James Romero brings craftsmanship to his Altadena custom bicycle business.
“Bespoke” is a term used in fine tailoring: it means a suit custom-made for the client.
It would seem to be an even more appropriate term when attached to a fine bicycle, also custom-fitted for the user. If it were, James Romero of BlackSwift Bicycles would be that tailor.
Pictured: Romero with his own personal bike,
which he built himself.
Romero, 31, appreciates craftsmanship of all kinds. The house he shares with his wife Andrea, a staff photographer for Sunset magazine, is decorated with objects from the past: a collection of movie projectors, an old but still working Coca Cola vending cooler (he says it cost his dad $10, and they found $7 worth of change in the machine’s coin box).
He appreciates it as only an old-school craftsman can. In a world of mass-market goods, Romero is one of only a handful of custom bicycle frame makers in the Los Angeles area.
As unique as the client
The small garage of his Altadena home is where he constructs his made-to-order cycles, using high-grade steel tubing and top-of-the-line mechanical parts. It’s whatever the customer wants, Romero says: mountain bike, touring, road bike, or what he calls “coffee cartel” bikes, i.e., it gets you to the store and back. Romero also adds whatever eccentricities the customer wants: the one he’s working on now has wood fenders and rims and a headlight made from a 1900s-era kerosene lamp. Want a slot on your bike to store your spork? He’s done it.
James Romero brings craftsmanship to his Altadena custom bicycle business.
“Bespoke” is a term used in fine tailoring: it means a suit custom-made for the client.
It would seem to be an even more appropriate term when attached to a fine bicycle, also custom-fitted for the user. If it were, James Romero of BlackSwift Bicycles would be that tailor.
which he built himself.
Romero, 31, appreciates craftsmanship of all kinds. The house he shares with his wife Andrea, a staff photographer for Sunset magazine, is decorated with objects from the past: a collection of movie projectors, an old but still working Coca Cola vending cooler (he says it cost his dad $10, and they found $7 worth of change in the machine’s coin box).
He appreciates it as only an old-school craftsman can. In a world of mass-market goods, Romero is one of only a handful of custom bicycle frame makers in the Los Angeles area.
As unique as the client
The small garage of his Altadena home is where he constructs his made-to-order cycles, using high-grade steel tubing and top-of-the-line mechanical parts. It’s whatever the customer wants, Romero says: mountain bike, touring, road bike, or what he calls “coffee cartel” bikes, i.e., it gets you to the store and back. Romero also adds whatever eccentricities the customer wants: the one he’s working on now has wood fenders and rims and a headlight made from a 1900s-era kerosene lamp. Want a slot on your bike to store your spork? He’s done it.