2026 Bespoked Osaka: English Cycles All-Road / Gravel Travel Bike

Rob English builds some of the most attractive, clever, and well-appointed bicycles around today. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him and his work over the years through my various editorial roles in bike media. I never really thought owning one of his bikes would be within the realm of possibilities for me, but after I had a positive time reviewing Ritchey’s new travel bike two years ago, Rob and I began talking about what one of his travel bikes could look like in my vision. 

Over time our conversations got more serious and I began compiling an intentional collection of parts that might someday go on such a bike. With air travel a constant part of my job, and a few international trips already on my calendar for the latter part of this year, we made things official. And, here at Bespoked Osaka, I am displaying my custom English travel bike, build around the idea of all-road and gravel performance with room to clear our Protocol tires in the marquee size of 700 x 55mm. 

Influenced by his time working at Bike Friday, English’s travel bikes are in a class of their own. Usually, travel bikes come with compromises of either dealing with heavy, bulky couplers or a bike that feels a bit dead on the road. For this build, I envisioned a singular "all-road" machine that could transition seamlessly from a fast, fat-tire road bike to a big-tire gravel machine. To achieve this, English landed on a geometry with 68mm of trail on 50mm tires for a ride quality that feels lively and intentional, while stopping short of a raked out, long wheelbase, modern gravel race bike.

There are a variety of key design and component decisions that make this build possible. First, English cleverly shrunk the bike’s footprint without sacrificing performance. By designing the geometry around a setback seatpost, the he steepened the actual seat tube angle by a degree. This subtle shift keeps the chainstays short at 436mm and makes the entire frame slightly shorter from front to back. That extra bit of compactness is crucial for fitting the frame for my 6’1” body in a standard airline-checkable case.

Instead of splitting in half like most travel frames, this one utilizes a folding system that Rob has spent years refining. It adds less than 150 grams to the overall system weight, retains the snappy ride feel of high-end steel, and means you never have to disconnect cables or hose when packing. The chainstays pivot right around the bottom bracket shell, and the custom 4130 wishbone seatstays detach as a separate piece, locking back into the dropouts using the rear thru-axle when it’s time to ride. It is a wonderfully simple, single-piece breakdown.

The frame itself is a mix of Columbus and True Temper steel tubing, tuned specifically for me and my riding style, with shaped chainstays to create that ample tire clearance. The integration on the rest of the build is just as clever. The cable routing is cleanly optimized for mechanical Paul Klamper disc brakes, and wireless shifting via the SRAM mechanical AXS levers I’ve been storing for years. Thus, there are zero derailleur cables to mess with. The custom X-Pac framebag from San Util is affixed with brazed internal bosses so it can bolt right on rather than deal with velcro or nylon straps. I chose custom titanium seatpost and handlebar from BTCHN’ Bikes for their enhanced ride quality and inherent durability over carbon when repeatedly being packed in a relatively small case. 

The execution of this project would not have been possible without the new Rodeo Labs Spork 4.0. Weighing around 450 g (the lightest Spork yet), it can clear up to a 29 x 2.4” tire and accommodate 160mm/180mm direct mounted brake calipers. But the most important aspect to me is its support for Schmidt's Nabendynamo (SON) SL Self-Connecting system. The only carbon fork to use the SL connectorless dropouts, when you drop the wheel into place, the fork dropouts automatically hook up the electrical connection to power the lights without the classic fragile plugs once mandatory for dynamo systems. The rear light wire is threaded completely inside the frame to keep things tidy and the little brazed boss opposite the light on the seat tube acts as both an attachment point for a full size frame bag and a stop for the seatpost so there’s never a question of height when I’m removing it frequently during travels. 

Lastly, and I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but having a waxed chain might be the most integral part of the whole package. I’ve put about 200 miles on the bike since landing in Japan, and the chain is still totally clean, making packing and assembly more seamless than it’d be if I were worried about avoiding grimy components.

It’s easily one of the most thoroughly thought-out travel bikes out there. It proves that my desire for wide tire clearance doesn’t have to come at the expense of ride quality or packability.

I'll be sharing more about this bike and how I'm using it in the coming weeks. Let me know what you want to learn about it!