It’s the first day of the 2022 Cycle Show and the road.cc tech team has hit it hard. Here’s part one of our bike highlights package, expect the word ‘gravel’ to figure prominently.
Post pandemic and with the world seemingly falling apart the bike industry has decided that the bike for these tough times has fat tyres, drop bars and can take a hard knock or two. It’s not all gravel though, we’ve also got some endurance bikes in our selection (…yeah, okay similar theme), some road bike exotica and some super colourful paint jobs courtesy of Reilly, Festka, and Stella McCartney (no really). Part two of our Cycle Show highlights will be along shortly and if all this piques your interest then the Cycle Show is on all weekend at Alexandra Palace in that London.
Cannondale’s Topstone 4 is an aluminium gravel bike built up with MicroShift Advent X 10-speed shifting and Promax mechanical disc brakes. It’s priced at £1,100.
The SuperSix EVO SE is the gravel version of Cannondale’s lightweight platform. It’s £4,850 in this build.
This is the super-duper Hi-Mod version of the Cannondale SuperSix Evo. This one, built up with a SRAM Red eTap AXS groupset, is £11,500.
Canyon’s Grail CF SL gravel bike features the Double Decker bar.
The top deck is designed to flex while the bottom deck is intended to be stiff.
The Grizl is Canyon’s gravel bike that’s aimed at endurance and bike packing. This model is fitted with a gravel-specific RockShox Rudy Ultimate XPLR fork.
As the name implies the Endurance CF SLX is Canyon’s endurance road bike. The two-part Canyon S15 VCLS 2.0 CF is designed to flex in order to soften the ride.
Czech brand Festka gets a lot of press thanks to its very cool finishes. This Scot was painted by Ondrash & Kasparek. Their technique involves transferring acrylic paints from a water surface.
This is an Onguza Goat steel gravel bike that was handmade in Namibia by Petrus Mufenge and Sakaria Nkolo and built up with SRAM/Zipp/RockShox XPLR components.
This Chapter 2 Toa has an Artist Edition finish from Kiwi artist Caitlin Fielder, known for her custom handprinted cycling shoes.
We showed you this Cannondale x Stella McCartney SystemSix Ultegra road bike a few months ago. This handprinted design is by Ed Curtis.
The Enigma Esker is made in Sussec from 3Al/2.5V and 6Al/4V titanium tubes. It is designed for mixed terrain endurance riding and combines elements of the brand’s flagship Excel model with the best-selling Escape gravel bike.
The titanium Verso is “a custom bike built to conquer anything from your local bridleway to the hardest one-day gravel race”, according to Paradigm.
The Vars Disc is Spoon Customs’ first carbon road race bike. It mixes tube-to-tube and monocoque construction. Spoon Customs says that the tubes are made from a blend of Today 1000 and a brand new ocean plastic, and the layup can be tubed to suit the individual rider.
The Lios Exactor is an aero road bike that’s available in a number of groupset and wheelset options. This SRAM Red eTap AXS model is £6,495.
This Moots Routt RSL titanium bike is in a custom ‘Stainley’ finish. It’s a sexy build: Enve G Series rims, Chris King Bourbon hubs, headset and bottom bracket, a Stages Dual power meter chainset, and Silca bottle cages.
The Moots Vamoots RCS is designed for rides with changing surfaces. The new model-specific fork is intended to work best with 32mm tyres.
This Reilly T325 titanium road bike is in a really neat rainbow finish. It’s a real beaut.
The Spectre is Reilly’s titanium all-road bike.
It has clearance for 35mm tyres without mudguards, or 32mm with mudguards.
Pearson’s Off Grid carbon gravel bike is designed with versatility in mind. This one is fitted with Classified’s PowerShift hub that does away with the need for a front derailleur.
The On And On is an aero gravel bike from Pearson. It is made from carbon and comes with multiple rack mounts and bottle cage bosses for long-haul touring. Again, this one is fitted with a Classified PowerShift hub.
This year’s Cycle Show is also home to the London eBike Festival so there are a zillion electric bikes here. This Ribble’s Endurance SL e is built up with Shimano Ultegra Di2 components.
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9 comments
The rainbow paint job on the Reilly is nice, but rather defeats one of the objects of a titanium bike, imo.
To anyone considering the Canyon gravel bikes: get the Grizl, it's much more versatile than the Grail.
Disclosure: I owned a Grail until it got nicked last year.
Not a bad bike but:
- The double decker bar is a gimmick, the top flexes, aye, but you only benefit when riding on the tops. If you ride on the tops, typically it wn't be over terrain that requires buffering. Also: this setup imposes severe restrictions: you can't just put on a longer or shorter stem to fiddle with fit. On balance I think the very real drawbacks far outweigh the limited benefits;
- Maybe it changed but I hunted those elusive 'grail specific' mudguards for a year, never managed to find them in stock.
Show bikes with locks. Sad that is apparently what is needed nowadays.
On topic: great to see some actual colours and outspoken paintobs.
Anyone spot the sponsor of the pedestals the 'art' bikes are on...
Yes, I suspect that's the reason than any real concern about theft (you'd have them locked to the base if that were the case).
Sharp. I figured somethink like that, but didn't look close enough. Still think it looks stupid on show bikes, tbh.
Bold choice from Cannondale there on some bikes - no downtube logos.
If only they'd left it off the zebra stripes one - it hurts!
Stella MaCartney - knows what she's about, that one. Amazing paint job, wish I had the cash.