English Cycles | Custom Bicycles

Posted by Rob on Oct 9, 2019

Matt’s V3 disc

Matt wanted a fast road bike, and liked the V3 design with a carbon ISP and headtube insert. He also inquired if it would be possible to run all the hoses/wires fully internally. As it happened, FSA had just released their ACR system, which uses a special upper headset bearing, bearing cover and stem to route the front hose directly into the fork steerer. The rear hose and Di2 wire are sent into the...

Posted by Rob on Oct 2, 2019

Not the pink bike…..

My pink bike, which won ‘best road bike’ at NAHBS in 2016, has been fantastic – a LOT of miles on it over the last three years, and it really has performed pretty much perfectly as it was designed. So when FSA asked if I would collaborate with them on a show bike, and I decided to do another fat-tire road/gravel build, it took some thought as to what I would do differently. I kept the...

Posted by Rob on Sep 1, 2019

Neil’s V3 disc frame

Neil’s frame has clearance for 30mm tires, a T47 BB shell to allow for full internal routing of the Di2 cables and the rear hydraulic hose. Syntace X12 dropouts have a custom modification to allow the Di2 wire to exit right at the back (with thanks to Darrell at Llewellyn for the inspiration on that feature). With beautiful paint applied by...

Posted by Rob on Aug 1, 2019

Stainless road frame

This rider asked for a classic road frame, built in stainless and shiny! The tubing is a mixture of Reynolds 953, Columbus XCR and custom formed 316. Laser engraved logos were added prior to the tubes being joined. A Chris King headset secures the Enve fork, which is topped by a custom made stainless steel stem, with machined stainless spacers to perfectly...

Posted by Rob on Jul 21, 2019

Tyler’s road bike

Tyler’s bike is a classic road build from me – compact frame, carbon fork, rim brakes. The geometry was created to give the right balance of handling and stability based on his experience with previous bikes. A full SRAM Red AXS eTap group takes care of the drivetrain and brakes, with Zipp wheels to match. The paint is by Colorworks and the final weight is...

Posted by Rob on Jul 2, 2019

Yunan’s V3 Campy EPS

Yunan asked me to build him a fully custom frameset, and decided upon the V3 composite frame format, along with an aero steel fork and a one-piece stem/steerer. Direct mount brakes were requested, with the rear caliper positioned under the chainstays. With the bike being shown at NAHBS 2019, we were able to get one of the first Campagnolo Super Record 12spd EPS groupsets. A couple of custom parts were...

Posted by Rob on Jun 8, 2019

Ken’s stainless road disc

Ken came to me with some very specific requests for his build – challenging me to figure out some firsts for me, namely a stainless steel disc brake frame, and a stainless integrated seatmast. He was able to give me a good sense of how he wanted the bike to handle, which along with his fit numbers enabled me to meet those design requirements whilst also eliminating toe overlap. As we were working on...

Posted by Rob on May 29, 2019

Johnnie’s FGC

Johnnie asked me to build him a travel bike to fit the same as his Shand, but packable for travel. So we came up with a Folding Gravel Concept design, using a US-made carbon fork from HIA Velo to allow for 40mm tires. The rear dropouts are from Bear Frame Supplies in the UK, with a 12mm thru axle and replaceable derailleur hanger. They have the shape I needed to add the FGC pivot at the top for the...