Five Bespoked Osaka Bikes Show the Range of Custom Framebuilding

Five bikes at Bespoked Osaka made a strong case for the range of custom framebuilding: some were built around a specific riding problem, while others put craft and collaboration at the center. The selection spans a titanium road climber, an experimental 32-inch hardtail, a Japanese keirin racer, a prototype gravel bike and a carefully decorated adventure build.

Maido from Osaka! Cari and John visited the 2026 Bespoked Osaka show to document work from the global framebuilding community. These five bikes stood out for their construction, unusual details and the ideas behind them.

Alps returns with a titanium climber

Sports Cycle Alps, founded by Hiroshi Hagiwara, closed 19 years ago. Hitoshi Omae recently revived the Japanese brand and commissioned framebuilder Moriai to mark its return with a titanium frameset. The brief was to keep the lines of a traditional steel bicycle while working in titanium.

The Alps Climber Ti pairs its frame with a steel fork, painted by Atelier Kinopio to match the frame closely. The finished bike weighs 8.7kg, including a flashlight from Kimura Manufacturing Co. Its special chainrings are made for TA cranks and 10-speed chains. The inner ring has 25 teeth, one fewer than the 26-tooth minimum usually available for TA cranks. A complete bike in the displayed build costs 1,100,000 yen, or around $7,000 USD.

@VeloApres

BTCHN builds around the 32-inch wheel

For Tyler Reiswig, owner and builder at BTCHN Bikes in Chico, California, the Osaka trip was his first time traveling internationally. He brought a distinctive 32-inch hardtail, combining a Lefty fork with a handlebar setup that drew plenty of conversation during the show.

Four brake levers might look excessive at first glance, but Reiswig had a clear use in mind. Aero bars often leave riders without brake levers in reach, so he joined the brake lines for the XT and GRX brakes and added blips for derailleur shifting alongside a standard AXS shifter.

Reiswig chose the Lefty for its stiffness after finding other forks too flexible and prone to twisting. He also considered it the lightest option. To adapt it to the 32-inch wheel size, he machined a volume spacer; Berd made custom wheels to fit the Lefty hub.

The bike reflects a hands-on approach to solving familiar design challenges, using machined and 3D-sintered parts. Reiswig is a one-person builder and doesn’t currently have an open build queue, so his show bikes offer a way to share his ideas and practical experiments. The handlebars’ future availability is uncertain, but their presence on the bike shows how far a one-off concept can go.

@BTCHNBikes

Cherubim’s keirin racer carries a decade of history

Cherubim builder Shinichi Konno made this NJS keirin racer in 2016 for Yuichiro Kamiyama, the highest-earning keirin racer in Japanese history. Keirin is a form of motor-paced track racing that began in Japan in 1948. In the JKA format described by the builder, riders work in tactical group formations before making their move for the final sprint.

Keirin equipment and frame construction require NJS certification, marked by a stamp on approved components. For builders, earning that mark is a distinction. The sport can also provide a substantial living for successful riders: Kamiyama earned more than 229,907,532 yen across his career.

Konno added gold-flake glitter to the frame’s clear coat, a fitting detail for a bike made for a racer with such a notable career. The finish sits alongside Cherubim’s lugwork and certified construction, joining individual decoration with the precise demands of track equipment.

Konno appeared while the bike was being photographed, bringing its builder into the frame with the machine.

@Cherubim

Curve’s Big Kev tests a new wheel size

Melbourne-based Curve Cycling built its first Big Kev 32er to explore the emerging 32-inch wheel format. First shown at Australia’s Spoken event, the prototype returned to the spotlight in turquoise paint by Candy Factory Paintworks, run by co-founder Steve Varga. A second prototype appeared at the 2026 Bespoked Dresden show.

The frame clears a 2.4-inch tire with room for a larger one. Its Mone trip-plane fork and mixed Columbus tubing anchor a build shaped around fit and drivetrain alignment. A custom chainstay yoke keeps the tire, chainring and q-factor in line without heavy crimping. At the rear, shortened seat stays meet the top tube in a brass-filled finish.

As a first prototype, the bike offers a close look at Curve’s approach to accommodating 32-inch wheels. The second version’s appearance in Dresden makes the development process part of the story.

@CurveCycling

Yanagi brings three makers together

Kamagaya City’s Yanagi showed a Kazusa adventure gravel bike developed by builder Koichi Iizumi with Sukiyaki Bikes. Sukiyaki carved custom designs into the White Industries cranks, while Rintaro Shimoyama of Ghooost hand-lettered the Nitto plating.

The panto carvings on the cranks took two months to complete. The stem spacer, headset cap and head badge required another few months of work. Those details make the bike a record of several makers’ time and skills, from the custom components to the plating by Nitto.

Yanagi’s build shows what can happen when small workshops contribute distinct specialties to one bicycle. The result is an adventure gravel bike whose finer details carry as much of the story as its frame.

@Yanagi @Sukiyaki @Ghooost

The five builds point in different directions, from a revival of a Japanese name to experiments with a larger wheel size. Together, they show Bespoked Osaka as a place to see not only finished bicycles but the thinking, machining and collaboration that bring individual builds to life.

The Radavist thanks Circles Japan for supporting its 2026 Bespoked Osaka coverage and independent reporting.