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.