Continuing our 2024 Philly Bike Expo coverage with more Reportage with words and photos by Brad Quartuccio, featuring Chapman Cycles, Chumba Cycles, and Doom Bars. Let’s get to it!
Chapman Cycles All-Road
Brian Chapman is a unique talent amongst the custom framebuilder set–don’t take it from me, just listen to what the other builders have to say about the quality of his work and attention to detail. This Chapman all-road bike is painted in 1956 International Harvester Cambrian Coral, and features all of the touches one would expect from the countless bikes Brian has displayed at the Philly Bike Expo over the years.
Check out the work in the seattube lug and seatstay junction, just a thing of a beauty if I’ve ever seen it with the scalloped seatstay caps and cable hanger right on down to the pump peg. Internal dynamo wiring, elegant biplate fork crown, and custom black ano Rene Herse cranks cap off this build.
Chumba SOCO Titanium All-Road
The SOCO SL Titanium is Chumba’s completely new, spirited titanium all-road bike. Whether you are on pavement running 700x30mm tires or fast gravel courses with a 40mm tire the SOCO’s geometry differs from the brand’s Terlingua gravel bike, the SOCO has more road focused angles, and a shorter wheelbase.
Chumba’s in-house titanium welding facility offers frame sizes ranging from 50 through 62 cm feature specific tubing diameters and thicknesses. The objective is to create a balance of power and suppleness proportional to the rider. Built of domestically sourced aerospace grade 3/2.5 titanium tubing, custom seat stays, and double butted oval chainstays. Head tube, dropouts, and threaded T47 bottom bracket are made in USA from PMW.
The SOCO can be configured with road or gravel electronic or mechanical drivetrains, 1x and 2x, or set up as a singlespeed. Framesets and builds are matched to either the ENVE AR fork or an internally routed ENVE In-Route Kit for an extra clean aesthetic.
Doom Bars Cruiser
Keaton Haire of Doom Bars brought his personal 29” thrasher to the Philly Bike Expo, and it was just begging to be photographed. There is something about rust and dirt in a sea of jewelry-like finishes that draws in a dirtball like me. You don’t often see a brazed bike clearly meant to be treated this harsh.
The seattube is a beautifully failed experiment turned success — a bend that got too aggressive and dented the tube, forcing Keaton to fill it in with brass and find a use for this tube with way too many hours of work into it. I particularly liked the tapered fork blade with BMX-style plate dropouts, a subtle but beautiful touch. Bars by Doom, but of course.