EICMA show -

Milan, Italy, September 15-18, 2006

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Part 7 - September 15-18:

Crisp Titanium: Keeping the artisan alive

The customer of this particular bike
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

Any angle you please.
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

A more traditional-looking bike
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

A flick of a switch
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

'Know your builder' isn't just a catch-phrase,
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

The machine that makes bikes work:
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

MTB or road,
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

Here, a customer specified S-bend seat stays
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

Titanium shimmers
Photo ©: Anthony Tan

By Anthony Tan at EICMA in Milan, Italy

The moment you start talking to Darren Mark Crisp, you realise there's something different about him. In fact, even before you start talking, at 6 feet 3 inches or 191 centimetres, he's already a little bit different!

Crisp is a one-man titanium frame building band. A former U.S. amateur racer with a bachelor of architecture to his name and an apprenticeship in working with steel and copper, Crisp says he became disillusioned with the traditional Italian bike companies he once adored, who began heading down the path of mass production and fewer frame sizes. This lead him to start building frames himself, first using steel and later aluminium and titanium, with the latter his sole choice of material today.

Two years ago, he quit his day-job to concentrate full-time on what he loves: "Building custom bicycle frames for riders as passionate about the sport as myself," he says on his Web site. The company motto, 'Know your builder', isn't just a catch-phrase, says Crisp - but an important aspect that brings together a collaboration between builder and cyclist. He cites a recent example of his work on display at EICMA, where a Belgian customer spent three days at his residence in Arezzo, Tuscany, watching him work, because he wanted to see first-hand how it was done. A little spooky, don't you think?!

But seriously, proof that this man practices what he preaches. There's a lot of 'onlys' when you talk to Crisp: only titanium (and mainly cold-worked, stress-relieved Grade 9 or 2AL/2.5V), only custom-made, and only building one frame at a time. Graphics can be client-specified and are permanently etched into the frame for durability and looks. If this all sounds a little obsessive, then a Crisp titanium frame is probably not your cup of tea. But maybe, just maybe, you're in that 5-6 percent of bike owners who demand a custom frame, and in that even smaller niche who demand custom titanium.

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Anthony Tan/Cyclingnews.com

The customer of this particular bike traveled all the way from Belgium to Italy to watch Darren Crisp in action.
A more traditional-looking bike from Darren Crisp.
'Know your builder' isn't just a catch-phrase, says Crisp, but an important aspect that brings together a collaboration between builder and cyclist, and allows complete customisation.
MTB or road, Crisp will do as you ask - so long as you've got the money, of course!
Titanium shimmers like no other.
Here, a customer specified S-bend seat stays on his road bike.
The machine that makes bikes work: before welding commences, Crisp puts the bike in this jig, which allows Argon gas to run inside the frame during the welding process.
A flick of a switch lets Argon gas flow throughout the frame during welding.
Any angle you please.