‘PLEIN AIR’ BIKE FOR OIL PAINTER, DANIEL YEOMANS
THE BRIEF
Dan wanted to be able to ride up the Alps, paint a landscape or two in oil paints and then ride back down.
Sounds simple enough, you might think.
But to support Dan’s adventures as a landscape painter living in the Swiss Alps, the criteria was slightly more complex than I originally anticipated – Dan needed a Cargo bike to carry a canvas up to 850mm x 500mm with wet oil paint on it, along with an easel, his brushes, painting box, jars of oil, warm clothes, a sun hat, and, of course, a hearty lunch.
Dan also specified that as well as the bike being able to support his plein air painting he’d like to be able to go for a spin on the local singletrack on it as well.
THE BIKE
A Rohloff boost spacing hub sorted out the gearing. A low maintenance solution, with a long life span and a clean look.
Shimano hydraulic 180mm discs for stopping all that kit safely.
An SQ Lab handle bar with 16 degree back sweep to get his hands in a relaxed position, without loosing any control.
Electrical assistance is provided by a Cytonex front wheel. Three customisable power levels via an online app. A simple solution to getting all the kit up the steepest alpine tracks. It can also quickly be switched for a standard Hope front wheel when you want to get back to basics.
The wheels were all hand built by Strada wheels and come with great after care service.
Fillet brazed tubing is a mixture of Reynolds 853 and Columbus Zona. Head tube courtesy of Bear frame supplies and rear dropouts by Paragon Machine Works
The extremely tough ceramic coating will keep the frame looking great for years to come.
THE BAGS
My initial thoughts were, that a friend of mine–who had started making bike bags– would make the panniers for me. The problem was, his studio is in Portsmouth (about a 7 hour round trip), and what I really wanted was to make the bags fit the panniers whilst they were fitted to the bike, so that any problems could be seen and fixed straight away. Also, time was running out as Dan was heading back to Switzerland, and hoping to take the finished bike and kit with him.
Enter Loz, my workshop neighbour who makes Yurts. Chatting one day I noticed he had made a rucksack for himself from Yurt cloth off-cuts. It turns out that waterproof Yurt canvas is really tough and ideal for making waterproof panniers. Yurts are pretty big, which means the offcuts tend to be a useful size.
Using these really appealed to my ethos for reducing waste, and Loz had the skills and equipment to put together the prototypes.
Whilst Loz was away over the Christmas break we had to make a few adjustments to the rucksack pannier… Enter Tom, a neighbouring upholsterer who helped iron out the teething problems with time left for a cup of tea before loading everything into Dan’ s very full van and waving him off.
Nothing like taking it to the wire!
THE ADVENTURE
“You might not think that a bespoke bicycle and painting have much to do with each other, but this bike changes everything. I have been painting ‘en plein air‘ for a few years with an idea in the back of my mind. Often painting in the mountains I would arrive at the top, tired and wishing I could stay and start another canvas without having to walk back down, then up again. I really wanted to design a bike to make this possible. A few years later this project has finally been realised with the help of Chris, who has designed and built me a bike from scratch. It does everything I need, want and more”.
THE OUTCOME
The original plan was to ski tour up the hillside, but the snow cover this winter is quite thin so the snowy road remains usable on bike. In the photo below you can see where the road ends. I leave my bike here and walk the rest through the snow. The second photo shows the easel and painting in progress (which all goes in my backpack) so I can take what I need and remain all day on the mountainside. I like to work on various paintings throughout the day as the light changes so after each session the canvas is packed back in it’s box keeping it safe from snowfall, dust and any passing dogs that might be feeling territorial! At the end of the day it all gets packed back on the bike and then I just have to survive the snowy ride back to the chalet.
