Look at this beauty! It's the new Endeavour, a British made steel gravel and adventure bike from Enigma Bicycle Works, the East Sussex-based company best known for producing titanium bikes since 2006.
The Endeavour is made in the UK and is part of the company's Core range of small-batch made stock bikes that enables Enigma to offer more affordable bikes with shorter lead times than its bespoke offerings.
It’s handmade and painted in the UK largely using Columbus Zona tubing, with some Dedacciai and Reynolds added to the mix. It’s a thoroughly modern-looking bike with oversized tube profiles, wide tyre clearance and disc brakes using 12mm thru-axles with flat mount callipers.
Geometry is largely based on the Escape titanium gravel bike and it’s aimed at “ all-road riders looking for a comfortable and versatile machine” says the company. A prototype frame was put through its paces in the Pan Celtic Race – a 1440 mile ultra-endurance race through Scotland, Ireland and Wales by an Enigma employee, proving both how capable and tough the bike is.
The frame has clearance for up to 42mm tyres on 700c wheels, and there’s compatibility with 650b too, up to 47mm wide. The pictured bike is rolling on a set of 38mm wide Panaracer slicks and there’s ample clearance between rubber and metal.
Versatility is ensured with eyelets for mudguards, ear rack, three bottle cages and the brand new GRV carbon fork has triple bosses for Anything racks and cages. There’s also internal dynamo routing for distance riding.
There’s compatibility for all modern groupsets, with mechanical gear cables externally routed and electronic cables going inside the frame. You can choose 1x or 2x as well so suit your preference, and cable guides can be removed if you don’t need them or go wireless.
Claimed frame weight is 1.85kg for a size 52cm and 435g for the fork.
You can buy the Endeavour as a frameset for £1,700 and complete bikes start at £3,000, and it’s possible to spec the bike with any build kit you want. The bike here costs £3,700 with Shimano’s brand new GRX 800 groupset, providing mechanical shifting with hydraulic disc brakes and 2x configuration. It’s also got an optional Hope upgrade kit with the hubs, bottom bracket, headset and seat collar nicely matching the frame decals.
“This is an exciting new direction for Enigma, we wanted to offer a more affordable frame with shorter lead times to our customers but did not want to compromise our UK made ethos or control over production methods and quality. It has also tied in well with our support for the inaugural Pan Celtic Race, there was no better situation than a real-world endurance race to test the bike out and as our man, Chris will testify, its performance excelled,” says Brand Manager Richard Lambert.
Prices:
- Enigma Endeavour Frameset (frame, fork, headset, seatclamp) £1699
- Enigma Endeavour Complete GRX600 1x £2999
- Enigma Endeavour Complete GRX810 2x £3399
- Enigma Endeavour Complete Force AXS 1x £4299
- Hope Upgrade Kit £225
- Painted Stem and Seatpost £160 (not including parts)
More info at www.enigmabikes.com
David has worked on the road.cc tech team since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.