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Chris Lord of Lord Cycles
A former aircraft engineer, Chris Lord is a bicycle frame builder from Cardiff, Wales, who specialises in made-to-measure steel bikes. He is the founder and owner of Lord Cycles.
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The Lord Cycles workshop sits on the top floor of a co-working space for makers, creatives and artists, situated in a former munitions factory located between Cardiff City Centre and Cardiff Bay. It was here that we were introduced to Chris, who very kindly allowed us into his workshop to photograph the first release of our t-shirts and give us an insight into his working processes.
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Following the shoot we sat down with Chris to ask him some questions about frame building, his background and his inspirations.
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û_t_r – With your former career in aircraft engineering, we imagine that your skills could’ve transferred to a number of creative designer/maker roles. Why did you choose bikes?
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Chris – I guess that I’ve always wanted to do it. Even when I was at school, I was into BMX and in BMX magazines there were features on frame builders and I wanted to be involved in that. I guess I’ve subconsciously been developing my skills to align with frame building – I also studied product design so that I could understand the design side of it. When I left that I realised that I wanted to be hands-on and making, so that’s when I went into the engineering side to learn those skills.
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û_t_r – What was the transition like from aircraft to bicycle frame building – were many of the skills already in place or did you find that you had to develop and grow in new ways?
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Chris – The hand-working skills, like the cutting and working with the files, and the measuring and precision all stems from my apprenticeship. With the brazing, I was initially teaching myself how to do that until I went on a frame-building course where that was the main skill that I learnt – how to control the flame, and how to ensure you’re heating up the materials evenly. The course was taken at the Bicycle Academy in Frome, but it's sadly now gone. They took me through it all, from the theory of how to make the bikes to the construction.
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û_t_r – Your logo features a chevron motif – we also use a similar device known as a circumflex above the ‘u’ in û_t_r in order to symbolise motion. Can you tell us about the origins of your logo mark and the meaning behind it?
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Chris – So, I wanted to have something to show that I was from Cardiff but I didn’t really want to feature a dragon … the chevrons are part of the Cardiff crest, so it’s a subtle detail that’s hidden. You can see it outside of the market, when you go to City Hall and even around Penarth as part of the street signs. It's something subtle, but I wanted to keep it simple.
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û_t_r – Following the initial consultation and bike fit, how many hours go into the production of a typical frame, excluding paint?
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Chris – To complete the actual build, it’s probably around 150 hours that go in to each bike.
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û_t_r – Steel is such a timeless material in bicycle frame building. What are the key features for you when working in such a material?
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Chris – I think it's mainly because it's a traditional material for making bikes and I’d probably say I’m a bit of a traditionalist. I like the beauty of it, especially when I’m doing the brazing – I really enjoy that – the filing of it back to give that smooth transition between the tubing. Also, because you’re so hands-on with it and so involved in the process, it’s tactile – I don’t think that you can get that with the likes of carbon.
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û_t_r – Paint and finishing are obviously elements of your bikes that you treat with great importance and pride. We understand that you ask your clients to produce a mood board of inspiration – this must provide you with ideas and influences that reach far and wide. How big is the enjoyment factor in creating designs and paint schemes for these unique works?
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Chris – Yeah, it’s definitely one of my favourite parts of the process – just because you’re seeing things that you’re not necessarily interested in yourself, or you may not have come across. For example, for one ‘Antur’ bike that I made the client was a geologist and it was really interesting to see that side of what the person was in to.
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û_t_r – Finally, Chris, is there any particular bike that you’ve built that you would class as a favourite? Whether it's a distinct design detail, the combination of build and finishing kit, or possibly the paint and colour scheme.
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Chris – I’d say that Hannah’s ‘Antur’ bike has probably been my favourite build to date. By the time I’d built that bike I understood my processes more, I had a more defined model and knew that this was what I wanted those bikes to be like. It was almost like I had my own take on that build – I was more free to have my input on it.
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We would like to thank Chris for being kind enough to allow us into his workshop and give us his time for this photography shoot and interview. The launch of our initial products has been aided greatly because of it.
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A special thanks to Sam Jones too who was our photographer on the day.
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