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Gallery: 15 stunning bikes from Enve’s Builder Round-Up, as seen by Rob English

The master framebuilder gives his thoughts on the bikes that caught his eye.

Rob English
by Rob English 10.07.2024 Photography by
Enve
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A full-time framebuilder, Rob English is an occasional contributor at Escape Collective. You can read Rob’s previous works in his Whys of Bike Tech column.

Enve Composites, based in Ogden, Utah, a brand known for its carbon wheels and other components, recently threw open its doors for the sixth running of its open house/builder round-up/gravel event weekend.

This year, 24 custom builders were invited to build a bike for display using Enve components. I have sent a bike along for the show several times, and last year was able to attend in person – it was very interesting to visit Enve’s HQ and have a tour of their manufacturing facility. And the 92-mile (148 km) Grodeo gravel event was beautiful and challenging.

When I was invited this year, Enve told me they had some new time trial wheels in the works, and asked whether I’d be interested in building a bike to display those. I haven’t built a TT bike in quite a long while, so that sounded interesting. And when I spotted what looked like Enve aero extensions on the UAE Team Emirates bikes, I asked if those might be available too – which was a ‘yes’ but likely only just in time for the show.

Being my own worst customer at times, I designed something that was very difficult to build … but that is the nature of prototype bikes – to push myself as a fabricator and see what can be learnt. Things eventually came together, and I was able to arrive in Ogden with an almost complete bike – the wheels and extensions were there waiting for me, and with a few hiccups, the build was ready just in time.

The selection of bikes on show spanned the world from Colombia to France, with almost every commonly used material used, in various combinations. Although, this year titanium had the largest share – 10 bikes had frames made solely from titanium, six from steel, four from carbon, three combined metal and carbon, and one in aluminium to complete the set.

Not every builder was in attendance, and I didn’t manage to speak to everyone that was, but I tried to learn a little about each bike and the builders.

And finally, this year’s Grodeo ride was hot, rough, and loose! I brought a more gravelly gravel bike this year – larger tires and a bit more wheelbase, plus a dropper post – but would still have liked to have had a mountain bike for some sections! The beauty of being in the mountains remained though, as did the type-two fun of some of the endless climbs.

Last year this was the first event I had done that definitely isn’t a race, and once again I found it a revelation just to find a group to ride with, enjoy the terrain and scenery, and hang out at the rest stops. Very much recommended should you find yourself in Utah in June!

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