Six steps, seven months.

Two hours on the fit bike, watching how you pedal rather than measuring your inseam and guessing. We talk about where you ride, what hurts and what you want the bike to feel like at hour four.

The geometry goes onto paper first, then into the CAD drawing you get to approve. Tube diameters and wall thicknesses are chosen for your weight and how hard you ride, not from a chart.

Each tube is cut and filed by hand until it meets its neighbour with no visible gap. It is the slowest, least glamorous step and the one that decides whether the frame is straight.

The frame is tacked in the jig, then fully brazed in one sitting with silver or brass depending on the joint. It cools overnight and is checked on the alignment table the next morning.

Fillets are filed and sanded smooth, lugs are thinned and polished, braze-ons are added for exactly the racks, guards and bottles you asked for and nothing else.

Wet paint is sprayed in the same building. Once cured, the frame is faced, chased and built up if you want, then ridden up the nearest hill before it is handed over.