Leovelo custom steel frame: A self-welded dream bike in 5 days

A customised frame made to measure and even welded by the new owner himself - what sounds like a priceless fantasy from the "only for the rich and beautiful" category is actually just a phone call or an email away. Leo Börger is the man behind the Leovelo Frameworks label.

When he went travelling during his training as a bicycle mechanic, he welded his first steel frame. The Leipzig native is now a professional, has tried out numerous manufacturing processes and shares his expertise in individual frame building courses. A course lasts five days with one-to-one support. It starts from 1200 euros - plus material costs, for example 500 euros for a tube set made of Columbus Zona steel.

Frame construction without taboos

While other frame building courses set design limits early on, Leo wants to approach the project of his own personal custom frame with complete freedom: "We discuss exactly what you want. There are no ideas that are too crazy. In principle, there are no taboos in my courses."

At Eurobike 2025, Leovelo presented a unique single-speed bike, among other things. Its name "Jungle Hunt" is a homage to bicycles from the former GDR. The geometry is similar to the bikes from Mifa and Diamant from the 1960s, which made history with thick balloon wheels, flat steering angles and a horizontal top tube.

>> How does a frame building course work? A BIKE reader found out for herself.

The modern interpretation of steel hardtails is based on a main frame made from Filled Brazed Columbus Zona. So-called "pencil seatstays" made from extra-thin 13CroMo12 are used on the rear triangle. Leovelo purchases the horizontally adjustable dropouts from the traditional manufacturer Paragon Machine Works in the USA. For the add-on parts, the frame builder relies on modern standards, such as a bolted T47 bottom bracket and a flat-mount disc brake mount.

For the Leovelo show bike, add-on parts from Tune made their way into the spotlight, such as a lightweight wheelset with a 12x142 millimetre rear mounting width. Other details include little hearts under the bottle cage threads, a stylish crank from White Industries and cross-bar handlebars from Sral. Overall, the Jungle Hunt weighs in at 9.3 kilos in single-speed configuration. It is the personal bike of company founder Leo, who regularly rides it through Leipzig.

>> We tested an off-the-shelf steel hardtail with the Kona Unit X, for example.

5 questions for a custom frame builder

BIKE: What fascinates you about building frames with steel?

Leonard Börger (Leovelo): I think it's a great skill to play with the source material. Steel and Filled Brazing are easy to work with. Anything that is too much is filed down again later. Modelling with the brass solder in particular is a great medium for creating perfectly flowing transitions between the tubes.

I always try to build steel frames as light as possible and avoid compromises at the expense of weight. To ensure that my frames don't have to carry any "hidden" weight, I always choose lightweight dropouts, turned-out bottom bracket housings and thin head tubes. The challenge of building these delicate tubes and the outstanding riding characteristics of the lightweight frames somehow fascinate me.

>> Even E-MTB fullys made of steel are now available. Here are the details on the Abums E-001.

How many frames have you built yourself and which has been your favourite project so far?

I have built around 30 frames so far. All of them were soldered. The "The Takkro" gravel bike, which I presented for the first time at Eurobike, was a very special challenge. The bike has a carbon seat tube that is glued into steel sleeves. It was a lot of fun to think my way through the question of how best to realise the self-made sleeves. It was exciting to realise all the small steps in the right order in order to work as effectively as possible.

>> Is a customised frame worth it? We discuss this in this article.

You are planning to move to Basel. What will change there?

I am lucky enough to be able to move my workshop into a room in the old Thomy mustard factory in Basel. It will have more space there than before. I hope to be able to set up quickly so that I can get going again soon.

>> An off-the-shelf steel gravel bike is available from direct mail order company Rose, for example. We have all the information you need here.

Would you dare to try a full-suspension bike?

So far this is not planned. As I only ride hardtails off-road myself, I don't have much access to this topic.

>> Starling Bikes from the UK offers a limited series of steel fullys with single-speed drive.

Every Leovelo frame is unique. The frame building courses take place in one-to-one supervision. Starting at 1700 euros including materials seems favourable. How do you manage to offer such an attractive price?

I ask myself the same thing... I try to keep my living costs low. I want not only old people to be able to afford to do a frame building course with me, but also young people who don't have that much money. That's the idea behind it.