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TECH NEWS
Sven Cycles Pathfinder.jpgFirst Look: Sven Cycles Pathfinder
Sven Cycles’ Darron Coppin stopped by road.cc HQ this week to drop off a Pathfinder 1x11 adventure bike, and a high-quality piece of work it looks too.
Sven builds steel bikes in deepest, darkest Dorset – Weymouth, to be exact. The range covers bespoke and semi-custom models.
The Pathfinder is made from Reynolds 921 stainless steel and it’s essentially what we’ve come to call an adventure bike – something that’s rugged and versatile enough to handle a variety of surfaces and types of riding. It comes equipped with disc brakes, thru axles front and rear and eyelets for mudguards and racks. If you want any more eyelets, Sven can add them either when you buy the bike or further down the line . You get enough clearance for 2.6in tyres.
The rear derailleur cable runs through the top tube (you get a full outer) and the rear brake hose runs through the down tube.
Sven has been making this bike for a while, running models with 650B wheels as far back as 2013. All bikes are made to order with a lead time of four to six weeks.
The carbon mudguards you see here are priced at £150. SKS ’guards are fitted as standard.
Pathfinder 1x11 complete bikes start at £3,000. The frame and forks are £1,600.
Our man Dave is going to ride the Pathfinder 1x11 for a few days and bring you a First Ride next week.
Sven will also be at our BikeLive Demo Day in Bath on Sunday, 18 February, where you’ll have the chance to try a couple of models from the range, including the Pathfinder.
Find out all about BikeLive here.
In the meantime, check out the range here. www.svencycles.com
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
Latest Comments
- Geordiepeddeler 3 hours 49 min ago
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
- chrisonabike 4 hours 1 min ago
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
- ktache 5 hours 51 min ago
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
- ktache 6 hours 29 sec ago
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
- Backladder 6 hours 46 min ago
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
- jaysa 7 hours 12 min ago
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
- andystow 8 hours 3 min ago
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
- chrisonabike 10 hours 54 sec ago
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
- mike the bike 11 hours 31 min ago
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...
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7 comments
Ti price and too shiny, but the design is nice and love the mudguards
Are they trying to tap into the lucrative “dyslexics who want to buy a Seven” market
This is my guilty pleasure...
An adventure bike worthy of the name for a change, although I note the Sven website says tyre clearance is 2.2 inches not 2.6 as stated in the article which is still good but not quite as exciting.
I like the idea of stainless tubing for this type of bike and it's never occurred to me that you can just get some extra braze-ons later without ruining the frame - that's cool! The steel forks are a welcome change from a lot of steel adventure bikes, just add some "everything cage" mounts and you're away.
Mark.
Lovely to see a builder speccing Compass tyres as OEM spec. Particualary interested in the the tester makes of those.
I wish I was rich. I would buy one in a heartbeat.
That does look super !