English Cycles | Custom Bicycles

Posted by Rob on Jul 22, 2021

An-Khang’s V3 gravel frameset

An-Khang asked me to build him a custom gravel frame with a carbon integrated seatmast and carbon headtube insert. He specified the Open U-turn fork, and requested a T47 BB and a dedicated 160mm flat mount for the rear caliper. With a dedicated single ring build, I could shape the chainstays to clear the chainring and give plenty of clearance for 45mm tires, whilst keeping the chainstays short – the...

Posted by Rob on Jul 6, 2021

Ben’s aero road disc

For Ben’s first bike we went for multi-purpose, with a 700C wheelset and a 650B set with larger volume tires. A few years on, and Ben realised he was riding the bike in 650B mode most of the time, so asked me to build him a dedicated fast road bike around the 700C Enve 4.5AR wheels. Ben experimented with his position to see if he could comfortably get a bit lower to be more aero – once we...

Posted by Rob on Jun 20, 2021

Benedict’s road disc bike

Benedict rides a lot and aggressively – particular the downhills! So he wanted a quick handling bike with good brakes. And of course custom designed and built to fit his position. We ended up working with Enve to use their new fully integrated front end – some production setbacks meant it took a fair bit of time to finally get all the parts needed, but finally we got there – super clean...

Posted by Rob on Jun 13, 2021

John’s stainless road disc

This is the third bike I have built for John over the last ten years – his position means he is best served by a custom frame. For this one he asked for something similar to his first bike, but modernised with disc brakes, wireless shifting and more tire clearance. The lightest steel tubing currently available (due to the high strength of the alloy, it can be drawn to a thinner wall) is Reynolds...

Posted by Rob on Jun 2, 2021

Reinhard’s road bike

I had a great time working with Reinhard to create his perfect bike for the Austrian mountains. The final build ended up, to my eye, just so clean and simple – and the paint scheme is reminiscent of my first ‘proper’ bike, my 1991 Stumpjumper comp. The lightweight rim brake frame is paired to a Columbus fork with a custom stem to match. Campagnolo Super Record shifting is...

Posted by Rob on May 24, 2021

20″ aero road frameset

This one is a little different – I have done a LOT of riding on my Bike Friday, so am very familiar with 20″ (451) road bikes. That is what was requested here, along with some aero features. A full length aero seatmast would have reduced the intended compactness of this bike, so I created a custom stainless steel aero seatpost to fit into the ovalised seattube. This is matched with the aero...

Posted by Rob on May 15, 2021

Lalit’s road bike

This build started out as the final tenth anniversary build, then got modified a fair amount – kept the exclusive orange anodised parts but otherwise very custom! Lalit wanted to allow for a wide range of handlebar adjustment, so we specced a custom stem with 8 degree rise and a removable faceplate – this enables for easy flipping of the stem to provide a 25mm bar height difference. With 25mm...

Posted by Rob on May 6, 2021

Project Right #7

Gary asked me to build him a Project Right, with a bit of added strength for a heavier rider. So the custom hubs are 32h, built onto Easton rims. But with the modular design of the previous few PR bikes – front and rear wheels are interchangeable, fitting onto tri-lobe hub bodies which leave the disc rotors and drivetrain in place on the bike when the wheels are removed. The custom wide BB shell...