Bowman Pilgrims: bike preview | Martin Love

Eye-catching and robust, the Pilgrims from Bowman is a lot tougher than it looks

Cycling into the office the other day my eye was caught by the bike of a fellow rider. It was a proper head-turner - anodised paint job, tapered carbon forks, T-section top tube - and a brand I hadn't heard of: Bowman. I guessed it was one of those poncey pricey frames that bankrupt you and then leave you too terrified to actually enjoy it. But it turns out Bowman builds rugged, rideable frames for the year-round, no-nonsense cyclist. The firm is the brainchild of Neil Webb who, after 20 years in the industry, decided to go it alone. His bikes are designed at his base on the outskirts of southeast London and then built in Taiwan. There are currently five models, each named after a landmark familiar to cyclists in the southeast- Palace, Pilgrims, Foots Cray and Layhams. This one is the Pilgrims (named after the Pilgrims' Way). It features generous 'RoadPlus' geometry which gives you the clearance to fit wider tyres or mudguards so you can swap in bigger rubber and turn off the road to tackle trails. In all you'll get bespoke looks for Sundays, but a sturdy worker for weekdays (Bowman Cyles).

Price: 750 (frameset only, complete bikes from 1,500)
Frame: 7005-T6 aluminium
Forks: tapered carbon
Brakes: post mount discs
Hidden Guard Mounts