{"id":2541,"date":"2021-01-21T19:58:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T19:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/?p=2541"},"modified":"2021-01-21T19:58:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T19:58:23","slug":"2013-nahbs-english-cycles-custom-rigid-29er-mountain-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/2013-nahbs-english-cycles-custom-rigid-29er-mountain-bike\/","title":{"rendered":"[2013 NAHBS] English Cycles – Custom Rigid 29er Mountain Bike"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rob<\/a>
Rob English – English Cycles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

photos by: Jake Moore<\/a><\/p>\n

Rob English of English Cycles builds his unique completely custom bikes in Eugene, Oregon. Rob is known for pushing the envelope with his bike builds creating machines that continually impress his customers and fans of his work. Rob’s bikes seem like they are always on the cutting edge of design yet he builds with mostly steel which to most wouldn’t seem cutting edge at all.<\/p>\n

We got to spend a little time with Rob to talk about English Cycles at the 2013 North American Handmade Bicycle Show<\/a> and check out a few of his latest bikes.<\/p>\n

Rob talks about his personal rigid 29er he brought to the show:<\/h6>\n

“These days I mostly ride singlespeed, but some rides it is good to have gears. So I built myself a 1×9 29er. I used a 73mm BB shell and careful shaping of the chainstays, along with a curved seattube, to keep the chainstays nice and short at 415mm (16.3″). This tucks the rear wheel under for good traction and helps even out the weight distribution for my fairly long and low riding position. I really liked the look of curved twin toptubes\/seatstays when I did it on a cruiser, so employed the same design here – these tubes also provide very clean direct routing for the derailleur cable and rear hydraulic hose. A titanium seatpost provides a bit of passive suspension, along with 2.4″ tubeless tires at low pressure. With the single ring and not being ready to move up to XX1 yet, I machined a small, lightweight chainkeeper that is attached to a custom mount on the seattube. The front end has a one-piece stem-steerer, and a fork to match, with the hydraulic hose running internally from stem to brake. And I had some carbon tubing left over, so added an insert to the headtube.”<\/p>\n

\"Rob's<\/a>
Rob’s latest rigid 29er mountain bike<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Interview with Rob English:<\/h6>\n

What is your overall design and focus?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like to think I take an engineering approach to building what a customer needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
the rear view really shows off the twin top tube design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Are all your bikes custom or do you have standard models?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I build is custom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"tiny<\/a>
tiny cross brace with a custom E between the top tubes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you build primarily road or mountain?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI build everything. I\u2019ve built everything from a 9lb kick bike to a tandem recumbent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
the twin top tube house the rear shifter and brake lines | the front brake line is routed through the stem down the fork leg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is the most common tubing used in your bikes?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrue temper, almost everything I build is steel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"headtube<\/a>
headtube detail showing the holes for the two housings to run through | credit: ColorWorks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When did you get started building bikes?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI built my first bike at 15 (recumbent) then I got a Masters in mechanical engineering and started applying that to building bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"brake<\/a>
brake line exiting the seatstay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"shifter<\/a>
shifter cable exiting the drive side seatstay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you weren\u2019t building bikes what would you be doing?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would be doing something with bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"custom<\/a>
custom cockpit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Powdercoat or paint?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had been doing powdercoat myself and then just started working with ColorWorks in Eugene doing wet paint.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
the custom stem is a one piece design that also includes the steerer tube which is then clamped below at the fork<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What was your first childhood bike?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c1991 Specialized Stumpjumper comp. I rode and raced on it for 10 years. In 2001 I bought another one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"drivetrain<\/a>
drivetrain detail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is your favorite trail?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSingletrack where I grew up in England.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you end up in Eugene, Oregon?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was hired by Bike Friday as their engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n

SRAM or Shimano?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToo tough to call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burrito or taco?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBurrito.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob’s Personal Time Trail Bike<\/h6>\n

This bike is custom from front to back with many one off parts that Rob made himself. You can learn all about this amazing machine at BikeRada<\/a>r.<\/p>\n

\"English<\/a>
English Cycles custom time trial bike<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cutting edge builder from Eugene, Oregon Rob English gives us a chat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[14,11,58,12,41,159,27,21,24],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2013-nahbs-english-cycles-rigid-29er-8.jpg",770,1024,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2013-nahbs-english-cycles-rigid-29er-8-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2013-nahbs-english-cycles-rigid-29er-8-226x300.jpg",226,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2013-nahbs-english-cycles-rigid-29er-8-768x1021.jpg",768,1021,true],"large":["https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2013-nahbs-english-cycles-rigid-29er-8-451x600.jpg",451,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2013-nahbs-english-cycles-rigid-29er-8.jpg",770,1024,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/2013-nahbs-english-cycles-rigid-29er-8.jpg",770,1024,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"J.A. Caldwell","author_link":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/author\/ogmtb\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Cutting edge builder from Eugene, Oregon Rob English gives us a chat.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldglorymtb.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}