Enigma Etape

I'm 4 weeks in to riding my new Etape. Its that good I find myself just going into the garage to look at it. Honestly, beforehand I never understood how one bike could differ so greatly from the next. How could spending anymore than a grand or two on a bike be worthwhile? Unless your racing and after marginal gains? Whooooaaaa how wrong can I be. 
I bought it after earning some cash on the side and thought "I want something to show for it". I was fed up of looking at my carbon Cube Agree GTC. Nothing wrong with it, does the job, fairly light at 8.5kg just a bit dated and mwah. I started looking for something different, away from every other brand you see on the road... and then I saw David Arthurs first video on Youtube and the penny dropped. Titanium ticked all the boxes. I wanted something that was bomb proof, all season, still light and looked a bit different on the road. After loads of research into different brands I kept coming back to Enigma, both for price point and quality and spec. David did his second video and that was it. Boom. Sold.

I went for some more expensive Hunt 33 carbons which are pretty darn light along with 105 to keep the price down (after researching the difference with Ultegra and coming to the conclusion that most honest reviews say other than a couple of grams performance wise you can't tell the difference).

After a four month wait for the build, it arrived 4 weeks ago and its just ridiculously different. Best words I can describe it is smooooth, solid, silent. The bumps and uneven tarmac of every British road kind of just get absorbed, you can feel it but it kinda just absorbs and glides over it. I got the bike shop who built it to weigh it with pedals on and it came in at 8.9kgs which I'll take. The wheels compensate for the 400g lighter Cube Agree and I honestly can't tell the difference going up hill. Get fitter is my approach!!!!

I'm looking forward to it outlasting me and looking a lot better in 20 years than I will.

I've had an Etape for over 5 years and love it. Comfortable and pretty light. I use it as my main road bike, only switching to the lighter more expensive carbon bike for Summer events. Everything from commuting, family rides, light gravel, audax and sportives are handled well.

I have Ultegra Di2 and Hunt Wheels on the bike.

Look at David Arthur's channel on You Tube. He has done two video reviews of the Etape in the last three months (so it is the current model) and he is very positive about the bike

I bought one which arrived (finally) in January this year. My thoughts are that it is a good looking bike (to my eyes anyway), fast, comfortable and seems built to last. I put GRX800 on it rather than Ultegra as I wanted a 48/31 on the front and the higher pivot and more downhill support from the brakes. 32mm tyres so it is a gravel-ish road bike which suits Cornwall's old mining trails, our broken back lanes as well as smooth(ish) tarmac.  I am on roads 90% of the time so didn't need full-on gravel.It will take 35mm tyres but not with mudguards. 

I thought I would probably break a carbon bike so titanium or steel was my choice. Also looked at Mason Definition and Resolution which were also excellent bikes and a little bit cheaper. Fairlight Strael may be another option and you could get Di2 and still have change on a Strael, compared to an Enigma.

Enigma are good to deal with and once the pandemic is over it is worth visiting them for a bike fit and extended demo. Mason similar level of service. 

One of my riding buddies has the rim version from a few years back and his only complaint is that its so good he cant justify buying another bike as a result 

I should mention that Enigma were on my shortlist before I went for a Reilly.