Jamis bikes coming back to the UK

Jamis bikes. remember them? No doubt you do if you were an avid reader of MBUK back about a decade ago, as the mag's MTB team were riding them and there was plenty of them knocking about, at least off road. Since then they've not really had much profile in the UK but now the company, which celebrated 30 years of making bikes last year, is back. Back at Evans Cycles, to be precise.

It's never just been about MTBs either; Jamis started with beach cruisers back in 1979 and the new range has a good range of road-going machines too. Here's a few highlights from the range for your delectation and delight.

Bossanova (£749)

We're seeing more and more bikes like this – disc-equipped light tourers – and for good reason, they make for great all-purpose bikes. Better still if you make one out of good old-fashioned Reynolds 520 Cromoly steel, like Jamis have. You get full mudguards and a Tiagra/Sora/FSA mix transmission, and Avid cable disc brakes, and the whole thing looks like a steal at £749; they'll all be gone on bike-to-work schemes in the blink of an eye, we reckon.

Aurora Elite (£1129)

If you're a bit more serious about your touring then there's also the Aurora Elite, a Reynolds 631-tubed touring machine that comes specced with a rack and full mudguards. SRAM's Apex equipment features heavily, including the dinner plate 32T rear cassette, and that's matched to an FSA Gossamer compact crankset for some effective winching gears for loaded climbing. Sturdy wheels and 32mm Vittoria tyres mean you can even go off the beaten track a bit if that's your thing.

Xenith Pro (£2249)

Next up the top dollar road bike that's coming in to the UK for 2011. The Xenith is a full monocoque machine with an asymetric head tube and BB30 bottom bracket. The main tubes are tri-ovalised in profile and tube diameters are size specific across the range to tailor the ride just so. It's mated with a monocoque fork and decked out in full SRAM Force, with Ksyrium Equipe wheels and Ritchey finishing kit. There's a comp version too, which at £1329 with a 105/FSA mix looks good for the money.

Sputnik (£399)

"Singleness doesn't refer to the number of speeds, but to the feeling of connection when you're spun out, on top of the gear, and just flowing through the streets", apparently. The Sputnik does also have one gear though. You don't get many fixers with a Reynolds badge on the frame and a lovely FSA Gimondi chainset for this kind of money; it looks super value as a package and it's a good looking bike to boot. Front and rear brakes are supplied, though since the back one is routed through removable chromed cable guides you could always lop them off for that cleaner and slightly less in control feel...

Ventura Comp (£579)

Jamis also have a range of entry level road bikes, well two of them anyway. The Ventura Comp is the pricier of the two, with the sport version coming in at £429. The frame is a Kinesis Aluminium offering and it's mated to a full carbon fork. Running gear is Sora/FSA with a Tiagra rear mech, and you even get a fairly decent wheelset: CXP22 rims on Formula hubs. Tektro brakes take care of the stopping. It looks like a good value starter machine.

All the bikes are due to land in about a month's time, and you can get the full skinny on the range by heading over to www.evanscycles.com and typing 'Jamis' into the search box.