English Cycles | Custom Bicycles

Posted by Rob on Jul 4, 2020

Christi’s road bike

Another smaller rider really needing a custom bike – Christi wanted to re-use her Rolf wheels, but the design of the bike eliminated any toe overlap, and the geometry is adjusted for the 155mm cranks. Ultegra Di2 makes for easy shifting for small hands, with a good reach adjustment on the levers putting the brakes comfortably within reach. A Enve fork takes care of the front end, then the frame...

Posted by Rob on Jun 21, 2020

Norm’s gravel bike

Norm asked me to build him a gravel bike, but like my own personal preferences, wanted it to fit and handle like his road bike, just to have the tire clearance and greater gear range for a wider variety of riding. With the give provided for with the tires, he requested the frame be a little stiffer, so I used a larger, bi-ovalised Columbus downtube, and custom ovalised toptube. For a potential future...

Posted by Rob on Jun 8, 2020

Joe’s lightweight road bike

Joe has some back issues and so worked with a local fitter to determine a position that would be sustainable for him. This requires the bars to be quite high, but he wanted to allow for the ability to lower them as his flexibility improves. We also wanted to have an elegant way to position the bars where they needed to be without an especially long headtube. After a few iterations, we settled on a custom...

Posted by Rob on May 29, 2020

Elena’s custom triathlon bike

Every now and again I work with a rider who absolutely NEEDS a custom bike – Elena is on the shorter side, and proportionally has shorter legs. She struggled to fit on stock bikes; her previous bike in an XS size wouldn’t actually allow her to lower the saddle enough. And left the bars comparatively very high. She is also trained by renowned triathlon coach Brett Sutton, who favors a very...

Posted by Rob on May 22, 2020

Tim’s road bike

For the title on this one, I didn’t think I needed to call out ‘disc’ or ‘all-road’ or any other modifiers. It is just a road bike – a modern one, but it doesn’t need to be defined any other way. The bike is shown with 30mm tires – the frame and fork will clear 35s. Geometry and handling is classic road – that sweet combination of fast yet stable....

Posted by Rob on May 11, 2020

Jay’s fast rando bike

Jay wanted something for endurance racing, along the lines of my TransAm bike. So using his fits numbers, that is what we came up with. With an Enve fork up front, the bike will clear up to 32mm tires. Haero bars from Germany have a removable but integrated aerobar – Jay will add foam to the bar tops for resting his elbows. The frame features internally brazed bosses for the custom frame bag, for...

Posted by Rob on Apr 29, 2020

Matthew’s V3 stainless gravel

Matthew asked me to build him a gravel bike that could double as a rain bike. So the frameset will clear 38mm tires in gravel mode, or fits 30mm tires with fenders. For corrosion resistance the entire frame is built from stainless steel (a mixture of Reynolds 953, Columbus XCR, KVA and custom formed 316). The stainless tubing is shown off with the stays being left bare with a brushed finish, as is the...

Posted by Rob on Apr 22, 2020

Rick’s road frameset

Rick asked me to build him a lightweight road frame with a few specific requirements. He wanted to run a BB30 crankset, so I built with a T47 BB shell and supplied a White Industries BB with internal bearings. It was requested to run a disc brake front and rim brake rear. A US-made HIA Velo fork up front provides for the brake type there, with a custom EC headset to fit the tapered steerer tube into a...