Swift Cycles – Fairlight Bikes

Over near Liverpool Street in this here London is a bike shop called Swift Cycles and whenever I have been in there I have always been really impressed with the staff.

My mate, whose family has a big biking history and whose mum still holds some road records up there I believe, reckoned that it was a ‘proper bike shop’.

Anyway my divorce is nearly complete so I was toying with the idea of maybe buying another road bike as my Genesis Equailibrium is a touch large I think, so I leave it permanently on the Kickr.

So I went up there the other day to idly browse as I know they are big on bike fitting and a retul comes free with bikes over £1200.

And I saw their new brand, Fairlight Cycles.

One bike’s a Genesis Croix de fer-alike and the other is an 853 thing that James Hayden has just ridden on the transcontinental race

(article here – pretty interesting : http://milltag.cc/news-1/james-hayden-interview)

They do the bike with two headtube sizes and I think 9 seattube lengths, which fits with their emphasis on bike fit I would think.

The tubes are shaped so they are laterally stiff but vertically compliant.

I talked to a very enthusiatic guy who turns out to be the shop founder, Jon Reid, who said they had Dom Thomas as their designer, who used to design bikes for Genesis.

(can see them here : http://fairlightcycles.com/inside-fairlight/who-we-are/)

The bikes are going to properly be in the shop in 3 or so weeks, and the 853 one looked really nice, although the tall headtube one looked slightly off to me.

But one thing that also looks pretty impressive to me, considering the possible nichness of only selling from the shop and from the internet, waere the prices which I thought were pretty reasonable.

The 853 Strael with Ultegra is only £2199, with Hunt wheels and RS685 hydro brakes. And the Ultegra DI2 is £2699.

Anyway, I thought it was worth pointing them out, even if it is just an addition to the “I’m visiting London, what bikes shops should I visit?” question that pops up often.

Obviously I am not connected to them at all, I don’t think I have even ever bought much more than tubes from them.

Ssshhh! Keep it to yourself! I’d spotted them and am desperately hoping they are

A) Still in stock this time next year

and

B) They don’t suddenly increase their prices if they get popular.

They’re basically everything I’ve been looking for, I’m in the market for a fairly high stack so the 56T geometry looks good to me, although I’m sure the headtube will be a bit of a monstrosity… Also I’ve never owned an 853 frame before so I’ll finally get to tick that box. Good prices too.

Hoping to see some complete bike weights though, think they state 1.95kg for a frame, don’t actually know if that’s good or not for a steel road bike frame, seems heavy?

I am going to try one when they are in.

At those prices you could go for better finishing kit to keep the weight down maybe – that’s what I will do if I decide to get one.

That’s the same frame weight as a shand stoater, thought it might be a bit lighter.

I set a goal of achieving 1.9Kg for a 56cm frame, which as far as I could tell would make it the lightest production steel disc road frame on the market.

Almost certainly lighter than some of the alternatives I was considering (Salsa Vaya) and definitely lighter than my MTB, so still good.

My budget would allow me to go for 105 model with some 28c GP4000s and maybe a carbon post, might shave 100 grams or so… 🙄

Go for a titanium post if you can – what I thought was the fabled steel feel on my other bikes turned out to be the seatpost, as I found out when I broke it.

Good point, it would go extra well with the white frame, as per my old CAAD9 8)

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Went in yesterday and was very impressed with them. Came on here to do a search to see if I could see any info them and found this thread. My ideal bike would be the Croix de fer but the geometry doesn’t work for me. These seem to fit quite nicely, I’m going young to pop back in this morning for another viewing. Like this little video from the site.

Well, I popped in at lunch today and a good chat with Jon. It’s nice to talk to the owner of the brand rather than just a salesman.

Anyway unless something comes up between now and then it looks like the Faran will be my new bike come November/December when my size comes in 🙂

I think I will end up with the other one 9means Arrow apparently).

Prices are good, it is nice steel (and looks cleverly made), and I think they know their fitting pretty well, and fitting is included.

Just got to see what it rides like.

teadrinker

Out if intrest what doesn’t work for you on the CDF geometry

The headtube and stack. I just find them to low down, Being a tall one I find I’m quite hunched over the bike and I like to feel a bit more upright than low down. The Faran seems to have that with 61T.

I had a look at some fairlights the other day at swift cycles, particularly the faran. I was very impressed and will hopefully be test riding in a few weeks when they get my size in. They are nicely finished frames with that elusive Goldilocks geometry that I’m hoping will fit me just right.

The quality of the build by swift was also very impressive, and the staff are incredibly helpful and friendly. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the Liverpool Street area.

Did any one land up getting one of these? How you getting on with them?

Guardian review was pretty decent :

review

Unfortunately not, I’m still waiting on the size to come through. I’ve just picked up a new Orange RX9 frame set for £200 which i’ll use for now. I was originally told early December for a frame, after 5 months I’m bored of waiting to be honest. If they come into stock I may get re consider but at the moment it’s firmly on the back burner.

I’ve decided I don’t want discs so will be trying to build something as close to the Strael as possible but with long drop callipers, probably an Equilibrium.

Shame though, look like nice bikes and good write ups but discs just aren’t for me.