EPIC CYCLES
ESCAPE – EXPLORE – ADVENTURE
EPIC CYCLES
ESCAPE – EXPLORE – ADVENTURE
We wanted to reassure all of our customers that we are open for business and our sales department is operating at full speed, whilst operating to the highest standards of social distancing and hygiene. During the Covid-19 crisis we are receiving a truly unprecedented volume of enquiries. We are all working flat out to get back to everyone as soon as possible, but please accept our apologies if there is a short delay before we are able to reply fully to your enquiry.
We normally operate on an appointment basis for physical sales visits, but for now and concentrating entirely on remote selling, from initial enquiry right through to home delivery (or collection from a covered outdoor area – please note that indoor sales visits are currently suspended). Our remote selling processes are very well established and the bottom line is that whether you visit us or not, you will receive the same market leading levels of customer service, personal attention and expert advice, whatever your budget – as well as our unbeatable every day low prices.
Due to supply issues on a large number of smaller individual components, parts and accessories, we are temporarily unable to offer any fully custom bikes that are built from bare framesets, and are limiting the customisations we can offer to factory built bikes to wheelset upgrades and tyre swaps. Due to exceptionally high levels of demand and the extra admin involved, we are currently unable to accept any new orders using the Cycle to Work scheme. Existing Cycle to Work orders will of course be fulfilled as normal.
Cross Cartel Rides 2021
Our free to enter Cross Cartel rides are back! And we've added a new one - the ‘Back Lanes Bash’. Our existing rides are suitable for gravel bikes and MTBs, but for 2021 we will be adding a route that will also be rideable on road bikes with sensible [...]
Gravel Tyres
If ever there was a discipline where tyre choice can make or break a ride it's gravel or multi terrain riding. In a single ride you can encounter a full range of surfaces from paved roads and dirt tracks, to gravel, mud and rocks. And with seasonal or daily weather [...]
Cross Cartel #4 – The Autumn Epic Gravel Ride
The final Cross Cartel ride of 2020 is on Sunday 11th October - the 64Km Autumn Epic, like all of our self-supported rides, is ideally suited to socially distanced riding. Just sign up on-line, download the route, then 'rock up and ride'. No fees, no mass starts, no support [...]
A Kit List From The GBDIVIDE:
One of the main questions I was asked before, during, and after, my ride on the GBDIVIDE was what kit I was taking. Whether it was my camping setup, the bike itself, or the bags I was carrying, people seemed to be interested in what I took with me [...]
OUR BIKES
Summarising our range of bikes is quite tricky, as it covers a huge number of models and many of them fall easily into more than one category. But that kind of versatility is just fine with us – so we’ve opted to group our bikes into four broad categories that reflect the type of riding you might have in mind, but some bikes will appear in more than one grouping. If you’d prefer to browse our range by brand then please scroll down a little, or visit our menu at the top of the page for instant access to individual models and brands.
Road bikes are, as the name suggests, designed for riding efficiently on anything that might be classified as a road. Their range has extended considerably in recent years, enabled largely by the adoption of disc brakes. They now cover everything from smoothly paved roads right through to poorly surfaced back lanes, and even occasional light off-road dry weather use on surfaces such as canal towpaths and hard-packed leisure trails. Most of our road bikes are drop barred (but not all of them), and they cover all kinds of riding from racing, through general leisure riding, to commuting and light touring. At the far edge of their range they begin to overlap with gravel or multi-terrain bikes, but with geometries, riding positions and components that are more suited to paved surfaces.
Gravel bikes (aka mixed or multi-terrain bikes) are arguably the most versatile bikes you can buy. It’s a very broad category, featuring bikes that are capable of riding in a huge range of conditions, from paved surfaces right through to singletrack and properly unsurfaced trails. They effectively bridge the divide between pure road bikes and MTBs, eating well into the world of off-road riding and exploration. So if you are looking for a bike that is highly capable on both roads and dirt then gravel bikes may well be for you. Efficient, reliable and comfortable over a multitude of surfaces, and ranging from gravel racing rigs right through to adventure-ready bike-packing machines, the gravel category has seen an explosion in growth in recent years, thanks to technical advances in bike design.
Adventure and touring bikes bring together bikes that can also be categorised as road, multi-terrain or mountain bikes. Some are ideally suited to road use, some to extreme off-road use, while others are designed to cover a wide variety of surfaces and terrain types. What they all have in common is the ability to carry you over large distances with plenty of luggage on board. In essence, the more challenging the terrain or the bigger your luggage load is, the heavier and more robust your bike needs to be – and you’ll also be needing other features that add to the bike’s ability to navigate rough terrain effectively, such as larger tyres, a highly stable frame geometry and wider handlebars etc.
The MTB category is extremely diverse, covering many different styles and types of off-road riding. From fast race-ready hardtails to big-mountain full suspension rigs, with trail bikes and off-road adventure bikes in between. We even have a couple of drop barred MTBs in our range, ideally suited for those looking to take on long distance adventure racing. MTBs overlap to some extent with gravel bikes in terms of the conditions they are designed to handle – they fall short when riding on paved surfaces and are less efficient over lighter off-road trail, but take up where gravel bikes reach the limits of their off-road capability, taking you much further into challenging and technical terrain.
OUR BIKE BRANDS
Every Basso frame is still hand-made to the most exacting standards in Italy from raw materials upwards. It’s not just an Italian name slapped onto a frame that has been outsourced to a third party manufacturer in a far off land – a Basso is 100% authentically Italian, but without an arm-and-a-leg price tag. It’s one of the few products available that represents something more, something real. An Italian frame, made in Italy, made by Basso.
Bianchi are true legends of the road bike world – established in 1885 in Via Nirone in Milan, they are the world’s oldest bike brand. Bianchi have been at the forefront of bike technology for over a century, and it shows – their class, level of finish and attention to detail shines out of every frame. As the UK’s number one independent Bianchi store, our experience and knowledge of the brand is market leading.
Bombtrack’s ethos is simple: to design bikes influenced by the lifestyle of the everyday cycling enthusiast, with attention to detail that you would expect from a custom frame builder. Whilst the range is diverse, it is very much targeted at exploration and adventure cycling – whether gravel, endurance all-road racing or all out bikepacking. Versatility is one of Bombtrack’s core design principles, with a lot of bikes being suitable for a multitude of uses.
Cannondale bikes are engineered to perform at the very pinnacle of every category. From the thoroughbred road racing focus of the SuperSix EVO and CAAD12 to the all-day comfort of the Synapse, from the World Cup winning Scalpel to the mountain-taming Jeckyl, Cannondale bikes deliver lightest-in-class weights, razor-sharp handling and perfectly balanced performance. It all adds up to a ride that, regardless of model or discipline, is distinctly Cannondale.
Felt bikes hail from California, and are designed and engineered with one overriding aim in mind, summed up by their mission: Go. Fast. Felt’s core belief is shared by many – they think that going fast is fun and they make our bikes accordingly. Since 1991, they have strived to be the most innovative cycling company on the planet. Felt’s goal is to help each rider ascend to a victory, surpass a personal record, or achieve a perfect ride on the parcours of their liking.
ENIGMA
Enigma are renowned for building high performance frames in titanium that are designed to excel in UK conditions – covering all types of drop barred bikes, including their two best sellers, the road+ Etape and the gravel/adventure Escape. We love the sheer quality and class of their framesets, and the awards and reviews that Enigma receive are proof we aren’t the only ones! Stunning, timeless and excellent value for money.
From their earliest products, the over-riding goal Kinesis UK has always been to create bikes, bike frames, wheels and components that excel in UK riding conditions. Kinesis was the very first brand that we stocked we opened over a decade ago, as we knew from the start that any bike with the Kinesis UK badge on must be well made and dependable all year round and perform at a level well beyond its price point, whatever the conditions or terrain.
Orbea make some of the World’s finest bikes, well known for their history in the pro peloton. Based in the Basque country, Orbea have a long and proud history dating back 175 years to the days of the Orbea brothers. The passion that Orbea apply to the design and manufacture of bicycles is evident in everything they do – design flair, custom paint options, technical excellence, and an obsession for quality shine out of every bike.
Salsa’s strapline sums them up perfectly: “Adventure by Bike”. They fundamentally believe that a sense of adventure makes life better. Salsa view the bike as “a path to new places, new people, and amazing experiences”. And who are we to argue! Salsa Cycles has flourished by developing pioneering bikes considered too niche by the big players – and they have stayed at the forefront when those niches have caught on and moved into mainstream.