Builder Spotlight on Jeremy SyCip of SyCip Designs.
We got a chance to catch up with Jeremy of SyCip Designs. Jeremy has been building custom bicycles out of Sonoma County since 1992. This year is a special year for Jeremy and his team, marking their 25th anniversary of handmade bikes
Get to know Jeremy in the Q&A below and check out the Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Frame debuted at this year’s NAHBS event with a special connection to one of our team members from Shimano American.
Interview with Jeremy Sycip
What do you love about making a bike by hand?
I love that you can take a handful of tubes and other bits and build a vehicle, something very useful and fun to ride.
How many hours go into making a single frame?
6 to 10 hours depending on type of frame.
What is your material of choice?
Steel, because I feel it rides well and there are plenty of tubing options, diameter of tubes and wall thickness.
What makes your frames unique?
Each one is made for each individual customer one at a time. I offer 3 different frame materials - Steel, aluminum or Titanium.
How important are the component choices to the overall build?
Pretty important, because you have to make sure it will work on the frame and you want to make sure it works well when the person is riding the bike.
What is your favorite part that Shimano makes and why?
Brakes and shifters because it works well and all the new innovative components they come up with each year.
What is your inspiration/passion coming into this year’s event?
This year is SyCip’s 25th anniversary so I am bringing a couple bikes with hand painted themes to commemorate what I started doing 25 years ago. We use to offer hand painted bikes back then to each customer.
What segment of cycling are you most passionate about?
I personally like riding off road on my cx bike or mountain bike. But I like almost every segment of cycling.
What are you most excited about at NAHBS this year?
I got my show bikes done early so I am getting to ride in Moab for a few days before going to the show.
How does your hometown influence the types of bikes you build?
I guess it influences in a number of ways from the roads and trails and from people who commute on bikes. I build commuter bikes as well as road, cx, mountain bikes.
What bike of yours are you riding most now? What geometry did you choose and why? Did you add anything special to your personal bike?
My new mountain bike - 27.5 plus tires and able to fit up to a 3.0 tire with geometry for a longer travel fork. It has a hand painted Star Wars LandSpeeder theme paint job.
What was the last thing you ate?
Sausages and salad last night after riding all day yesterday.
Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Frame
To celebrate SyCip Designs 25th Anniversary, Jeremy brought it back full circle to the very first frame he built. This original frame from 1992 featured hand painted flowers done by his brother, arist Jerome Sycip. A limited run of 25 of these custom frames were made available in honor of the frame that started it all. The 25th Anniversary design on display at NAHBS brought some modern touches to their classic bike, including Di2 shifting and Hydraulic Disc Brakes.
Another example of Shimano’s long standing relationship with SyCip ties back to this nostalgic frame. Jessie Gascon, Shimano’s Soft Goods Product Manager, owns of these original flower bikes and has been riding it since 1995.
“I saw the original Sycip Daisy hand painted bike @ Interbike 1994 and I commissioned my own custom bike in 1995. My bike is a travel specific design, with S&S couplers, triple gearing and room for up to 45mm tires, fenders and all the capabilities for loaded bike touring, it’s original purpose was for riding the gravel roads in Europe while on holidays and business trips. The inspiration for the frame design comes from one of my all-time favorite mountain bikes, the original Bontrager OR, that features top routed cables, sloping top tube and reinforced gussets. My bike has been a great global companion, across US, Europe and Japan. I’ve upgraded the components along with the generational changes of Ultegra, currently it features the 6700 group, the last Ultegra with a triple. Jay and Jeremy are awesome people!”
