Custom Bikes of 2025: Customers, Friends and Staff

Here at Tweed Valley Bikes, we are fortunate to get to build a enormous number of nice bikes, but every year there are some that stand out even among those; with personal build kits or colour schemes creating some truly unique rides. 

Ready for the races

This year, we were proud to support our own gravity race team, and they put themselves together some very special bikes to race on. Zack built himself this Ripmo, taking the regular 150mm travel Ibis trail bike and making it a gravity focused version with a coil shock, tire inserts, Zeb and chain damper to add extra a ton of extra DH capability to the already very competent frame. 

Med on the other hand stayed a bit more stock on her long travel HD6, just adding her favourite Burgtec bits at all the contact points to get her bike feeling like her own.

Something old, something new.

A frame swap, plus a few new bits created this incredible Santa Cruz Nomad for a local lass who splits her spare time between helping run the Tweed Valley Trail Association and riding the network she helps manage and maintain. It's a classic locals build, with not much room left to upgrade anything! EXT shock, Hope Brakes and crankset, Reserve HD wheels, X01 mechanical drivetrain and a Fox Factory fork is quite the package. 

Downhill Bikes are still as eye-catching as ever

This amazing V10 was put together in the summer for one of our youth team riders by her devoted Dad and it looks fast just sitting still. Based on arguably the best race chassis in the world, complimented by a set of Reserve wheels and Hope V4 brakes, it's hard to imagine how you could build a nicer downhill bike. 

Mountain biking is more than just gravity riding

A long term friend of us all, Aneela does a lot for women's riding across Scotland via the FNY collective and loves all kinds of riding. This last year has seen her get much more into longer wilderness and XC rides and to that end she put together this incredible XTR based Juliana Wilder. Super light but super capable it's one of the best modern XC bikes and as fun to ride as it is fast.

The Staff Rides

We've also built bikes ourselves this last year, as all our staff without exception love both riding and their bikes and there is always a degree of changeover. This year it was the turn of Neil, Ady and Tom to put together new rides for themselves.

Neil went with a MX wheeled Ripmo, keeping the build as light as possible without sacrificing durability. A mixed SL / HD Reserve wheelset minimises weight but is still bulletproof, Hope E4 brakes have plenty of power, and their crank is both bulletproof and relatively light. An XO1 mechanical drivetrain is becoming a rare choice, but it's light, tough and you don't need to remember to charge it!

A former frame designer, and current suspension tuner, Ady has forgotten more about bikes than most of us will ever know. 31.8mm bar, 26mm wide alloy rims and short cranks are all uncommon choices but he knows how to make a comfortable bike! Elsewhere it's all about reliability, with V4 brakes, Hope Pro 5 hubs and a simple XT drivetrain. 

Contact Points

The 90 kit Ibis Ripmo is already a pretty dialled build, but getting your controls just right is always important to any rider who knows what feel they like. This bike saw a set of higher rise PNW Loam Bars added to rebalance for our steep local trails along with a Burgetc Stem to fine tune the reach and seat clamp to tie up the colours. Simple and sorted.  

The Uncatchable Hightower

Mark Scott's Hightower 4 is a thing of real beauty, not that you'll ever see it for more than a few seconds while he's descending on it. A big Hope fan (and supported rider) his bike combines some of their finest parts with a custom built set of Pro5 / Reserve HD wheels to make a machine that looks almost as fast as it is when Mark is riding it. Some keys numbers, 155mm cranks, 35mm stem, 750mm bar, 20psi, Medium Frame.

The Guides Bike

Dirt School Coach, BASE leader and TVB mountain bike guide, Tom's bikes certainly see some miles! As a result his builds are all about simplicity and durability. A Burgtec cockpit, Hope cranks, Fortus 30 wheels, V4 brakes and XT drivetrain are all solid, dependable choices, while a Fox Factory suspended HD6  frameset gives plenty of performance when it counts. 

Forbidden Fruit

Stock this year was incredibly limited, but even from the first few bikes it looks like the Forbidden Druid might be one of the E-Bikes to beat for 2026. High Pivot suspension, paired to the Avinox motor is quite a package creating a bike that descends and climbs with equal vigour. We've already seen riders get set about their Druids, swapping parts to suit their own styles and loving the way they ride. 

Hope Tech 4 brakes are one of the few systems good enough to outlast a bike, with this Druid owner bringing his ones along to the  new ride, along with one of their equally well engineered dropper levers. Add in an AXS mech and there's not much left to tune!

With supply of the Druid super limited, this bike arrived into the UK as the basic kit 3 build, only to immediately acquire some of the brilliant Reserve HD 30 AL wheels, a set of Maven Silver brakes and a hop up to the AXS version of SRAM's Transmission drivetrain, making the bike pretty much perfect for ride one.

Off to the World Cup

It would be fair to say that the Tweed Valley has an unusually large number of fast local riders, especially with the many current and ex-BASE performance course students in residence. This Megatower was a custom build for one them, put together to go and take on a full EDR World Cup season. 

All in all it's been a heck of a year for bikes here - we can't wait to see what 2026 brings!