Enigma Edge Frameset

Titanium alloy is an excellent choice for a gravel bike, and the Enigma Edge is a perfect example of why. It's finished to a very high standard, giving it that dream bike kind of look, one that you want to love and cherish, but with the robustness and damage-resistant properties that make it tough as old boots, allowing you to use it and abuse it. It's a big lump of cash, but with a lengthy warranty and a beautiful ride quality it'll be a pleasurable and rewarding investment.

If you're thinking of investing in the ultimate luxury bike frame material, check out our guide to the best titanium road bikes.

> Buy now: Enigma Edge frameset for £2,777 from Enigma

Enigma Edge: The ride

Here come the clichés about the velvety smooth ride characteristics of titanium bikes, but if you've ridden one, you'll understand. Enigma's designers have fully exploited those benefits as the Edge is a beautiful bike to ride. It has that suppleness of a titanium frame, that vibration-reducing smoothness that you can only really get from this material or a high-quality steel.

It's a big bonus on a gravel machine, especially when the tracks are very dry and firm, and you get those corrugations left from past rainwater which can pass vibrations up through your wrists and arms. Yes, you can let your tyres down a bit, but you can't mask harshness from a poor frame.

The Edge is definitely a bike you can spend many hours on – it's adventure ready, if you like.

Enigma has still managed to build the Edge into a stiff frame, helped by the fact that it has chosen to use a T47 bottom bracket. The wider shell, compared with a traditional BSA threaded setup, means there's plenty of surface area to attach girthy down and seat tubes. Plus, the chainstays don't have to scrimp on material either.

Get out of the saddle and the Enigma feels responsive and tight through the lower half of the frame, resisting high pedalling forces.

There are no big surprises when it comes to the geometry (full details below), so the Edge is easy to ride pretty much anywhere without losing any of the fun factor.

The steering is well balanced – quick enough to take on technical descents on a loose surface at speed, with a good dose of predictability that allows you to keep on the right side of out of control.

The carbon fork is also stiff and tight, so you won't get large amounts of chatter or movement on rough surfaces or when you are braking hard.

At just over a metre in length, the wheelbase brings both stability and control. Even if you go into a bend a little exuberantly, the rear end tracks steadily, bringing some predictability. This is beneficial when the surface is wet and slippery, too; if you are struggling for traction on a wet trail, that stability allows you to stay in the saddle and control the rear end of the Edge with your hips while focusing on making it up that hill, or down one.

Weighing in at 9.45kg for this complete build – which isn't exactly top-end kit – the Edge isn't a heavy bike. This helps it feel efficient on climbs, and if you are out for a quicker blast it can get a wriggle on when you are out of the saddle giving it some.

It's a classic titanium machine in that its ride quality is stunning, and by not doing anything outlandish in terms of its design or geometry, Enigma keeps things simple. It's so easy to ride and have fun on that you can just spin the pedals and enjoy the scenery.

Enigma Edge: Frame & fork

Like pretty much every other titanium frame out there, the Edge uses tubing made from titanium alloyed with 3% aluminium and 2.5% vanadium, known as 3Al/2.5V, although this tubeset is custom butted (it has variable wall thicknesses) to Enigma's design.

Aside from being the best grade of titanium alloy for making bike frames, it is also incredibly hardwearing and doesn't need to be painted either, which is why you'll find most titanium frames are left au naturel. Enigma does offer various paint finishes, though, should you fancy a bit of colour.

The weld quality of the frame means you definitely don't need to use paint to cover anything up. The tube junctions are neatly joined together, and that weld quality is maintained around all of the other details, like the internal cabling junctions and bosses.

Speaking of bosses, the Edge is well equipped too, especially if epic adventures are on your mind. You get three sets of bottle cage bosses, with the additional set under the down tube.

There are positions for mudguards and a rear rack as well, although those guard mounts aren't in the traditional position on either the frame or fork, so while it is still easy enough to fit full guards, the stays will require a bit of fettling.

The carbon fork might not have mounts on the outside of the legs for cages, but it does have internal routing for a dynamo light as well as the mudguard mounting points.

Other details include a dropped chainstay on the drive side to accommodate larger gravel tyres.

Enigma reckons around 50mm is possible, although it does say things will be tight, and suggests 47mm of clearance is more realistic when taking into account various wheel and tyre combinations.

A 45mm tyre hits the sweet spot, which to my mind makes the Edge very capable for the kind of gravel conditions we have in the UK.

As I said earlier, Enigma has specced a T47 bottom bracket, a kind of amalgamation of the dimensions used for a press-fit setup but with threaded bearings to stop any nasty creaks from water and dirt ingress.

The BB shell is investment cast and is designed to allow for the internal hose and cable routing.

Enigma Edge: Geometry

The Edge is available in six sizes ranging from a 50 through to a 60. That equates to top tube lengths of 497mm to 600mm. We have the 56, so a top tube of 558mm with a 540mm seat tube.

The head tube is 165mm, with a 71-degree angle. The seat angle is a little steeper at 73 degrees. All of this gives stack and reach figures of 602mm and 375mm respectively.

The fork offset is 50mm across the size range, as are the chainstays at 430mm.

The overall wheelbase length for this 56 model is 1,033mm.

Enigma Edge: Pricing & finishing kit

Ownership of an Enigma Edge starts at £2,299 for a frame only, should you fancy creating your own build from scratch. Add a carbon gravel fork (£399), headset (£79) and seatclamp (£0) and you have a frameset for £2,777.

Enigma also has some full build guide prices on its site beginning with Shimano GRX 810, Hunt Gravel X-Wide wheels, Maxxis Rambler tyres and C-Six finishing kit for £4,195.

A GRX 815 Di2 2x 11-speed build with similar finishing kit to the above but with an upgrade to Hunt 35 Carbon Gravel wheels is £5,645, or if you really want to push the boat out then a Campagnolo Ekar 1x 13-speed with Levante Carbon wheels is £6,000.

All of those prices are for the standard hand-brushed frame finish with satin bead logos, but you can upgrade any frame only or build option to a satin bead finish with brushed logos for an extra £225, or satin bead finish with mirror logos for an extra £340.

Our build is a Shimano GRX 810 1x groupset using a 42-tooth chainring and 11-42T Deore XT cassette.

GRX is Shimano's gravel groupset range, offering 1x and 2x chainsets with smaller chainrings than you'd find on its road offerings.

The STI brake/shifter units are pretty close in terms of ergonomics to 105 or Ultegra, but the brake levers have a flat section on their frontal area which gives you extra grip when braking hard on descents. You also get raised grip sections on the hoods too, to stop your hands slipping in the wet or when they are sweaty.

The gear shifting is great – very precise even when covered in mud and grit, and, in my opinion, nicely weighted so you can feel that a shift has taken place up and down the cassette without having to look.

The 160mm brake rotors and hydraulic callipers work extremely well, with loads of power and plenty of modulation.

For the cockpit we have a PRO Discovery handlebar with plenty of flare to the drops, which gives a wider stance for more stability when riding on loose surfaces, and the shallow drop lets you get plenty of use out of them too.

The stem is a simple aluminium affair which is Enigma branded, and it does the job.

At the back end there is a short-nosed Enigma saddle whose minimal padding and shape I got on with very well. Its titanium rails are attached to the C-Six carbon fibre seatpost which, just like the stem, does everything asked of it, even if they aren't really components to get excited about.

Our build has a set of Hunt 4Season Gravel wheels. We've tested loads of wheelsets from Hunt over the years and have found very little to fault. That doesn't change here. With a 25mm internal width they are well suited to gravel tyres and have taken on every bit of terrain and conditions I have tasked them with.

The wheels are decked out with a pair of tan-wall Pirelli Cinturato Gravel S tyres which I was very impressed with when I reviewed them early last year. They are a touch on the weighty side, but for the wet winter conditions of the test period they have been brilliant thanks to plenty of tread depth for traction.

Enigma Edge: Value

The price of the Edge reflects both the quality and the small scale sales volume of a company like Enigma. You can get cheaper framesets, but the Edge is similarly priced to others (and less expensive than some).

The Van Nicholas Rowtag that Mat reviewed back in 2021 has a frame, fork and headset price of £2,299. That's the same price as the Ribble Gravel Ti frameset recently reviewed by Suvi over on off.road.cc.

Suvi also reviewed the Landrace Tupelo frameset which she was very impressed with. A frameset comes in at £2,795, although it is more of an 'all-road' kind of design, with a maximum tyre clearance of 35mm.

The Orro Terra Ti has more tyre clearance than the Landrace, although it's still not quite as roomy as the Enigma. It's a lovely bike to ride, though, and available in a range of builds or a frameset for £2,599.99.

At the other end of the scale, you have something like Mason's Bokeh Ti, a titanium beauty handmade in Italy. A frameset will set you back a cool £3,800. I rode the latest alloy version recently, the Bokeh 3, while reviewing it for off.road.cc.

Enigma Edge: Conclusion

The Edge is an elegant-looking gravel machine with a great performance and a geometry that is so well balanced it works on pretty much every kind of surface. It's available in loads of build options, so you can also spec a bike to suit your style of riding.

Verdict

Versatile, easy-to-ride titanium gravel bike finished to a high standard, with stunning ride characteristics