In the Escape, it offers impeccable ride manners and performance that shines on any road or off-road surface, and the abundance of mounts ensures it's ready for any adventure, big or small, you might have planned. Titanium gives a ride quality that is less muted and more alive than a steel frame, and is enough to justify the premium price tag for many people. Then there's also the Enigma Endeavour for £3,699 you could consider, which is beautiful to look at, with a ride to match. If performance is what you crave, the Cervelo Aspero is a serious contender, but you'll need to find quite a bit more cash for the £5,299 asking price, and it isn't nearly as versatile as the Escape. I was impressed with it back in 2017, and the frame has been updated since then so it should be even better.
One comparable titanium gravel bike that is less than the Enigma is the Reilly Gradient, which comes in at £1,699 for the frameset. > Buyer's Guide: 22 of the best gravel and adventure bikes > Buyer's Guide: 12 of the loveliest titanium road bikes we've ridden But at £3,450 just for the frameset, it makes the Escape look like a bargain. There's also the Mason Bokeh Ti, which, if it's anything like the aluminium Bokeh I tested, should offer a very good ride. That said, the Enigma is cheaper – a lot cheaper – than some.Īnother UK brand, Kinesis, has the GTD (Go The Distance) for a very comparable price of £2,200 for the frameset, and like the Escape, it has adventure and bikepacking versatility in its sights.Īnother new entrant in the gravel market is the J.Laverack GRiT, but it costs more at £2,500 for the frameset. Prices might have come down from the heady days of the 90s, when it was an exotic space-age material, but it's still a pricey proposition. Titanium isn't the frame material to choose if you want the best value for money. The hydraulic disc brakes are as solid as we're used to from Shimano, with one-finger application of the lever all that is ever required, even in the most hairy situations. It offers accurate gear changes from the newly shaped lever blades, which are easier to reach from the hoods or drops. This GRX800 is the top-end mechanical shifting setup with hydraulic disc brakes. There's a host of gearing options to suit a broad range of requirements. Shimano's latest GRX groupset, its first offering to the growing gravel and adventure market, has been well received and quickly embraced by bike brands. The reality is, all Enigma's bikes are built to order, so it's possible to spec whatever you like – if you want SRAM's latest Force eTap AXS 1x groupset it'll cost you £4,799 – custom geometry, features and paint are all available for extra charges, offering a reasonable level of customisation that isn't available from many mainstream titanium brands. Standard builds start at £3,499 with Shimano GRX600, or if you prefer you can plan your own build by buying the frameset for £2,186. When you get on the pedals it shows a proper turn of speed. The steering is well judged and a delight, neither too fast nor too slow, and the Escape is right at home carving corners, mixing tight switchback turns in the woods with quick corners on the road.
There is a difference, though, as I found by riding the Enigma Endeavour steel bike at the same time as the Escape: the Escape feels more flighty than its steel sibling, more agile and responsive. Smoothness is a key attraction of a titanium frame – but steel frames are also silky smooth. It offers all the compliant and fluid smoothness that titanium has become highly regarded for over the last couple of decades, and combined with the 38mm wide tyres it feels planted and calm on any sort of surface, be it rough country lanes or gravel tracks. If you want to escape into the countryside and ride over everything that comes your way, the Enigma Escape is a grand choice. It's a fair bit cheaper than quite a few rival titanium offerings too, making it a good choice in a crowded market. The updated Enigma Escape is a compliant, capable and versatile road, gravel and adventure bike that offers all the magic ride quality and durability titanium is renowned for.
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