Bowei’s gravel bike
After enjoying his road bike, Bowei asked me to build him a bike with the same fit and similar handling, but with clearance for larger tires for adventuring off-pavement. As we were planning the build, I received the first prototype EE gravel brakes, and Bowei was keen to use them. To accommodate the direct mount brakes, I built a custom steel fork, which plugs into an oversize headtube with a zero-stack headset.
The frame has internally brazed hidden bosses under the toptube for the custom Kaibab Customs framebags, which Bowei requested in both a large and small size. The chainstays, seatstays and dropouts are stainless, with a brushed finish, complemented by the silver splatter over the Colorworks paint. Final weight is 16.7lbs.
14 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- Rim brakes for gravel bikes? Rob English and Cane Creek say yes (sort of) - CyclingTips - […] information can be found at www.englishcycles.com and […]
Leave a Comment
Contact English Cycles
Contact Via Email
Phone: 1-541-683-3556
Our sister business: Velo B and B
English Cycles is Rob English, 
winner of Best in Show at the 2013 North American Handmade Bike Show. Custom bicycles built in Eugene, Oregon, USA since 2009.
clicking on the photos don’t enlarge them this time for some reason
thanks for letting me know – fixed!
Superb!!!
Curious, given frame size, why you didn’t go with 650, but I suppose given brake choice, you were tire size limited.
Customer choice – he wanted to be able to use existing wheels, and I was able to create a design around 700C without any compromises.
thanks, Rob.
What do you estimate the clearance on those EE gravel breaks will be?
Definitely fits a 44mm tire comfortably. I think the limit is more getting the tire out past the pads – need some wider rim brake rims! Will learn more on the next build.
Hi Rob, again a beautiful build. Do you think, it’s possible to combine these brakes with fenders and 35mm tires?
Hi Reinhard – I think so, there is plenty of space. Just a question of creating an attachment point for the fender on the seatstay close to the brake.
thanks, Rob.
What’s the gearing on it?
The crank has 32/48 rings, and Bowei is running an 11-32 cassette.
thanks,
Rob.
The bikes beautiful… But amazed by the brakes! Just adding a message here in support of getting these brakes production ready. ❤️
Not much clearance to the Front Derailleur. Is that a custom FD Band with some offset built in?
How would a 44mm tyre work with the FD?
Yes, Bowei had the original eTap groupset that doesn’t afford much tire clearance to the front derailleur. I machined the eccentric spacer to give us a couple more mm! The bike is about to be converted to a 1x so that the 44mm rear tire can be fitted.