A 'celebration of British Engineering' sees aerodynamics expert collaborate with Reap and Detail Bike Tech to come up with an FKT-focused aero gravel machine
(Image credit: Ben Meir)
Dan Bigham is a name that many in the performance cycling world will be familiar with. Less well known, possibly, but growing in reputation and popularity, is British bike brand Reap, which manufactures high-end road and gravel carbon fibre frames in the middle of the UK.
Reap has been around as a company for several years, but the firm's relationship with Bigham stretches back to its origins; he even helped them with ‘aero geekery’ at the start of its journey.
Ahead of this weekend's Rouleur Live show, and as part of a wider project, the brand has collaborated with Bigham to put together a custom Reap 'Best of British' 300 RS gravel bike build.
The Type 300 was first spotted by Cyclingnews at last year's Rouleur Live show amid its prototype phase. In the year since, it has been launched as an aggressive, carbon fibre gravel bike that starts at £6,000 for the frameset. M40J and T800 carbon fibre laminate is used in construction, and the finish looks very nice indeed.
Apparently, Bigham has his eyes on some FKT or 'fastest known time' ride record attempts now that he is based back in the UK. No doubt the perfect project for an aero geek to set a target time and or performance for and then work backwards with an optimised… everything. It sounds like Bigham has the FKT of The Rebellion Way - a 372km route with 2000m of elevation - in his crosshairs.
Reap built the frame for this project, but some other key partners have been involved as well. Hope, Muc Off, and Exposure have kicked in parts too. And master mechanic and long-time spanner man for Bigham, Rich Steels, owner of Detail Bike Tech, built the whole thing up.
There are also some special new wheels, which we will talk about further down in the piece.
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This bike will be on display at Rouleur Live, and Cyclingnews will be bringing you a host of tech and racing coverage from the event.
This is Bigham's Reap 300, the build is dubbed the 'Best of British gravel bike' (Image credit: Ben Meir)
Bigham has added his own WattShop Anemoi II Extension System to get aero whenever he can, note the double water bottle holder 'out back' (Image credit: Ben Meir)
Thre's also an Exposure Lights Toro Mk2 gravel front light mounted neatly between the extensions (Image credit: Ben Meir)
The Toro 16 front light packs 3850 lumens in, punchy. (Image credit: Ben Meir)
Reap has included Biham's Piggy logo on the head and top tube. the Type 300 has 53mm measured tyre clearance and these are 50mm Schwalbe One R Pro tyres. (Image credit: Ben Meir)
These are new models from Foundry Wheels a collaboration between Detail Bike Tech and Velo Barbarian, these are 64mm deep with a 32mm internal rim, so progressive to say the least. (Image credit: Ben Meir)
The wheels are laced to Hope Pro 5 hubs, burly, hardwearing hubs with easy-to-find spare parts (Image credit: Ben Meir)
There's a 1x13 SRAM Red XPLR drivetrain with an aero 50T chainring (Image credit: Ben Meir)
Bigham has paired it to his own WattShop 160mm Cratus crank arms, I also spot a waxed chain, of course... (Image credit: Ben Meir)
Hope Union RC SPD style pedals, though I half expected aero Speedplay pedals to be fitted (Image credit: Ben Meir)
Another bottle is mounted behind the saddle with spares and an Exposure light below it. This leaves the main frame clear, more aero moves, or something simpler? (Image credit: Ben Meir)
The Foundry wheels have matching pink decals, and Muc Off Big Bore Lite tubeless valves finish things off (Image credit: Ben Meir)
The back end looks aggressive, especially with the dropped seatstays. The frame also has a standard road Q-Factor. (Image credit: Ben Meir)
Some more Hope snuck in here, the brand's RX2 calipers, in a DOT fluid version to match the SRAM Red, have been fitted. That's also a Hope disc rotor behind. (Image credit: Ben Meir)
Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
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