RWK Bicycles Gallery

Here is a gallery of projects that Royal West Kent Bicycles have completed or been involved in. Some of the bicycles and wheelsets were one-off projects but, if you like the look of them, we can find parts for you and produce a bicycle or wheelset that is close to the original.

Customised bicycles and wheelsets

Firefly Urban Warrior Wheelset

This wheelset was built for a client who wanted to turn their Carrera Subway into something a little more exciting. This wheelset used Novatec disc hubs, spokes by Newson Sportec and Vuelta Airline rims. The tyres are by Sweetskins. Sadly, we didn't get to weigh these before they were put on the bike but we estimate that they were about 2/3rds the weight of the original wheels.

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Firefly Urban Warrior Conversion

A client asked to have his Carrera Subway (a common bicycle sold by a large car factors and bicycle saleroom) converted into something different.

We started with a simple change - the wheelset shown above. We then added a drop barset (a Dawes own-brand anotomical barset). We refitted the gear changers and Tektro "aero" brake levers. We added red rake cables to finish off the scheme.

Click on the photograph to see a larger image.

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Firefly Racing Wheelset

This ultralight wheelset was built for our own show bike; an Iceni aluminium framed racer.

The wheels have Mavic CXP13 rims, with Ambrosio Zenith hubs and 28 Newson Sportec spokes and spoke nipples. The rear hub is Campagnolo compatible. The wheelset weighed in at just over 1 kg (sadly the weight sheet was losed in the workshop reshuffle). The tyres are Cheng Shin reds.

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Before

Halfway stage

Firefly Iceni Road Bike

We took the owner's Iceni road bicycle and started to modify it.

The Iceni was designed to take mudguards, so the rear brake would have to be a "long-reach" model. Several companies make good quality long-reach brake sets, including Tektro, Acor and Miche. In the end, we chose a black Acor brake. The front was replaced with a black Campagnolo Veloce brake.

We added the red Firefly Wheelset, shown above. We then added red Hudz STI covers, red chain ring bolts and red crank bolts.

The next stage is to add a red 9 speed chain, red jockey wheels, a red Spyder saddle and red ferrules and cable ends.

Click on the images to see the enlarged photographs.

We can still get Iceni frames but the supply is slowly be reduced as their manufacturer has stopped the production line. They come in red, blue and silver.

Super Pink Jaguar Step-over

Jason and I turned this decaying Jaguar step-over bicycle into something very pink. We did this at the 2011 Capel Parish Fete (click here for the Facebook page).

It took about an hour to do and was admired by the onlookers. Even the chain, cable outers and brake blocks are pink. The easy bits to find were the handle bar grips, charge-bucket saddle and the Halo pink tyres.

Street Pursuit Bicycles and other adaptations

We can adapt bicycles for specific uses, such as grass track, cyclo-cross and street pursuit.

The yellow street pursuit bicycle shown is based on an Emperor steel monocoque mountain-bike frame. Street pursuit rules (almost) dictate that UCI rules on bicycles be ignored, so low-pros and aerodynamic kit is acceptable. This bicycle was specifically designed for long-track street pursuit, where gears would be needed. It has a 8 speed Campagnolo rear dérailleur and cassette and a double front (probably more than required).

We can also do single speed street pursuit bikes for short-track.

Street pursuit is becoming a very rare sport but hopefully things will pick up and more manic Saturday afternoon races will be contested.