WV Folk Festival

Having had so much trouble with old bikes falling apart we wondered how a design solution for a modern Wren bike would work. Wren Bicycles began with the following points:

Traditional steel frame – aluminium frames always seem to look so ‘tech’ and complicated so we decided to go for simple round tubular steel, not the cheaper high tensile type found on many high street bikes, but a high quality chromoloy steel such as Tange or Reynolds.

Gears: we like the way hub gears keep everything hidden away so you don’t have to worry about oil on your clothes, but old Sturmey Archer hubs always seem to suffer from terminal fatigue. We discovered that Sturmey Archer had recently been bought out by Taiwanese firm Sunrace while still retaining their main offices in Amsterdam. According to cycling guru Sheldon Brown, the quality of the designs have actually improved greatly since the company was taken over, so we got in touch with them and road tested some of the 3 speed hubs for Wren Bicycles to great effect.

Wheels: small wheels means less weight, less bulk and less overall length. They have been proven to suit road bikes for many years, overcoming initial fears over build strength and ability to deal with uneven road surfaces. We chose the larger 406 size rather than the smaller size often used on many fold up bikes on the market.

Tyres are important! In the city punctures are all too regular – especially when you have to cycle at the edges of the road where litter – including broken glass – often gathers, especially after heavy rain. It should be noted that road tarmac is actually partly made from recycled broken glass, which is the reason why you usually find that tiny slithers of glass are the culprit for so many punctures. We chose a high quality puncture proof tyre for Wren Bicycles which means the need for puncture repairing will be few and far between.

Saddles – we have used Brooks saddles over many years on all our own bikes so it seemed fitting that the first offering from Wren Bicycles should feature one. They are simple, hard wearing and look great too.