Back in 2016, Adam Miller and a crack team of industry veterans (who went on later to launch Revel) unleashed Why Cycles into the wild. Why Cycles offers a full range of titanium framed bikes from your ready-to-bikepack gravel bikes to hardcore hardtails that also aren’t shy of an adventure. Read on to see what the brand has to offer.
- The best titanium mountain bikes you can buy
- Five reasons why you should have a hardtail
- The best titanium gravel and adventure bikes you can buy
Why Cycles specialises in titanium frame bikes with a range of six bikes that covers almost every base you could ask for but each with a quirky twist and a focus on adventure. Oh, and most of them are compatible with belt-drive drivetrains for ultimate ruggedness.
Let’s kick off with the Why Cycles Wayward. Already it’s seen massive adventures from the Baja Divide and the Colorado Trail, making a pretty strong name for itself. Why says that it’s the ultimate off-road bike packing bike that’s built around a 40mm stem and long dropper post.
It rolls on a pair of 29+ wheels and it rocks 120mm of travel up front, however at an extra cost it’s also available with an Oddity Squid Titanium Rigid fork (pictured). As a plus bike, it comes with tonnes of clearance for up to a 29×3.0 tyre. This is one of the bikes in the range that is compatible with a belt-drive.
As for its geometry, a large frame comes sorted with a very respectable 474mm reach, a 67.5° head tube angle with a 420-435mm chainstay and 73.3° seat tube angle.
Prices for the Wayward starts at £2,600.
Next up, the El Jefe is built to take you to the top of the podium after your next XC race then get loaded up ready for a bike packing over-nighter.
It’s a 29er that gets clearance for up to a 2.6″ tyre and you’ll find sliding dropouts at the rear which offer 15mm of chainstay adjustment.
The El Jefe doesn’t get belt-drive compatibility but it does get all of the fender and bottle mounts that you’ll find on the brand’s other bikes.
This bike’s geometry sees in a 474mm reach (on a large frame), a 67.5° head tube angle a 73.3°/75° seat tube angle and a 420-435mm chainstay.
Prices for the El Jefe start from £2,400
Then there’s the S7 (short for Supple Seven). Why says that it’s a blend of simplistic but versatile, comfortable but fast.
It’s built around 650bx2.8″ tyres but gets clearance for up to 2.3″ rubber. If little wheels aren’t for you, it’ll happily run 29″ hoops and it’s belt-drive compatible
As its namesake, the S7 gets an ovalised top tube and a slightly bent seat tube to allow for some vertical flex and the bottom bracket junction has been squared off to retain lateral stiffness. There’s full internal cable routing and sliding drop outs. It’s also built around a 130mm fork.
This bike’s geometry is very similar to the other two we’ve spoken about so far, it just gets 5mm more adjustment at the chainstay and a slightly shorter, 460mm reach on a large frame.
Prices for the S7 start at £2,549
Why Cycles’ R+ takes up the gravel duties in the range. It’s optimised for use with 700c tyres but Why’s engineers have been nice, kitting the frame with clearance for up to 700×46 or 650bx21″ wheels. It can also accommodate an internally routed dropper post.
The R+ geometry gets a 389mm reach on a large frame, a 73° seat tube angle with a 72° head tube angle and a 420mm chainstay. Going back to the head angle, it steepens by half a degree as it goes up in size. For example, the small gets a 70.5° angle, while the XL comes with a 72.5° head angle.
Prices for the R+ start at £2,500
Now Why Cycles’ range gets even more niche. Introducing the Big Iron. It probably goes without saying but this is the brand’s fat bike with clearance for up to 650bx4.5″ or 26×5″ tyres. It’s the culmination of the team’s experience, fat biking in Alaska during the early days of snow-riding. Of course, it’s belt-drive compatible.
Why says that it’s designed to get the job done, be it quick blasts along your favourite singletrack or multi-day epics across super soft ground.
The Big Iron gets a mountain bike-esque geometry that’s been tweaked for use with those fat tyres. It gets a longer-than-most 457mm reach (on a large) with a 73° seat tube angle, a 68.7° head angle and a 445-460mm adjustable chainstay. Its 457mm seat tube offers space for longer dropper posts and it’s front triangle has enough space to store frame bags.
Prices for the Big Iron start at £2,600
Rounding off the range is the TF (short for Take Flight) which is a great indication of how well rounded Why’s range is. It can be run with a belt-drive, geared or single speed.
A bit of a curveball, but the TF is designed around 650b wheels rather than the commonly used 26″ hoops. Why has done this because the team reckons that the larger wheels offer more bottom bracket drop while keeping the pedals at the same height off the ground. The brand says that this improves handling and cornering ability.
It gets only one size with a 417mm reach, a 69° head tube angle and a 44mm bottom bracket drop.
The TF is available from £1,950.
You might be wandering why we’re not mentioning full builds here. Cyclorise offers each bike with Shimano SLX, XT or XTR build kits with fork options but you’ll need to get in touch with the team there for a proper quote.
