Turkish delight
It’s not every day you come across a bike builder from Istanbul, but if Brelis Cycles is anything to go by, it’s a treat when you do
As the saying goes, you can tell a lot about a man by his hands.
‘Normally I can finish a basic bike in seven days, but this one took more than triple that time, I think 30 days,’ says Turkish frame-builder Burçak Erbil, whose scarred and calloused hands serve as living testaments to a life spent in the workshop.
‘I like to think I am good with my hands, even since I was young. I’m a mechanical engineer and have spent most of my professional life working on engine design with companies such as Ford, Nissan and Range Rover – although combustion engines are dying, so it is now electric vehicles. But I have always ridden and loved bicycles.’
Like many cyclists of his generation, Erbil started out on a BMX in the 1980s, moved into mountain biking in the 90s, then progressed to road, touring and beyond. But it was only through a hobby of restoring bikes that framebuilding began to take shape as a new string to add to his engineering bow.
‘I’ve been building frames for five or six years. I began learning from videos and books, then four years ago I wanted to get more serious so I did a course at the Bicycle Academy to learn fillet brazing in particular, because I like the smooth look of the tube joints. A year after taking the course I was showing my bikes at Bespoked.
‘I started on the balcony of my apartment but now I have a dedicated workshop, which I build in three days a week. I also spend three days working as a mechanical engineer.’
The Bicycle Academy in Frome teaches all-comers how to build frames (in fact Cyclist’s editor built his own bike there in issue 71) and has helped a slew of new builders go from hobbyists to professionals. Most are from the UK, but it appears the Bicycle Academy’s reputation precedes it by some way.
‘I am from Turkey, Istanbul. There are not many framebuilders in Turkey; some years ago a few started but they did not last. This is where the name “Brelis” comes from – letters from my name, Burçak Erbil, and my home, Istanbul. I think of those builders I’m the only one who shows bikes internationally.’
A candied peach
Framebuilding is an ever-broadening church, with a richness few thought
possible when mass-produced bikes began rolling off boats from the Far East in the late 1990s. Yet this can be a double-edged sword for a framebuilder, particularly if they work in steel. There are only so many tubesets and designs for a road bike to go around, so just how can you stand out from the crowd? If you’re Erbil, it’s simple. Make as many parts as you can yourself.
The tubeset on this Brelis is Columbus XCR stainless steel. Nothing unique there. But the way Erbil has manipulated his ingredients broaches the fantastic. Most obvious is the stem, but look a little harder and all manner of details spring out, from the Bauhausesque cable ports and stem clamp to the hand-filed lugs and cutaways.
‘The guy I built this bike for is a huge guy, two metres tall, and he wanted a bike he could race. But we also discussed this project being a show bike, so we decided we could spend more time on it and make it quite fancy.
‘For the stem I took an XCR head tube and pressed it to make it ovalised. I then machined the clamping parts from stainless billet and brazed them together. I did the same with the cable ports and clamping area, and these parts alone took me a day on the mill.’
These are more than just design flourishes, however. The ports mean smoother entry points for cables while the stem integrates the top cap and compression bolt for the headset. Elsewhere bilaminate lugs – where the lug is made from a separate tube then seamlessly fillet brazed to the end of one tube and sleeved onto another – are wonderfully clean.
The rear tube cluster features a cutout reminiscent of a shield, which might be no small coincidence given Erbil lists sword and armour-making as another extra-curricular endeavour. Likewise, he cites calligraphy and drawing as two more, which goes some way to explaining the paint, because Erbil does that himself, too.
‘It’s a candy paint, which when applied to the polished stainless steel gives an almost anodised effect. It is very tricky to do. You have to apply the paint thinly and evenly, otherwise the depth of colour will change.’
As such the metal’s grain radiates through the translucent paint, as does the darkened hues of the brass filler used for the brazes. Of course, along with the stem and cable ports this will not be a bike to everyone’s tastes, but there’s no doubting the quality of the execution, and no escaping the fact Erbil has managed to take a well-worn material such as steel and give it a brilliantly unique twist.
‘The guy I built this bike for is huge, two metres tall, and he wanted a bike he could race. But we also discussed this project being a show bike, so we decided we could make it quite fancy’