Fustle launched their Causeway gravel bike with MTB-inspired geometry and the option to upgrade or change the spec to suit your needs.
Ali Beckett is the man behind Fustle, a new gravel bike brand that offers MTB-derived geometry and custom spec builds, all drawn from his design and development experience with brands like Nukeproof, Privateer and Forbidden.
Pete caught up with Ali for a chat about how he got the Fustle Causeway to market.
Photos by Dillon Osborne and Sandy Plenty.
FUSTLE – That’s real life. from FUSTLE on Vimeo.
What turned more gravel riding into the want to make a gravel bike?
At the time when I first started to really get into that style of riding, there really weren’t a lot of options available here in the UK. After borrowing a cyclocross bike for a few rides, I could see the potential and really got a feel for how different the riding was compared to just riding a hardtail mountain bike for example.
Having been so immersed in the design and use of mountain bikes I felt that the technological advances that MTBs had seen over the past few years was so far away from the current gravel bike chassis’, that it was a n brainer to start with a fresh perspective and design a bike that suited what I needed from a drop bar off road bike.
What did you know you did and didn’t want to do with the Causeway?
I knew I definitely didn’t want to make ‘just another gravel bike’.
As the category started to gain traction in the UK, new bikes were starting to pop up all over the place in a variety of guises, and I didnt want to just produce a product that didn’t offer something different or unique.
What I did want to do was take influence from all of the latest technological developments across all disciplines within cycling, and make a bike that suited the way that cycling fits into my life now, and hopefully many others as well.
I feel that in today’s cycle market, similarly to the automotive industry, bikes are being developed to fill gaps in between other models in a range, without really considering exactly who the customer is and what is important to them.
The problem with that idea in my opinion is that if you have 4 models in your range, that makes 3 gaps to squeeze another batch of bikes into. Which then grows into 7 models in a range, and then 6 gaps… and so it goes on…
Did you have a frame material in your head before you started?
Yes, I knew I wanted to produce the frame in Aluminum for a few reasons really.
I knew the material constraints well from previous design projects, and I knew that it was the best way for me to go through the development process as I would be testing some slightly different geometry theories and compatibility options.
I wanted the end product to be available for under a £2000 price point, and this would not have been possible in steel or carbon given the scale of our business and how small we are as a start up brand. I didn’t want to compromise on any of the componentry and had I used a different frame material, this would have been the only option to get close to that target price point.
What specifics did you draw from the off-road world for this project?
Geometry for one, as this does make such a big difference to the handling and confidence that each bike provides. With a gravel bike, as with a mountain bike, there are currently no restrictions on design put in place by any governing body as their primary purpose isn’t necessarily for racing. So why not have a more confidence-inspiring geometry, or mechanically functional tube layout?
I also wanted to try and make the bike as compatible with components such as dropper post and the ever evolving selection of rim and tyre profiles out there.
I understand that not everyone today wants a dropper post on their gravel bike, but I also remember a time when people were quite happy with a fixed post on their MTB too.
And there is nothing to stop someone fitting a fixed seatpost to our bikes either, it’s simply down to personal preference, and that is a huge part of why we put so much effort into our custom bike builder program on the website.
How did you narrow down your frame sizing?
This came about through my own experience with a variety of different bikes, and also from thinking about how our customers would ride the bikes.
We aren’t afraid to acknowledge that we have a strong MTB influence, and that a lot of our customers have come across from a MTB background.
Sizing on a road bike is different because it’s used in more of a stationary way. You are sitting in a similar position for long periods of time so the fit is critical. With a more dynamic bike that is ridden off road, such as a MTB or a gravel bike, you are moving around more, shifting your weight around the bike and therefore you need some space to do that.
We also knew that because of the dropped seat tube that we have, we could offer a much broader range of frame length variation while still accommodating riders of very different inside leg length. This in turn puts the choice back into the hands of the customer as they can choose a stem length and front-centre length to suit their riding style or the type of terrain that they will be riding more frequently.
What are the challenges of offering custom builds?
I guess the build process takes a bit longer. Unlike a bike shop or an online retailer, we don’t have a bike box sitting with a bike ready to ship out the day the customer places the order, so our customers do need to wait a little longer for their order. However we do try and keep that down to just a few days during normal business conditions.
The stock management is more difficult and labour intensive, as we need to control all of the individual part options that are listed on the website. This is made easier however by the partners that we work with, and a lot of them have been really accommodating towards our ideas and the way we want to try and change the industry to offer the customer this additional choice and flexibility.
How did you narrow it down to your Standard and Upgrade options?
Well I guess I had a build kit in mind that I knew was a really solid spec and would make a great bike for almost any rider. Having worked on bike specifications as well as attending demo events and dealing directly with customers for many years in the past, I felt I have slowly worked out what really mattered and made the difference when it came to component selection.
I wanted our lower priced spec options to still retain the durability and performance that someone should expect from a £2000 bike. After all, that’s still a lot of money for something without an engine.
Obviously it is always going to vary slightly depending on the customers preference, which is why we offer all of the different options that we do even within our standard price point. For example even on our £1999 bike you can choose which wheel size, tyre tread and diameter, handlebar and stem size, saddle model etc. There are a host of options that don’t incur an upgrade fee.
How many prototypes did you have before you settled on the production chassis?
We have gone through 2 prototype phases before we got to mass production. The first of which didn’t even see the light of day.
The 2nd prototype which is what you will see in a lot of the photographs throughout our website was pretty close, but it had a few nuances that we ended up changing for production such as a 73mm BB and some cable routing ports on the underside of the downtube. These were things that through ride testing I discovered made the bike either more difficult to work on and maintain, or prevented me from offering the right component specifications that I felt were important enough to need to change.
When we make a change to a prototype, it adds a significant delay to the overall project timeline, so it’s never a decision that is taken lightly, and in this case, we probably could have launched the brand 6 months earlier had we not chosen to invest time to test and make those updates.
Beyond prototypes, what form did your testing take?
We do all of the specified ISO testing which is required by law of course, as does any bike manufacturer out there, as well as some additional testing to simulate accelerated usage tests.
The prototypes were ridden by myself and a host of different people to put miles on them, and to gather real world feedback on the functionality etc.
These aren’t complicated bikes however, so the need for extensive rider testing that you might see on a full suspension mountain bike is much lower.
Did you have any outside help for testing?
Aside from our brilliant factory in Taiwan and the local riders who I worked with, not really no.
Favourite moments?
I had such a blast shooting our launch video.
It was all cobbled together over a few phone calls and emails, and I was really blown away with all the help and support that came from some mates who without their help, it would never have happened.
We shot it back in September 2019, after scrambling to secure dates that would work for everyone involved. Videographer Sandy Plenty flew in from Wales and with the help of Aaron Lee (who we ended up hiring a few months later), my (at the time) heavily pregnant wife Julie and some family friends who stepped in as stunt riders, we spent a few days on the beautiful coastline of Northern Ireland (Pete Scullion, you know it well I’m sure) shooting from sunrise to sunset for 3 days straight.
They were really hard work but awesome fun at the same time, and I think it really helped us get across the Northern Irish heritage that I wanted the brand to draw from.
Any disasters?
Nothing that I hadn’t seen before I guess.
The whole worldwide lockdown that we are currently living through has made for some challenges, and it’s meant that some trips have had to be cancelled or postponed, which has affected the way I wanted to launch the brand, and it makes getting bikes to the media for ride tests a bigger challenge than I could have planned for.
There will always be teething trouble with the launch of anything new too, so I wouldn’t say that we have had any disasters as such, but the list of fixes and modifications to make things better is never getting any smaller I will say that.
Anyone to thank?
Yes, lots of people have pulled together to help me get to this stage, and we wouldn’t have got this far without the support and belief of so many.
First off my wife Julie, for sharing the burden and working through every detail with me at night time once the kids have gone to bed.
The local lads who have helped out so much through the development process and getting to launch; Aaron Lee, Darren Tapp, Tommy Magnenat and Andy Mearns.
Dillon Osborne and Sandy Plenty for shooting awesome photos and video.
All of our brilliant industry partners and suppliers who have supported me from the very first meeting in Taiwan so many years ago with a shoddy presentation of this new brand that I wanted to create.
Notable mentions go especially out to Boy at Shimano and Michal at WTB.
And thanks to Jamie and Pete for giving me the chance to share a bit of gravel with their loyal mountain bike community.
