Just in: The Light Blue Wolfson Ultegra

It’s been a while since we reviewed a bike from Light Blue, the in-house brand of distributor Ison, so we’ve just received the new Wolfson Ultegra in for testing. The brand name has history, it was used by Townsend Cycles as far back as 1895. This Ultegra-equipped model costs £1,799 and is being reviewed at the moment, but here's a first look before that review goes live.

The Wolfson is a brand new model featuring a Reynolds 853 TIG welded frame and it's aimed at those cyclists wanting a lightweight bike for sportives and club rides. Steel bikes are definitely in fashion now and companies like Reynolds have been investing in new tubesets that have led to the development of some really quite light bikes.

- 15 of the best steel road bikes

Neat details abound, such as the hidden mudguard eyelets which maintain the clean appearance for summer cycling fun. Cables are externally routed with nice little guides on the underside of he top tube. There’s space for up to 25mm tyres in the frame and through the carbon fibre fork if used with mudguards, and space for up to 28mm without ‘guards.

Light Blue offers the Wolfson in five sizes. This here is a 53 and it has a 550mm horizontal top tube, 490mm seat tube, 413mm chainstays, 140mm head tube, 1,012mm wheelbase and a 71.5-degree head angle.

The Wolfson is available in a couple of different builds, depending on price. We’ve got the £1,799 model which offers a full Shimano Ultegra 6800 11-speed groupset with a compact chainset and 11-28 cassette.

The wheels are Ison’s own Halo Devaura hoops with Schwalbe Durano 25mm tyres. The finishing kit is Genetic branded parts, a Creed handlebar, Syngenic seatpost and SLR stem, with a Gusset Black Jack saddle.

Complete bike weight is 8.69kg (19.16lb).

There’s a growing choice of steel bikes these days, and we list 14 of the best 2016 steel road bikes in this article. The Wolfson will be up against the likes of the Enigma Elite HSS, Genesis Volare, Stoemper Taylor and other similar offerings.

More at www.thelightblue.co.uk