If you want the new steel Trail Bike from Selwyn Bicycles, plan on a trip to France. The small framebuilder doesn’t ship. Every bike is picked up in person from the Selwyn workshop in Samoëns, Haute-Savoie, and the handoff includes a ride on the trails where the bike was developed.
“I don’t offer delivery. That is the point,” founder and framebuilder Alexander Plaisted said in an email announcing the bike.
Plaisted has been building custom steel frames since 2016, and the Trail Bike is the result of three years of engineering, prototyping, and testing. It’s a full-suspension steel 29er with 140mm of rear travel and a 160mm fork, designed for riding in the Alps, where, like many of the best mountain biking spots around the world, reaching epic descents can mean hours of climbing and a bit of hike-a-bike.
Plaisted’s workshop sits in the Giffre valley between Morzine and Chamonix, near the start of the Col de Joux Plane road climb and, as Plaisted puts it, “at the bottom of 1,000 vertical meters of singletrack heaven.”
The Trail Bike was on display at the Bespoke handmade bike show in London earlier this year.
Not another steel single pivot frame
Plaisted says he could have taken a simpler route with the Selwyn Trail Bike design. “I could probably have knocked out a single pivot steel frame in six months. But the world didn’t need another one.”
Instead, he partnered with Dan Roberts of Garage Bike Project, a mountain bike design and engineering company based in Champéry, Switzerland. According to Selwyn’s design notes, the two met at the 2023 Les Gets downhill World Cup, and Roberts led the suspension engineering. The result is a Horst link layout that Plaisted says “just works in every situation.”
Selwyn is clear about how the bike should be set up. There’s no mullet option, no longer-travel upgrade, and no 170mm fork. “140mm is the magic number for a true alpine bike, enough to handle the most technical terrain while remaining sharp and efficient under pedaling,” Plaisted said. “Every design decision was taken on the basis of whether or not it improves the way the bike rides.”
Even the seatpost diameter is apparently not up for discussion. In a FAQ posted on the Selwyn website under the question, “Can I use a 30.9 seatpost,” the answer is a simple “No.” Never mind that the frame fits a 31.6mm seatpost and one could presumably shim a 30.9mm post to fit.
Judging by photos of builds online, buyers should be good to run either a coil or air shock.
The head tube angle is 64.5° across all four sizes, and the effective seat tube angle is a steep 79.5° (79.38° on the XL). Reach runs from 425mm on the small to 505mm on the XL, and chainstays grow slightly with frame size, from 440mm on the S and M to 445mm on the L and XL. A size large has a 475mm reach and a 1,263.5mm wheelbase. Selwyn’s size chart covers riders from 160cm to 199cm tall (about 5’3″ to 6’6″).
The Selwyn Trail Bike frame makes use of in-house parts
The frame is built from a mix of Reynolds 853, 631, and 931 tubing. Selwyn says it designed every pivot bolt, axle, spacer, dropout, and brake mount itself, and “nothing is off the shelf.” The dropouts, chainstay yoke, and seatstay pivots are 3D printed in stainless steel, while the rocker link and pivot hardware are machined from 7075 aluminum.
The “House Special” build pairs a FAST Fenix 2 coil shock with a RockShox Lyrik Ultimate fork. Selwyn says each shock is tuned for the rider’s weight before the bike leaves the workshop. Hope supplies the wheels, brakes, and cockpit, available in any Hope color, and shifting is handled by SRAM Eagle 90 Transmission. The design notes also spec a OneUp V3 dropper post and Continental Kryptotal 2.4″ Enduro casing tires.
Frames are finished in liquid paint, either Metallic British Racing Green with painted yellow logos or Pearl Blue with silver logos, and custom colors are available on request. Selwyn’s FAQ acknowledges that liquid paint “may not be as tough as powdercoat,” though they say powder coating can be arranged.
This is not Selwyn’s first production bike
Plaisted has worked for 10 years as a custom framebuilder, working on everything from gearbox bikes to commuter and road bikes. In addition to the new Trail Bike, Selwyn has another production bike on offer called The Bikepacker. As the name suggests, it’s a hardtail bikepacking bike made from steel. Like the Trail Bike, buyers need to make the trek to Haute-Savoie for pickup.
Pricing and availability
The Trail Bike is offered in sizes S through XL, and Selwyn says it’s available to order now. Complete House Special builds start at €8,850 (about $9,900). Additionally, the Selwyn website lists a frame and shock package from €4,650 (about $5,200) and custom builds from €9,000 (about $10,100). According to the website, orders placed now are slated for pickup in spring 2027.
“Every order begins with a conversation,” Plaisted said.
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