English Cycles | Custom Bicycles

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...

Posted by Rob on May 12, 2019

Stefan’s V3 frameset

Stefan asked for a V3 custom frame for a classic rim-brake road bike. We opted for a Columbus carbon fork, with an oversize headtube allowing for inset bearings. Internal routing is included for gear and brake cables, and Paragon Machine Works dropouts provide a direct mount hanger for the rear derailleur. The paint is by Colorworks, with Stefan coming up with a neat little ‘V3’...

Posted by Rob on May 5, 2019

Project Right #6

The latest Project Right bike features the modular hubset first used on Gary’s build. But this time with a singlespeed freewheel and front and rear disc brakes. The Gates beltdrive keeps the drivetrain quiet and smooth, with the frame design meaning no split is required for belt installation. Shimano XTR calipers are used – the rear is unmodified, but the front is adapted to a custom mount to...

Posted by Rob on Apr 21, 2019

Christine’s winter bike

I built Christine a 650C road bike years ago, which she has used for multiple super-endurance events (deca-ironman – more than once!), plus of course all the training for them. She decided it was finally time to have a dedicated training/commuting bike built, and requested something along the lines of my winter bike. The roads in New Zealand are pretty terrible with chipseal, so I suggested using...