Meet Stayer Cycles – builders of custom steel and now off-the-peg

You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Stayer Cycles. It’s testament to the resurgent handmade-frame/custom build market at the moment that there are so many great builders out there. Stayer is an independent bike builders based in Leytonstone, East London, and formed in 2015.

It’s a tight team, and Judith builds wheels while Sam builds frames, giving Stayer cycles a unique offering to its customers. Years of working together has allowed them to experiment, develop and perfect components tailored to any scenario of bike riding, be it adventuring, racing or commuting.

Sam builds predominantly in steel and stainless steel from Columbus and Reynolds. He’s a self-taught frame builder, learning his trade initially by fixing lugged race bike frames for bikes shops in and around London. More than that, though, brazing has been something of a family hand-me-down skill for him. Sam was taught by his dad, whose dad taught him, and probably ‘and so on’.

Raoul’s Dirt Drop bike

Raoul is a long time friend of GritCX and he was one of Stayer’s first customers. This a fully custom build – his second that the guys have completed for him, but it’s cool to see how there are some clear design cues in Stayer’s off-the-peg design.

So much love for the rack AND dropper combo.

Off-the-peg

Stayer’s designs have evolved, and with that it has now decided to offer some limited off-the-peg options. Not everyone can afford or justify a fully custom frame – and it can be argued that if you are pretty average size and get on fine with other off-the-peg bikes, you might not feel a huge benefit from going down a custom geometry route.

By building in small batches to set geometry, Stayer is therefore able to offer the exclusivity of a small framebuilder for a little less money. You still get the nice warm feeling that comes with knowing exactly who stuck your tubes together in to a bicycle, but don’t pay for some of the stuff you might not need, like a 0.5º slacker head angle.

It took us a while to get used to big headtubes on steel bikes, but this looks suitably purposeful.

The Groadinger

This is Stayer’s 650b gravel bike; purpose built for great handling and off road adventure. With tyre clearance for 650b x 55mm (a BOOST rear spaced option is available, which ups clearance to 650bx2.1mm). It features relatively short chain stays and we love the distinctive curved seat tube.

Apparently “it performs like a monster truck and rides like an agile gazelle on any terrain anywhere in the world (fact)”. Who are we to argue with that?

This is actually Stayer customer, Rupert’s own Groadinger. We like.

Frameset Specifications:

Stainless through axle dropouts
Two bottle cage mount
Built for 1X drive chain systems only
44mm head tube
Super strong TIG welded and filet brazed construction
T47 BB in 68mm
External cable routing

Rolling Chassis Specifications:

Stayer Groadinger 650b steel frame
Whisky No9 CX fork
Hope headset
Stayer 650b on DT 350 Gravel Wheel set
Wheels Manufacturing T47 BB
Seat post collar

Prices are currently being finalised but Stayer is looking at sub-£2000 for the frameset (Stayer frame and Whiskey No9 fork). More details on that to follow, or get in touch with Stayer if you are keen.