Last spring we first looked at UK Brother Cycles, highlighting no-nonsense steel bikes, especially the all-road Kepler Disc. That 4130 bike & their track Swift gets several 2018 updates, but Brother also has a premium 853 steel Stroma road bike in the works, developed with their Défi Collective crit race team.
2018 Brother Stroma 853 steel road bike prototype
The upcoming Stroma will be Brother’s first true road bike when it officially launches later this summer. Built from premium double butted Reynolds 853 Pro Team steel tubing, plus a 44mm straight Reynolds 631 headtube, the bike is a step up from the butted 4130 that makes up most of Brother Cycles’ line.
The new steel road bike was developed directly with tubing supplier Reynolds, but also working with the Défi Collective track & crit racing team that Brother sponsors, opening them up for more long distance training and racing.
The new frameset includes a full carbon, tapered steerer monocoque fork. The rim brake road bike sticks with tried-and-true standards like external cable routing (shifting under the downtube, braking under the toptube), a threaded bottom bracket, hooded drops, and a 27.2mm seatpost, with a built-in clamp.
The bike takes its name from “the remote island off the North East coast of Scotland – battered by ferocious weather and near impenetrable tides”. That’s fits quite inline with the rest of the Brother Cycles bikes, designed to stand up to tough everyday use & abuse, and always ready for an adventure.
2018 Brother Kepler Disc 4130 chromoly all-road gravel bike
For a new year, Brothers’ popular Kepler Disc gets a new color fade, moving from a sunset to a seaside theme with the new blue Aqua. More importantly the updated bike gets a much improved spec moving to a SRAM Apex 1 single ring drivetrain and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes that actually bring the price down, while appealing more to the adventure tour & gravel market than last year’s more conventional 2x compact road build.
Otherwise Kepler Disc specs & tech stay the same – keeping IS brake mounts, QR axles, a threaded BB, 27.2 post, rack & fender mounts, multiple drivetrain configuration compatibility with external routing, and still room for 42mm gravel tires.
2018 Brother Swift 4130 chromoly track & crit bike
The newest track racing Swift is more of a tech update for the bike Brother has been making since 2013. The new butted 4130 chromoly bike goes oversized with a big, straight 44mm headtube that allows Brother to spec the bike with a new tapered alloy steerer, carbon legged track fork. The new 2kg frame & 625g fork will also fit 28mm tires for fast crit racing over rough city streets.
Availability & Pricing
The new Kepler Disc is available and in stock both as a £500 frameset or the £1600 Kepler Disc Complete. The 2018 bike comes in all black stealth or the blue to green aqua fade, and in five stock sizes from 52-60cm. The new Swift also sells for £500 and is available only as a frameset, in metallic purple or gray and the same 5 sizes.
The Stroma 853 road bike hasn’t quite made it out of real production yet, still only being ridden by the Brothers themselves and the Defi Collective race team. It is said to be a 2018 production bike, so we’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more.
