Dom Mason set up Mason Progressive Cycles in 2015, designing his own bike frames which are built in Italy.
He started out with the Resolution steel framed machine and the Definition alloy bike. He then added the Bokeh AdventureSport bike, which will take either 700c or 650b wheels and tyres up to 50mm. He’s developed a substantial following for his bikes, to the extent that there’s a significant waiting list.
Bokeh and Definition bikes lined up outside the Bike Barn
Josh Ibbett won the Transcontinental endurance race in 2015 on a Definition and the Italy Divide race in 2017 on a Bokeh.
Titanium version of the Bokeh took over two years to develop and uses 3D printed rear dropouts
Mason is now launching a titanium version of the Bokeh, with other new projects in the pipeline. Along the way, Mason has also redesigned his Aperture carbon fork to add a thru-axle and cater for the increased clearance demanded by the wider tyres that are becoming the norm.
Mason sweats the details like this branding on the new titanium Bokeh frame
He’s also moved from a “soul destroying” industrial estate to a 400-year-old barn on the edge of the South Downs. Some of the original beams still bear designs for ships’ rigging, suggesting that they were hewed by ship builders from nearby Shoreham-by-Sea.
Mason keeps a fleet of test bikes at the barn
The ancient flint walls are decorated with an eclectic mix of modern items and there are bikes and test frames everywhere. Mason uses his own tube sets, fabricated by manufacturers such as Columbus and Dedacciai and specifically designed to his requirements. He’s specified 3D printed dropouts from Reynolds on the new titanium frame.
The barn's timbers carry designs for rigging for ships' sails
Mason says that his clients tend to be a mix of long distance tourers, who favour the steel Resolution and club riders who go for the alloy Definition. There’s also much demand for the Bokeh from adventurers as well as lifetime road cyclists looking for a machine to expand their route options.
There's some eclectic modern decoration too
Many of Mason’s clients are content to buy a bike over the Internet, but there’s also the option to visit the Bike Barn and ride a test bike through the quiet roads or over the downland behind the barn.
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Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.
He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.
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