UK gravel Collective is really excited to be involved with the launch of a brand new Gravel bike in the shape of Fustle’s Causeway.
I’ve been following the company’s progress via their Instagram channel and got in touch with Alistair Becket who is designer and owner of the new brand. After a long chat on the phone where I realised his vision of the perfect Gravel Bike was exactly what I’d been looking for for myself. A bike designed for actual gravel riding rather than based on a road bike or cyclocross bike with a bit of extra clearance thrown in. I really wanted to get involved with the launch as his enthusiasm and passion came across strongly and at the same time he seemed like a really cool guy.
Alistair is the guy behind Reburn design and has products for Nukeproof, Forbidden Bike Company, Privateer Bikes and others from his base in Northern Ireland. This location in itself means the bike will be designed with the conditions we get here in the UK in mind, no Californian tyre clearance here!
Alistair’s design idea is for a “competitive off road bike design to produce a chassis that offers every rider a more stable and confidence inspiring ride while retaining the nimble and efficient nature of a drop bar bike. With each frame designed to accommodate stem length from 60mm – 80mm, you can now pair a short stem with a longer wheelbase chassis for extra stability without compromising on your riding position and fit.“
geometry and fit guide can be found here
I’m really hoping to be able to get a test ride on a causeway (especially the red one as that colour looks awesome!) and let you guys know if Alistairs design is as good as i think it will be.
here’s a few questions for Alistair on his vision for the Causeway bike and Fustle…
Tell us about Fustle bikes
FUSTLE is a small, rider owned brand that provides a simple, no fuss way to custom build your new bike, and utilises it’s unique position to develop innovative chassis kits, free from the constraints of it’s large commercial competitors.
What does this mean? You get the bike that you want, just the way you want it, without the baggage.
Our mission is to develop Bikes that utilise forward thinking technology to provide confidence inspiring stability and handling as well as functionality and versatility.
Located on the coastline just outside Belfast, Northern Ireland, our development and testing is heavily influenced by the local terrain which shapes both the way we ride, and how we design our products. Paired with our background and experience in MTB development, our products deliver functionality and versatility led by off-road influenced technology.
Using our online custom bike builder, we empower our customers to build a specification to suit their needs and preferences, specific to their local terrain and riding style.
Starting out with our Causeway GR1 gravel bike, we will continue to develop into different disciplines and expand our range of Chassis Kits as we see the opportunities develop.
why not spec all the bikes the same and save a lot of hassle?
Born out of frustration and despair at the monotonous model year cycle that constrains the entire cycle industry, I always felt strongly that I should hand over these critical choices to the customer who was buying their bike. After all, it’s their bike, so why should I be the one to choose how it gets built? It turns out, not too many bike brands are built to deliver this.
Selecting final specifications is usually the job of a product manager, and therefore their own riding style and preferences can heavily influence the end product. That can be a really good thing in a lot of ways if they truly understand their customer… but everyone is different, and most want different things from their bike and the experience that they seek to have on each ride.
What choices do potential customers have over say, buying an off the peg bike?
Our custom bike builder offers each customer a choice on virtually every part of the bike build, from handlebar width and flare, to tyre tread and size, without the hassle of selling off your old parts when you find the specific part that you wanted to suit your local terrain or preference.
How is your bike different to the others?
Having spent the last 20 years riding mountain bikes, the time pressures of becoming a parent led me into the world of gravel bikes where their versatility really stirred my interest as I could enjoy riding off road without the hassle of packing up to drive to the mountains for my fix of off road excitement.
When I first started looking at Gravel bikes in more detail, the options were really quite limited based on what I really wanted from a do it all drop bar bike.
It quickly became clear that what was out there tended to be more influenced by the road market than the off road market, which led me to start piecing together what today we call ‘The Causeway GR1’
Launching a bike in the middle of a pandemic is brave!
This isn’t quite how I pictured our launch when I started with the idea of a simple gravel bike over 2 years ago. We are living in a world of change right now, and following the traditional route of visiting a handful of selected journalists with a van full of test bikes to tell our story simply isn’t an option in today’s world as we all battle against this Coronavirus.
Having started so long ago with the development, it’s taken almost 24 months of preparation, testing, supplier meetings and all of the pieces of the puzzle that go into the launch of a new product to get this far.
Our first production run is now finished and Chassis’ kits are on the sea, headed for Belfast port and due at the end of April.
This week we are switching on our website and opening our virtual doors for business, with our first batch of assembly slots already booked up by some loyal and enthusiastic customers who were given the chance to test out our custom bike builder functionality on the website ahead of time.
So what do your customers get?
The Causeway GR1 is our first Chassis Kit that has been under development for approximately 24 months at time of launch.
An aluminium Gravel/Adventure frame with full carbon fork, it is targeted at riders looking for a drop bar bike with MTB pedigree.
It features;
- 6061 Aluminium frame, (tested to ISO 4210 MTB Certification)
- Full UD Carbon Fork and Steerer
- 12x142mm and 12x100mm axle spacing
- Dropped Top Tube for dropper-post compatibility
- Internal Cable routing and dropper post routing
- 31.6mm Seat post diameter
- Tyre clearance for 700x50mm (650x 2.1”)
- Longer front centre frames for use with shorter stem
Available in 3 Sizes
- (XS/SM coming september 2020)
- SM/MD
- MD/LG
- LG/XL
Available in 3 Colours
- Red
- Green
- Blue
- Frame and Fork
- Seatpost and Stem (to offer customer a choice of rider fit)
- Headset, Axles, Chainstay Protection, accessories
Chassis kit from £849.99, Complete Bikes starting at £1999.99
We are continually working with different component suppliers to introduce some additional options that suit the needs of our customers. If you can’t find the part that you really want, get in touch and we will do our best to source it for you.
The options are too long to list, choice is good! more details can be found on Fustle’s website ridefustle.com
UK GRAVEL COLLECTIVE 