3Monkeys: Making the dream custom bike for every rider
During the pandemic, when being locked at home became the new normal, Shaker Ibne Amin found a new passion, building bicycles
Assembling bicycles by sourcing parts locally and from abroad, 3Monkeys Custom Builds can make that perfect dream build into a reality. Established in 2021 by Shaker Ibne Amin, the workshop designs its builds by taking geometry and riding requirements of its customers into consideration.
Assembling bicycles by sourcing parts locally and from abroad, 3Monkeys Custom Builds can make that perfect dream build into a reality. Established in 2021 by Shaker Ibne Amin, the workshop designs its builds by taking geometry and riding requirements of its customers into consideration.
However, the journey of the workshop actually began during the pandemic.
Despite having some of the simplest engineering when compared to other vehicles on the road, bicycles still have a lot of intricate designs that need to be done right. That includes the geometry that depends on the height and weight of the rider, the width of the tires, the type of chain being used, etc.
This is what inspired Shaker to build his own bike for the first time.
Soon enough, Shaker found himself building his first ever custom bike. He received a lot of praise for his first successful build which eventually led him to start helping out his friends with their builds.
In mid 2021, Shaker gave an official name to his latest passion: 3Monkeys Custom Builds. And thus the garage was born.
Shaker is in the business of running some of the most popular restaurants in Dhaka. To name a few, his family owns Thai Emerald, Kiyoshi, and Red Chamber.
Shaker is one of the founding members of the Toyota Crown Owners and Enthusiasts Club Bangladesh, he spent a lot of his time driving around in his pristine Toyota Crown Athlete V.
However, during the pandemic, when being locked at home became the new normal, he found his new passion: building bicycles.
"3Monkeys Custom Builds have been blessed with a great clientele, most of whom have always put a lot of trust and faith in us and this gave us a lot of flexibility when designing the bikes," he said on behalf of 3Monkeys Custom Builds.
"Some of them have even ordered a second bike from us which is really encouraging and motivating."
As of now, 3Monkeys Custom Builds has successfully built more than 25 different custom bicycles so far. However one of Shaker's most favourite builds still remains to be one of his workshop's earliest works, which he calls the 'Soul'. Originally a custom build for a friend, the bike is based on the frame of a locally manufactured Riddick. But the frame size and geometry made it the most fun to ride.
Shaker recently had the opportunity to buy back the bike and plans to keep it all for himself. The bike has been rebuilt again using high end components to make it the perfect cross country racer. It has a 11-speed Shimano SLX rear derailleur paired to Shimano Deore XT shifters; and Shimano Deore 11-speed chainset and crank.
The braking system includes a Shimano SLX M7000 Dual Piston, which bites on Shimano Deore RT56 180mm and SRAM Centerline 180mm rotors. It has a Rockshox suspension and Bontrager Tubeless tires. It also received a striking red paint job.
Building bicycles is fun and interesting, but the biggest challenge still has to do with sourcing parts. Perhaps this is why there are not many custom bicycle garages in Bangladesh. Only entry-level components are fairly available in the local market.
High-end components, on the other hand, are not commonly used in cycles manufactured locally. In order to source these parts, one has to order them from abroad, for which there is usually a considerable waiting time.
Moreover, things get further complicated due to the pandemic and the recent dollar price hike. Shipment costs from China have also increased, and the global rise in demand for bikes has skyrocketed prices.
"In the future, I plan to expand the workshop by adding imported bicycle frames and other components to maintain a constant inventory, and set up a proper assembling unit with paint facilities. I also want to develop a B2C eCommerce platform for 3Monkeys," he said.
