Custom bike build services East of England, Suffolk and Essex

Sum of the parts.

There comes a time in the life of every cyclist when it’s time to ride a custom bike with a bespoke frame with a personalised selection of the bicycle components. Lifecycle UK specialises in building custom bikes with extensive experience and knowledge of the best frames and suitable components.

Every custom bicycle build starts with a conversation

Coffee custom bike build essex suffolk
Drop in and talk about your custom bike, a brew and biscuits will be at the ready.

We always start a personalised assessment of your ride requirements — every rider will have a unique physiology and expectations from a bicycle.

And every custom bicycle build starts with a MorphoLogics bike fit.

Independent bicycle shop Essex and Suffolk
You can count on us

We have been established for over 15 years and by now we have fairly seen every type of manufacturer, frame set, component and wheel set come through our doors — with every issue imaginable.

This has provided a real depth of experience and knowledge of the good the bad and the down and dirty plain ugly.

And of course — we have also seen the beautiful!

As a result, we are best placed to pass on this expertise to you our customer, to assist in making the best choices when it comes to building your perfect custom bike.

The custom bicycle build process

Consultation for a Custom Bicycle Build Build Essex Suffolk
Bike Build Consult

We will make an appointment to visit the shop and talk about what you are looking for — we can offer advice on achieving your perfect bicycle.

Bicycle Fit and Meaurements for Custom Bicycle Build Build Essex Suffolk
Measure & Fit

The important part - this is the foundation of the ride dynamics and importantly, your comfort on the bike. And for every new bicycle build you get a free bike fit.

Frame and Components for Custom Bicycle Build Build Essex Suffolk
Frame & Components

We can provide advice with choosing from a vast array of bicycle components available and recommend a frameset to suit your riding requirements and budget.

Custom Bicycle Frame Build Build Essex Suffolk
Frame finish & build

Once the frameset has been delivered and all the parts are at the shop we start the process of building your bike based on the bike fit measurements.

Fit and adjustments for Custom Bicycle Build Build Essex Suffolk
Check & adjust

When the bike build is complete we will invite you back to the fitting studio to check the bike fits and make fine adjustments to match your physiology and riding position.

Ride a Custom Bicycle Build Build Essex Suffolk
Handover & ride

We check the bicycle fits and feels comfortable in our fitting studio.

If at any time you feel the fit needs some adjusting we will gladly make sure you are 100% satisfied.

Choosing your custom bicycle frame

Custom Aluminium bicycle frame - East England
Aluminium

Aluminium frames are generally stiffer and lighter than steel.

Custom Carbon bicycle frame - East England
Carbon

Carbon fibre is often regarded as the dream material – when well produced it’s light and stiff, and it can be moulded into any shape.

Custom Steel bicycle frame - East England
Steel

Even with the advent of carbon fibre, steel is (and always will be) a really good material for building bicycle frames, because it’s light, stiff and durable.

Custom Stainless Steel bicycle frame - East England
Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is extremely strong, competing with titanium — and it's cheaper than titanium. It also gives you the strength and longevity of titanium without losing the feel of steel.

Custom Titanium bicycle frame - East England
Titanium

Titanium is desirable because it’s lighter than steel and stronger than steel and aluminium, and its high fatigue strength means a titanium frame should last forever.

Our frame builders

We know and trust our framebuilders for their high standards of design and manufacturing. Thanks to Cicli Barco for the image above showing a steel frame build in progress.

Paint & finish makes a bicycle truly unique

Paint and finish can make the biggest difference to a custom bicycle build and offers an opportunity to make your bicycle truly unique.

We work with two custom bicycle painters and recommend them - based on years of experience working with them and the quality of paint and finish they have delivered.

We trust these painters and finishers with an array of work from a raw titanium finish with gold leaf highlights lettering graphics to a deep lustre metallic paint.

Custom Bicycle Paint - Enigma Bikes Essex Suffolk
Enigma paint works deliver brilliant paint and a choice of finishes to titanium. And if you are looking for exceptional detailing their anodising service ticks all the boxes. Enigma Bikes Instagram feed.
Custom Bicycle Paint - Cyfac, Essex Suffolk
Cyfac have a depth of experience and excel at painting and finishing carbon bicycle frames. Cyfac paint on Instagram

Choosing the components for your custom bicycle build

Bicycle Saddle Fizik Essex Suffolk East of England

Saddle

The saddle is a key point of contact with the bicycle so it's important to get this right, we have experience with a number of saddle manufacturers and the options they offer.

Bicycle Seatpost Essex Suffolk

Seat Post

There are a number of seat post brands out there offering seat posts made with carbon and aluminum - as an independent retailer we can offer the best advice when choosing the correct seat post to match the build and your fit measurements.

Bicycle Stem Essex Suffolk

Stem

The first consideration when choosing the correct stem is based on your bike fit and measurements. There are a number of manufacturers and options to choose from which we offer advice and guidance.

Bicycle Handlebars Bike Shop Essex Suffolk

Handlebars

Your bike fit and measurements are another important factor when choosing handlebars. And you can draw on our experience when choosing the ideal set of handlebars.

Bicycle Brakes and Gears Shop Essex Suffolk

Brake & Gear Levers

You are spoiled for choice when it comes to gear and brake levers. Mechanical, electric, blue-tooth enabled — you name it. The major brands, Campagnolo, Shimano and Sram have spent years developing their products which makes them function with ease and very reliable.

Bicycle bar tape shop Bikes Essex Suffolk

Bar Tape

We always find our customers have personal choices with bar tape, choosing levels of comfort, leather or synthetic and last but not least - choice of colour. We have an array of bar tapes in stock to help in choosing the best for you.

Bicycle Derailleurs and Gears Essex Suffolk

Derailleurs & Mechs

The derailleur is a fundamental part of your drivetrain and one of the hardest-working components on the bike. Choice - Mechanical or electronic even blue-tooth enabled we will ensure it's compatible with the rest of your bike's components.

Bicycle Chainset Essex Suffolk

Chainset

From single-ring MTB chainsets to superlight carbon fibre road chainsets, we can build your custom bicycle with a chain set choice to ensure your drivetrain suits your riding requirements and performance objectives. And the choice of bottom brackets is a consideration.

Bicycle Cassette Sram, Shimano Campagnolo location Essex Suffolk

Gearing and Cassettes

Cassettes provide a range of gearing options for your chain to run on. We can guide and advise for the optimum range of gear ratios allows you to vary your pedalling cadence to achieve optimum efficiency and individual physiology.

Custom Bicycle Frame location Essex Suffolk

Frameset

Your bike fit and measurements are an important factor when choosing the frame. Being an independent bike shop we can advise our customers on choose the best frame suit their budget and ride expectations.

Custom Wheel Hubs location - Essex Suffolk

Wheel Hubs

Wheel hubs can make a big difference to the feel of your ride. The major brands, Chris King, Hope, DT Swiss and Sram offer a wide choice to suit your budget and type of riding, be that off road, racing, track, cross, gravel and touring.

Custom Bicycle Build - Wheels - location Essex Suffolk

Wheels

We always recommend your choice of wheels should be high on the list of priority. Road, Off-Road, Racing, Touring - you name it, there is a specialist wheel. Carbon or aluminium, choice of tubulars, tubeless-ready and clinchers.

We can provide custom wheel-build services.

Lifecycle UK Bike Shop Google Logo

Google Review

“Simply put this is the best bike shop you're ever going to find.”
Drop into the shop to talk about building a custom bike - we are in easy reach of Bury, Colchester and Ipswich.
Graphic showing distance from Lifecycle UK to Bury, Colchester and Ipswich

The shop is approximately 20 miles from Colchester, 15 miles from Bury and 14 miles from Ipswich and in easy reach of the East of England.

Call Lifecycle UK to talk about a custom bicycle build
Call to book your custom bike build

Get rolling on your custom bike build, call us on 01449 744467, we can discuss the options available. And of course — we can always source components and framesets of your choice.