Changes are coming!

In August we not only launch a new look website but we'll also be showing you a whole new range of Witcomb components, clothing and accessories.

Watch this space!

Co-founder Celebrates his Ninetieth Birthday

Ernie Witcomb who co-founded Witcomb Trading ltd in 1949 celebrated his ninetieth anniversary earlier this week. Today, he was at the shop as usual but to enjoy a rather unusual day.

Most of the morning was spent talking to a camera crew from the fashion company Carhartt, reminiscing about his life-long involvement with the Cycling industry. The afternoon took a more festive tone, with nibbles and drinks being shared with the team and a journalist from the South London Press.

Tomorrow will gather Ernie's friends and family in a celebratory meal.

Witcomb Afterwork - The Pictures

Last night, twenty or so local cyclists came down to visit the shop and workshop. After tea and cake, Ernie welcomed them and went through a quick history of the business.

Everybody then moved on to the workshop where Barry explained about his work and the state of the industry, evocating memories of past builders and shops.

Gasps of awe welcomed the appearance of the book listing all the bicycles made by Barry between 1960 and 1984.

Having arrived around 7.30, people left around 9.30 and comments about last night on the Southwark Cyclists website are very positive:

Witcomb's was fascinating last night...Witcomb senior was even a steward at Herne Hill Velodrome for the 1948 Olympics. Maybe 15 of us at Southwark Needle and another 7 at the shop. Wonderful to see local bike craftsmanship just about surviving in an amazing tiny workshop. Their relaunch plans deserve all the support we and other local groups can give them. Lovely stuff. Beautiful frames. They're looking for apprentice frame-builders - 3 of America's finest trained there and they helped the two that started a little set-up called Marin years back. - Barry Mason

The group will be coming back in a few months to check the progress of the work on the shop. We were really pleased by the success of the event last night and hope it marks the start of a fruitful collaboration with our local cycling groups. Thank you to Barry Mason for organising the event.

View more pictures of the event (or add your own) on our Flickr photo pool.

Southwark Cyclists
Southwark Cyclists forum

Southwark Cyclists, The Witcomb Afterworker

We are working with Southwark Cyclists together with Greenwich and Lewisham Cyclists to organise a visit our workshop with a chat with Barrie Witcomb about his craft. We will be offering tea and cakes to our visitors.

Witcomb Afterworker
Wednesday 24 October - 6.30pm
meet at the Southwark Needle (corner of London Bridge and Tooley Street)

A slow riverside ride to Witcomb Cycles, 25 Tanners Hill, SE8. Including a guided tour of their historic home before modernisation starts, an in-depth introduction to hand-made steel frame making and a fascinating slice of local bike culture. Optional pub after.

Contact: Barry Mason on 07905 889 005 for more information.
www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk

Cycle Show - Day 4

Despite the nice weather outside, visitors were still quite numerous today on the Witcomb stand. One of them was one of the youngest members of the Witcomb team, Shaun, brother of our designer, Tony Malone, seen here with his brother's bicycle.

In total around 2500 people came to our stand over the 4 days of the show and as we have mentioned before, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. If what we heard from our visitors was not enough, we were told by other exhibitors that we had made a real impact and that the Witcomb's come back had been noticed.

The next step for us is to tidy up the appearance of our shop and workshop in Deptford. We will also be busy answering the phone and taking orders as well as starting the work on a new range of elegant merchandise and cycling items.

As was mentioned in an earlier post, we made friends with champion triathlete Fiona Hoare. She can be seen below on our stand with the prototype of our white carbon frame. We are hopeful to see her riding the finished product next year in competition.

Cycle Show - Day 3

It's been another amazing and humbling day for us today. We have now overtaken our order expectations twice over and people keep coming and tell us how beautiful our bicycles look. Some of our existing customers also visited the stand and were seen later flaunting our flyers around the Show's venue: "flying the flag" for us.

Our Girl Saturday, accompanied by her mum, joined us for a while and give us a hand with the visitors to the stand (pictured above with Ernie). Niamh is 16 and first joined Witcomb as a work experience, not knowing much about bikes. She now comes in every Saturdays and can do all sorts of minor repairs and lots of other useful things around the shop. And she is lovely. She wants to study engineering and we hope to turn her into a frame-builder one of these days.

For some times now, we have been mentioning our prototype white carbon frame. The visitors of the stand have all been very complementary about it, saying how beautiful and sexy it looks. So finally, here is a photo of the thing itself.


The whole frame, including the handle-bar, the bottle holders and the saddle (which looks gorgeous but also damn hard!), is build in white carbon fibre to Barrie's design and we hope to be able to sell a bespoke version of this frame early next year.

The day closed with a drinks party for all exhibitors at the show and many people drifted off to a nearby pub to go and watch the Rugby match.

Cycle Show - Day 2

The Cycle Show was open to the general public today and we had our first real encounter with our customers since we have decided to relaunch Witcomb Cycles in a bid to give it the prominence it deserve.

And just like yesterday, the reaction was amazing. We received so much encouragement from so many people, telling us how good it is that there are still people like us around (people making "real" bicycles). Others were both surprised and glad to see that we were still going. It was also an opportunity for many people to discover us and the quality of our products. As of today we have already gone beyond our expectations for the show with many people joining the waiting to own one of our unique bicycles. We may even have an order from the owner of one of our competitors.

Our customers obviously have a strong emotional link with Witcomb. Several of them told us with gleaming eyes that their first bicycle had been a Witcomb or how they used to own one years ago. One recent customer made a point to come and tell Barrie how wonderful and "perfect" his new purchase was.

During the day, like yesterday, Barrie renewed contact with some old cycling friends. We had more former members of our Racing Team visiting the stand to say hello. We also made new friends and the day finished with a glass of wine with triathlete champion, Fiona Hoare and her colleagues. More on this later.

We have been warned that tomorrow will probably be the busiest day of the whole four days...

Cycle Show - Day 1

Today was the trade day at the Cycle Show, and we are really thrilled by the amount of attention and support we received. The day went very fast indeed occupied that it was with talking to a steady stream of visitors. Barrie and Ernie, however, found some time for a quick interview with ITV London, which was broadcast earlier this evening.


Barrie Witcomb, Phil Liggett and Ernie Witcomb.

Later in the afternoon, we received the visit of an old friend, Phil Liggett MBE came to say hello, joke with Ernie's wife who happened to be on the phone and generally reminisce about the good old days.

Phil started his London cycling career in the Witcomb Racing Team in the mid-60's after coming down from the north. A picture of Phil and the team can be viewed here (he is the first on the left). A little later, Phil's wife also dropped by for a while.

You can view other pictures taken on our stand (including one featuring our bicycles) here.

Stand i7

A sneak preview of the Witcomb Cycles stand at the Cycle Show in Earls Court. Today was reserved for exhibitors to install their stands and it is difficult to convey the amount of energy and money that were spent today! Tomorrow is the Trade and Press Day and the show opens to the general public on Friday for three days.

As for us, we are almost ready. A little hoovering session will make the stand ready to receive our creations. We will have four frames on show with some striking new designs and that white carbon frame we have mentioned earlier.

Come and say hello if you are in the area.

Earls Court Cycle Show 2007

Witcomb Cycles invite you to visit our stand at the London Cycle Show 2007. Barrie and Ernie Witcomb, together with their new colleague, designer Tony Malone, will be available to discuss our forthcoming models for 2008. Our exciting new range includes road, track and touring bikes. We also offer one-off bespoke frames and special editions.

Witcomb Cycles is the oldest company in London still producing hand-built bicycles. We welcome visitors to our workshop in Deptford, and invite you to come and see your own frame being hand-crafted.

We offer a full range of frame repairs, from small braze-ons to complete rebuilds. We work with the leading enamelers to provide a level of finish second to none.

12-14th October 2007, Stand i7.
Email us for more details