2002 both bike frame fabrication works and the Torch and File framebuilding supplies distribution company have been located in a poured concrete warehouse in Goose Hollow, Portland, Oregon.

It is good to celebrate over fifty years in the cycling business and he is very pleased to have worked with the Reynolds crew – Keith, Emma, Tom, Andrea, Dave and Martin along with Dave of Ti Cycles here in Portland who continues to distribute Reynolds titanium cycle frame tubing. Now I am going fishing and have passed the distribution of Reynolds Technology Ltd. products to Chris Blandford.

Andy and Dave at the MADE show in Portland, OR


Prices for 2025

Our new pricelist will be issued directly via email to builders on our current customer list by 19th December. If you do not get it, please contact us.Reynolds are planning to implement an on-line ordering system during 2025.

We would love to get feedback if there are advantages for your company and on any features which would be particularly useful for you.


Summer and Fall Show Round Up

MADE

The handbuilt bike show in Portland has become a firm favourite for us despite it only launching last year. It’s quirky location, big show space, and great vibe will keep us coming back. It also gives the chance to meet everyone from start ups to big players like Moots and No22. On the Reynolds stand we had our US unveiling of the Rey-Drive system and it was well received by a lot of US builders.

At the other end of the spectrum there was a very indulgent recreation of a pre-war Raleigh X frame bike by master builder and painter Jeff Bock. It used NOS 531, hand made lugs and many original period correct parts. It really is a great show and worth the trip to Portland (and there’s great riding nearby too!) As for the 3D printed bike from No22. Just wow. A big, big wow.

Bespoked – Dresden

It was a thriving second outing for Bespoked in Dresden. The show had expanded in size and now covered two floors. There was a wide range of builders, covering everything imaginable on two wheels – Cargo bikes were big. Randonneur and bikepacking bikes seemed to be in all manner of sizes and configurations. There was a lot of emphasis on gravel bikes in steel and Ti. We loved the craftmanship on display. A lot of the forms of tubes were in the ‘really hard to do’ category especially in titanium.

Three takeaways:

1. Our X20 show bikes from Tritao, Milara and Veloctopus got a lot of attention.
2. Builders were talking about orderbooks being a bit more buoyant.
3. We got runner up in ‘Bike of the Show’ with Significant Other’s short travel Titanium Gravel Bike.

Well done to the talented Ashley King!

Rouleur Live Show

Reynolds attended the Rouleur Live cycling show in London which celebrates cycling culture around the world, and includes finest cutting-edge technology, stellar bikes, the amazing stars of the peloton, brilliant on-stage content and more! We were happy to see the Enigma Esker titanium butted tubed bike  with eye-catching graphics and Enigma’s new durable Ceracote finish. 

Our second highlight were the titanium bikes  on the Passoni stand, eye-catching as always. The third was a Meteor Works custom built 853 with superb attention to detail. And a final highlight, as we remember our heritage! The Ribble 653 Race bike was a pleasure to see as it still looks great. Ribble continue to use Reynolds tubing on some models 40 years later!


STEAMhouse Launch

Back in October, Reynolds supported the launch of a new exhibition at STEAMhouse, Birmingham City University’s innovation centre. The Cycles of Innovation exhibition brings together references from the historic Birmingham cycle industry as an inspiration to young innovators and entrepreneurs in the city.

The display of bicycles from Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery’s collection featured several bikes with Reynolds tubes. Vulcan Bicycleworks showcased 2 bikes with 853 tubing to represent the modern face of Reynolds and Birmingham frame building.

Martin Shepherd, our General Manager, was invited to speak at the event and welcomed the launch of the new exhibition at the heart of, what was, Birmingham’s cycle industry.

STEAMhouse is a converted rubber factory that once made cycle tyres and is less than a mile from Reynolds’ original factory in Aston. Reynolds has always been Birmingham-based and we hope this will inspire future generations of Brummies to keep engineering and innovating throughout the city!


Visiting Midland Group Training Services

At Reynolds, we love to encourage the next generation of engineers. We were invited to Midland Group Training Services this week where Martin Shepherd, our General Manager, gave a lecture on bicycle design and frame material choice. We covered not just steel and titanium but aluminium and carbon fibre too.


Rey-Drive Updates

Reynolds are adding the  new lightweight MAHLE XS parts with an external battery and compact controller as options for early 2025, whilst continuing with the X20 system, with the 250Whr battery/controller housed inside the titanium and steel downtubes we offer. The X20S system adds around 2.5kg to a bike, but uses the same hub and dropouts as the X20 range.

Check out our video to see this system layout, do contact us for more details.


Singlespeed UK 2024 Race Report

How often do you see Elvis riding on the back of a singlespeed tandem…?

The annual UK gathering of mono geared mountain bikers took place back in August, on the edge of the Quantock Hills, Somerset at a private lakeside location. Serious racers and those serious about mid-lap hydration turned out in equal measure for a beautifully sunny weekend.

The course had some challenging climbs but rewarded with endless tight twisty singletrack berms that opened out onto a ‘as fast as you dare’ open grassland descent. There was a proliferation of unique steel and titanium bicycles being ridden, including a couple of fixies!

As one rider dm’d: “Yesterday was the perfect encore to end the summer and we can go into the sloppy months on a high. Was my first SSUK and it definitely lived up to the reputation.”

Following tradition, the event was organised on a not-for-profit by our merchandise guy, John and raised over £2k for charity. A number of brands and businesses lent their support and made the event possible, including Shand, Starling, Clandestine and Restrap. Reynolds provided 921 Stainless head tubes for the winner’s trophies and took a singlespeed Curtis to display at Bespoked Manchester earlier in the year.

Read more about that on bikepacking.com.

You can see a highlight video of the 2024 event here.

Entries for next year’s event which takes place in Hampshire from 5-7 September 2025, open online shortly. Check it out here.

Mystery Boxes

We don’t really do sales as, like our tubing, we believe our soft goods represent timeless design and good value all year round.

However, as it’s the season of giving, we’ve got some mystery boxes on our merchandise site! That means, even if you’re buying yourself a present, you still get a great surprise. Each box comes with a t-shirt and either a cap, or mug and pin badge. Boxes retail at £38 but represent a 20% or more saving over individual items.

Don’t worry, if you would rather choose exactly what you want for Christmas, all of our separate items are still available on the website.

PS. Final UK orders should be made before midday on Wed 18 December.


How to Contact Our Team

Contact names and email addresses:

Technical and sales support (UK-based staff)
Tom Cleverly: tc@rtl.cc
Martin Shepherd: ms@rtl.cc
Dave Merrifield: dm@rtl.cc
Keith Noronha: kn@rtl.cc

Customer service
Emma Malone: em@rtl.cc
Pedro Sant’Ana: ps@reynoldstechnology.eu


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