Just in: Singular Cycles Osprey

We were all ooohs and aaahs when we first saw the Singular Osprey at the London Bike Show in January of this year. Sam at Singular has been carving out a niche making interesting bikes, starting with the Swift 29er MTB and the Peregrine monster-cross-cum-tourer and Gryphon drop-barred 29er followed. The Osprey is Singular's take on the classic road machine: gate framed, lugged and skinny tubed, it's a real beauty.

The bike we've got to try out is the same one that you'll see pictured on the website, which is a pre-production sample but basically the finished production frame. The only difference with the production model is that you get rack as well as mudguard bosses. The frame is built from lugged, double-butted 4130 Cromoly, and will take a 28mm tyre with a mudguard. The rear brake cable is routed internally along the top tube to keep the bike looking nice and clean.

The fork features a lugged crown and it too is 4130 Cromoly. There's an option of Chromed chainstays and fork dropouts; our test bike has the shiny bits and if you want them you'll need to add £180 to the basic price of £530 for the frame and fork. The frameset is available with a threaded or threadless fork, both of which are 1" diameter.

In terms of geometry the Osprey sticks to the classical rule book, with 73/73 angles in the larger frames, steepening up the seat tube and slackening off the fork a bit in the smaller sizes. The top tube is, of course, as flat as the Norwegian after-party at the World Champs road race.

The Osprey is finished in cream and blue-grey and ours is built up with a mish-mash of silver componentry, Brooks saddle and bar tape and classic dimpled mudguards. It looks very fine indeed, and has already drawn plenty of admiring glances. The proof of this particular pudding is in the riding though, so we'll report back when we've thrashed it round the lanes a bit more...

www.singularcycles.com