Gold Standard

Handmade in the UK and hand-laid with gold, this Enigma Elite is a masterpiece of steel, and a masterful lesson in patience, practice and patriotism

- James Spender

When Enigma Bicycle Works set up shop just over a decade ago in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, it’s unlikely owner Jim Walker could have predicted he’d be turning out bikes like this one.

Engima began in 2006 by importing a couple of frames designed in-house but manufactured overseas. Now it ranges 12 bikes, seven of which are handmade in Hailsham, and one of which – this one – is hand-finished in gold.

‘Enigma is pretty new to the US,’ Enigma’s American importer Michael Musil told us when we caught up with him at the annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) in Utah earlier this year.

‘One of the first bikes we showed was at Interbike [the Las Vegas trade show] last year. Jim was a bit worried because that bike was finished in the Union Jack. He thought people over here wouldn’t like it, but I told him, “Nobody’s going to be annoyed, we buy loads of Mini Coopers, Aston Martins and stuff like that, people will love the flag design”. And they did. All except two Australian guys who said, “No, we need our flag on there”. So when the opportunity came to show Enigma bikes at NAHBS this year we came up with the idea of an American-themed one, but with English roots. And with gold leaf.’

True to his word, from the Enigma logo that glints iridescently in the sun to the ‘Handmade in England’ inscription on the inside of the chainstay, the Elite is a gilded masterpiece, and a genuine one at that.