Bike of the day: Crema Cycles Schotter steel gravel bike

I met Ken Bloomer recently, at distributor Saddleback’s 2016 product show. He’s the European Brand Manager for Enve, but when he’s not doing that he’s looking after his own bicycle company, Crema Cycles. And he had brought with him his latest model, the Schotter, a steel-framed disc-equipped gravel bike.

He’s a really interesting person to chat to, full of knowledge and views on cycling technology and its application to racing. It’s clear he loves cycling: as fluidly as he talks me through the latest Enve hubs and rims, it’s when I point at his own road bike, nestled on a stand in the middle of the show, that he lights up.

Ken started Crema in 2011 and he tells me he does it for the love of making the best possible tool for the job at hand. “I know the kind of bikes I want to ride, and really that is what we make,” he explains, while going on to add that all frames are completely custom. His preference is for steel frames, he loves the way a steel bike rides.

This Schotter is his latest creation. It’s a gravel bike, constructed using a mix of Columbus (Spirit seat and down tubes) and True Temper tubes elsewhere. The tubes are oversized and along with the 44mm head tube, it is clear that maximising stiffness has been paramount to the design of this bike. Despite its appearance though, the Schotter has been designed to be able to smooth out some of the impacts from riding over a rough surface, and the skinny rear stays and capacity for up to 40mm tyres (without mudguards, 35mm with) should help in this regard.

Up front is the new Enve Gravel Road (GVR) fork that we told you about recently. It’s got a longer axle-to-crown measurement than Enve's road fork but is shorter than its cyclocross fork, so it brings the height of the front-end down a smidgen when compared to a dedicated cyclocross bike. Ken says that making a bike that was quick and nimble like the existing Crema road bike was a key target, and this new fork should help provide the sort of handling he is after.

You can’t really have a gravel bike without disc brakes, can you now? Schotter has discs front and rear. The frame has a thru-axle up front with the new Enve fork but conventional quick release rear dropouts. Though Ken admits he really gets the benefits of disc brakes - reciting a recent descent of the fearsome Stelvio Pass on this bike and the disc brakes impression - he is still divided on their pros and cons. 

The frame is decked out with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain and Rotor 3D chainset, complete with hydraulic disc brakes, and rolls on, you guessed it, Enve SES 4.5 Disc wheels with Chris King hubs. The handlebars, stem and handlebar are Enve carbon fibre components too, with a, well worn, Fabric saddle finishing off the build.

Ken has a preference for understated bikes, and so the frame is cleanly finished with a simple, elegant logo in an attractive font on the down tube. There’s no head tube badge at the moment as he’s waiting for more to be delivered. Overall the bike looks balanced with a purposeful stance. I’d love to take it for a spin.

It’s worth checking out the Crema website just for the video which provide a bit more background about the bikes, and the Instagram feed is a good source of inspiration. Photos © Ian Matteson