Reviews

Enigma Elite HSS ST

Beautiful custom-built steel bike from Enigma's 'Fast Endurance' range

One of the best things about cycling’s increasing popularity is the number of smaller brands who are able to survive making beautiful, custom bikes.

Another great thing, certainly for anyone with a traditional streak in them, is that lots of these boutique brands like to work with metal or, as many riders who got into cycling in the mid-90s or before would say, ‘proper bikes’. Take this Enigma Elite HSS ST, for example.

Enigma are a company that specialise in proper bikes. They build frames from steel and titanium, and style them wonderfully so they wouldn’t look out of place in the modern peloton

Enigma are a company that specialise in proper bikes. They build frames from steel and titanium, both materials that will bring a grin to the face of the purists, and style them wonderfully so they wouldn’t look out of place in the modern peloton.

They’ve also actually been building bikes in Britain since 2006 – and by that we mean literally making the frames, and that’s part of the reason they’re able to offer an absolutely stunning range of options.

We can assure you that this bike looks every bit as amazing in reality as it does in the pictures.

One of the best of those options is colour choice. Because Enigma have their own paint shop, they can paint almost anything you fancy, whether it’s a smart matte black or a design that looks like a fight between Salvador Dali and Jackson Pollock. Or this stunning electric orange finish.

Enigma actually paint bikes for other people as well. If you remember, late last year we told you about Boardman Bikes new custom options, and all of those are painted by Enigma as well. If you have a moment, we definitely recommend taking a look at the short video Enigma made about their Paintworks on Vimeo, it’s well worth a watch.

So, on to the Elite HSS ST. The HSS comes from the material used: Columbus Spirit HSS triple-butted steel. We can assure you this bike looks every bit as amazing in reality as it does in the pictures. During the shoot we had this in the studio with a whole load of other carbon beauties, but it was the Enigma that turned heads.

The Elite is an example of what Enigma call their ‘fast endurance’ geometry, which basically means it’s a race bike. It’s also worth noting they’ll happily build you one of these with custom geometry should you wish, so there’s the potential to go full custom with that and the paint options.

Frame weight on these starts at 1,580g, so you won’t be building one into a 5kg mountain climbing special, but then you don’t buy a steel bike in the first place if that’s your end game. The frameset takes a 31.6mm seat post, and has a 11/8” to 1.5 steerer along with an English thread bottom bracket and a braze-on front derailleur mount.

Price: from £2,450
Website: Enigma Bikes

But they’re not just available as framesets. Although a frameset will cost you £1,575 and just the frame (without fork) £1,299, Enigma also offer three standard Shimano builds. Shimano 105 comes in at £2,450, Ultegra at £2,850 and Dura-Ace at £3,999.

All of these come with Mavic wheels – model depends on price – and Enigma’s own finishing kit for stem, bars, post and saddle. Having said that, Enigma also offer both with Shimano and Campag EPS groupsets, as well as using any finishing kit you fancy, but the price will obviously vary depending on what you have.