English Cycles | Custom Bicycles

Posted by Rob on Mar 7, 2025

Jeffrey’s 650B FGC

I have had the pleasure of working on a few builds with Jeffrey. With an upcoming trip to Italy to ride the Strade Bianche sportif, he asked if I could build him a gravel bike that would be easy to travel with. Which is what the FGC (Folding Gravel Concept) design is for! Jeffrey has a preference for 650B wheels, which makes the packing even easier into the airline-checkable case. Shown with 42mm tires...

Posted by Rob on Feb 23, 2025

Bo’s gravel bikepacking rig

Bo asked for a gravel bike with big tire clearance, fully kitted out with bags for bikepacking adventures! Whilst setup with 45mm tires, there is clearance for 50s. The Enve In-Route Gravel fork up front hides the brake hose, and features triple pack mounts in case additional cargo space is needed. This is paired to a Chris King Aeroset headset and Enve AR bar/stem. Additional Enve parts with the G23 rims...

Posted by Rob on Feb 13, 2025

Rich’s road bike

Rich asked me to build him a light, fast road bike that would climb great. With his position set, I could design geometry to give the required handling characteristics, and then choose the tubing to offer the right level of stiffness to give good ride feel. Whilst 30mm tires are fitted, there is clearance for up to a 35mm. The carbon headtube insert saves a few grams and gives a nice aesthetic accent....

Posted by Rob on Feb 9, 2025

Tim’s gravel bike

Tim is a fellow Oregonian, so was able to come to visit to plan his build. We took the opportunity to review his fit and go for a ride. Always nice when I get to meet clients in person! For the build, Tim asked me to design a gravel bike that would double as a fender bike for the winter. He opted for an integrated seatmast with external cap, and a custom stem to match. The frame has a UDH dropout for...

Posted by Rob on Jan 20, 2025

Alex’s all-road bike

Alex came to visit for a fitting and to plan out his build. Once we got the fit sorted out I could design a bike that was going to match his needs. And then we could deep dive into the parts spec! The frame and Whisky fork will clear 38mm gravel tires, or the bike can be setup for all-weather road with the 34mm tires and Portland Design Works fenders as shown. We opted to not fully integrate the brake...

Posted by Rob on Jan 13, 2025

Alonso’s road bike

Alonso asked me to build him a fast, comfortable road bike that could handle slightly larger tires for light gravel if required. We designed around 30mm tires, but there is room for up to 35mm to meet that brief. We settled on semi-external brake hoses, for ease of use and allowing for the smaller headtube and headset than if the hoses are fully internal. A third bottle cage is tucked on the rear of the...

Posted by Rob on Dec 28, 2024

Scott’s all-road travel bike

Scott asked me to build him a bike that would pack for travel, be easy to live with and allow for various tire options for various terrain. Whilst disc brakes are great, and mechanical versions remove the worry about traveling with hydraulics, it is still a bit trickier making sure the rotors don’t get dinged in transit. So we decided to use rim brakes, using the limited edition Cane Creek EE...

Posted by Rob on Dec 15, 2024

John’s road bike

John asked for a modern road bike, and decided on the integrated seatmast, a polished stainless steel rear end, and fully hidden hoses via Enve’s In-Route system. The seatmast tube is custom externally butted to tune for weight and flex-characteristics, with an adjustable cap for fine-tuning saddle height. The toptube is taper ovalised and there is an aero downtube. Chris King provided the hubs,...