New Cheshire-based company Starley trade under the name of the man widely thought of as the inventor of the modern bicycle. John Kemp Starley produced the Rover Safety Bicycle in 1885, the first rear wheel drive, chain driven bicycle with two similar sized wheels. The bicycle has since gone from strength to strength, the Rover name became synonymous with car production, and the Starley name now reappears on bicycles that the company hope are worthy of the great man.
As well as the Starley name, the road bike ranges are tagged with the prefixes JKS for John Kemp Starley, and JS for James Starley. The conventional road bike range is split in to R1 and R2 lines, and the aero bike is the AR.
All are available with complete SRAM groupsets at Apex, Force or Red level, and a selection of Starley’s own carbon components and good quality finishing kit from Fizik and USE.
The standard wheels are Mavic Aksium on the entry-level machines, and a choice of Starley’s own wheels elsewhere. These range from carbon/aluminium clinchers, carbon clinchers and carbon tubulars at a selection of rim depths, and spinning on Novatec or Royce hubs. There are also two disc wheels, one flat sided (JS Meteor Aero DF), and one convex shaped (JS Meteor Aero DD), and a five spoke carbon front aero wheel (JS Meteor Aero 5) that looks similar to Mavic’s IO track wheel.
The JS Meteor Aero DD/JS Meteor Aero 5 spoke can be bought as a pair for £1600 or individually for £849 each. The flat sided JS Meteor Aero DF is priced at £949, but it has an interchangeable axle so it can be used on the track as well. All wheelsets include tubes, tyres, valves, quick release skewers, pads and wheel bags.
The road bikes will be priced between £2499 for a JKS-R1 with SRAM Force and 38mm/50mm depth wheels and and £3574 for a JKS-AR (aero) with SRAM Red and 38/50mm tubular wheels. The JKS-R1 with SRAM Red and 38mm/50mm clincher wheels will go for £3499.
The R1 and AR road bikes we’ve seen look purposeful with some nice touches. We’re looking forward to swinging a leg over one soon, and will be bringing you a test in a future issue of Cycling Plus and on BikeRadar.
More information: starleybikes.com - website going live at 1730 GMT on 12 November.
Fancy a Starley five spoke for £849?
