Geoff Duke

Bicycle builder

Steel for the ride

Geoff began crafting steel bike frames after his own maker retired
His background is in engineering, toolmaking and racing bikes
He specialises in lug joinery, and makes jigs and brackets, too

For Geoff Duke, it was the retirement of another frame builder that inspired him to pick up his own tools and begin crafting steel bike frames by hand. A natural fit for this now fading craft, Geoff apprenticed as a teenager with a German company making instruments for the local automotive industry. Around then, his love for racing bikes also took hold. "Although the cycling world has shifted gear since those days, leaning towards carbon and titanium frames, I remain devoted to the beauty of a bike in old ways: lugged construction, precisely cut steel, and handmade jigs," he explains. Building parts with his own hands allows Geoff to repair and craft bespoke frames for fellow enthusiasts. As manufacturing in Australia has declined and his peers have moved on, Geoff’s quiet persistence means he may be one of the last in the country of his kind.

Interview

Are lugged steel bike frames a rarity these days?: Yes they are, because it is not the most efficient way to build a bicycle. Newer carbon bikes are more efficient and look great. Although steel frames are definitely not faster to ride, their benefits include being repairable and aesthetically beautiful.
How did you get into crafting lug bike frames?: I left school and became an apprentice to a toolmaker and a machinist for a German company in Melbourne. I learned to work in metal and at the same time took up bicycle racing. I got my first custom bike built in the late 1990s and at the time there was nobody else building custom frames in Australia, so I learned to repair my own frame.
Has one of the frames you worked on been particularly memorable?: There is one bike frame on which I tapered the head tube lug by hand. On that same frame, I made the bottom bracket shell so that all the cables could be enclosed. This project was special to me.
Are there many people making steel frames now in Australia?: I might be the only lug builder at a the handmade bicycle show that I am going to this weekend. My background in industry and engineering is a huge advantage. I grew up with the saying, ‘There are many ways to skin a cat,’ so I look at a bicycle and wonder about the many ways I can engineer it before getting started.

Geoff Duke is an expert artisan: he began his career in 1998