Last Updated on April 29, 2023
The Bombtrack bikes stand was the first exhibition stand that really smacked us between the eyes when we visited the SPIN London show a few weeks ago. This may have been the case because it was the second stand we came to after walking through the door, it may have been because we cycled across London to the show on Boris Bikes that weighed as much as a baby elephant (only less maneuverable) and the sight of a nice simple fixie really appealed. Who can say, not us, we’ve already spent too much time considering why the Bombtrack stand looked so good, so let’s move on…
Bombtrack bikes – what the hell?
From what we can figure out Bombtrack appears to be an attempt by mahoosive online bike retailer Wiggle to tap into the increasingly popular single-cog market. We’ve always thought half the fun of owning a single speed or fixie is the trials and tribulations you go through building the bloody things. But having had a few painful (and costly) build errors recently we can see a real appeal to buying a bike ‘off the peg’.
So do the bikes look any good? Well yes, they do! We weren’t quite awake enough to ask if we could lift one of the display models off a stand and take it for a quick razz, but in terms of looks the bikes really were ‘all that’. Bombtrack / Wiggle have certainly given a nod to the retro look with this range of bikes, but they are also quite brashly modern in appearance. I guess with a name like ‘Bombtrack’ you give yourself licence to rock the lookbook boat a bit.
So the range has enough odd-shaped handlebars to keep the most hardcore hipster happy but also has bikes fitted with modern shaped ‘proper’ drop-bars. We were a little surprised to see so many flat bars fitted to these bikes, but hey, I’m sure Wiggle has had focus groups on this sort of thing and knows what they’re doing.
Bombtrack Arise – yes please!
Paint jobs are minimal almost to the point of being monotone, but it kinda works. This simplicity over whizz-whazz works best on the ‘Bombtrack Arise (Black)’; a sleek, simple looking bike that we don’t mind admitting we fell a little bit in love with. We were surprised to see the ‘Arise’ fitted with direct-pull v-brake style brakes, but we can’t say much more as we’ve never lived with this style of brake, we’ve just seen a lot of them snapped in two on knackered £50 mountain bikes ridden by the sort of people who wear tracksuits but never exercise. For all we know they’re lovely (the brakes and the tracksuit fans).
The tyres on the Arise aren’t the super-thin boneshakers that us roadies love, but seeing as how this bike is set up for commuters a little bit of comfort would likely be most appreciated. I guess the only way we’ll know for sure whether these Bombtrack bikes are worth the modest price tag would be if we either bought one, or if Wiggle sent us a ‘review copy’ cough.
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