English Cycles | Custom Bicycles

Posted by Rob on Nov 16, 2022

Syd’s road bike

Syd asked me to build him a fast road bike suitable for racing, but also able to handle some light gravel. So we designed around 28mm tires, but there is clearance for up to 32mm. Up front is a US-made carbon fork from Allied, with a custom EC headset to mate it to the frame without needing an oversize headtube. The tubing is a mixture of Columbus Life and custom 4130, with Syntace dropouts and minimalist...

Posted by Rob on Nov 2, 2022

Kyle’s road frameset

Kyle’s brief for me was fairly straightforward – a custom road bike built to perfectly match his position, with the ride tuned to be responsive and confident. We opted to use a US-made carbon fork from Allied, which is mated to the frame with a custom EC headset and Cane Creek bearings. Tubing sizes were chosen to match Kyle’s size and weight, with a tapered ovalised toptube, semi-aero...

Posted by Rob on Oct 24, 2022

Will’s all-road bike

This build had an unexpected connection – it turned out that Will and I attended the same school, just a couple of years apart. So he was very familiar with the shop where I built my first bike 30 years ago, and the teachers that helped me. As a nod to this, when Svelte Cycleworks helped Will with the paint design, the school crest was incorporated into the layout. Will needed a custom bike to...

Posted by Rob on Sep 8, 2022

Patrick’s FGC

Patrick’s travel bike is designed to accommodate either 650×47 (shown) or 700×30 wheels/tires. There is a Ritchey Adventure fork up front which allows for carrying capacity if needed. Campagnolo provides the drivetrain with the Ekar 1x groupset. The frame has an aero downtube and custom ovalised toptube, with internal routing for the brake hose and gear cable. When the pivots are loosened,...

Posted by Rob on Aug 13, 2022

Rob’s prototype gravel bike

After working with Craig Edwards and Cane Creek on a prototype high-volume-tire EE rim brake, I was asked to build a show bike for Sea Otter to show off the brakes and other Cane Creek products. This gave me a chance to try out some construction concepts I had been working on. The first is the lightweight truss fork. I previously built a truss fork for my mountain bike, which performed really well. I...

Posted by Rob on Jul 16, 2022

Tom’s gravel bike

Tom asked me to build him a gravel bike that could be used for multi-day trips. We choose the Ritchey Adventure fork because of it’s straight steerer and accessory mounts for extra carrying capacity. It also has fender mounts, which were incorporated into the polished stainless steel rear end of the frame too. The frame features a T47 bottom bracket to give room for the internal hose and wire...

Posted by Rob on Jul 4, 2022

Serge’s FGC

When Craig Edwards of EE Cycleworks suggested that his excellent brake design could be modified to offer greater tire clearance with the same performance, building a travel bike was one application I thought it would be perfect for. Traveling with disc brakes can be fine, but the chances of a rotor getting bent or having a problem with hydraulics seem higher than the ease of having a rim brake. And with...

Posted by Rob on Jun 19, 2022

Patrick’s gravel bike

Patrick asked me to build him a gravel bike, with a 1x drivetrain and clearance for 45mm tires. The frame features an oversize, bi-ovalised downtube from Columbus to keep this size frame stiff. This matches to the oversize headtube and a custom ovalised toptube. A Cane Creek headset matches to an Allied carbon fork. Patrick decided to use mechanical disc brakes in the form of Paul Klampers, with the rest...