How It Works!

Decide which type of bike: CX, XC, Road, Gravel or Triathlon (our guide is below)
Decide which frame size: our size guide is HERE
Order your Self-Build Bundle, selecting your required components HERE (some EXAMPLES of component size selections)
We add your order to our queue, dispatching your Self-Build Bundle soon after (our live Build Queue is HERE)
You receive your Self-Build Bundle (choose either to self-assemble or get your local bike mechanis/shop to do it for you)

Any questions, just drop us an email HERE

Our totally bespoke service gets you the exact bike you require, saving money on shipping costs and assembly labour (if you're able to do it yourself) or benefit from the bikefit experience of your local bike shop, whilst supporting your high street or local mechanic.

Don't confuse these with High Street bikes, we only use high-quality components: FSA headsets, KMC chains, Jagwire cabling, Shimano/HUPcc wheels, Challenge/Vittoria tyres, Microshift/SRAM/Shimano groupsets, Tektro/Shimano brakes and our own, customisable cranks, chainrings, handlebars, stems & saddles. Nothing gets close on weight, price, quality or results. Our bikes are actually lightweight! Some models down to the UCI minimum 6.8kg.

Bike Buying Guide

Which Model?

HUP evo & evo2: this frameset can build a variety of bikes in either Drop bar or Flat bar, including: Cyclocross, Gravel, Road or Triathlon - as the frame can run narrow road tyres or wider off-road tyres, on Disc brakes. The carbon version, the HUP evoSL is now available too. Full details on The HUPcc Range.

HUP xc: this frameset can build bikes for cross-country mountain biking - a lightweight, progressive geometry hardtail for XC (cross country) racing or trail leisure riding. 24" wheeled version, the HUP xc24 now available too. Full details on The HUPcc Range.

HUP GCX: this frameset can build a variety of bikes in either Drop bar or Flat bar, including: Cyclocross, Gravel, Road or Triathlon - as the frame can run narrow road tyres or wider off-road tyres, on Disc brakes. It's also perfect for Gravel Adventure with plenty of luggage options and a slightly more upright, relaxed geometry.

Which Product?

You can choose from a self-build bundle, a frameset or individual components. Here are a few tips on choosing...

Self-Build Bundle: you can order a bundle containing all parts to build the bike yourself, or by your local bike shop. This is our most popular method, with shipping more cost effective (great for overseas customers) and you can save money too. You can also order without a wheelset if you already have one, saving more money. Build queue times are HERE. (Online Bike Builders here)

Frameset: order a frameset to build using your existing components or any of our child-specific parts that you require. Popular with existing HUP bike owners, when they grow out of their frame and require a larger one, transferring all their components. (Framesets here)

Components: you can choose to purchase any of the components used on our bikes individually to improve your existing bike or to maintain proper bike fit/increase longevity on their HUP bike!

Which Groupset/Gearing?

This choice will depend on what you intend to use the bike for, alongside the relevant strength of your rider (for chainring selection). Obviously your budget, compatibility with other bikes in your household and secondary uses will also have a bearing! Our recommendations...

Cyclocross: Microshift (R10 or XCD), SRAM Rival or Shimano GRX (1x chainring recommended)
Gravel Adventure: Microshift Advent (9 or 10sp), Microshift XCD or Shimano GRX (1x chainring recommended)
Road Racing: Microshift R10, SRAM Rival (gearing governed by BC regs - 1x or 2x chainrings possible)
Triathlon: Microshift R10 or SRAM Rival (gearing governed by BT regs - 1x or 2x chainrings possible)
MTB XC or Trail: Micrsoshift Advent (9 or 10sp) or Microshift XCD (1x chainring only)

For chainring selection (BC/BT racing regs) see guidance HERE. For other uses refer to our examples for a starting point. Parents often over-estimate the most suitable chainring size, for example, U10 cyclocross is best on a 30T chainring - but often a 34T is ordered!

Which Components?

The size of your rider dictates the best components. Refer to our examples for a guide. Here are a few tips on selection...

Drop Handlebars: match the approx shoulder width for Road, or shoulder width +1 size up for Cyclocross
Flat Handlebars: match the approx width of their press-up position (go wider for enduro)

Cranks: take 10% of their height +5mm for crank length (Road & Triathlon cycling) or 10% of their height +10mm for crank length (Off-Road cycling). Example: 1350mm tall rider would choose 140mm for Road bike or 145mm for CX/MTB.

Stems: This isn't an exact science, but generally if the rider is at the lower end of the frameset's growth range, a shorter stem will be correct and vice-versa.

Saddle/Post: Our kids saddle is suited to younger riders and the Youth saddle for older riders (or younger riders Off-Road). But saddles are a personal thing. We have 2 choices of seat post, inline or rotary, the later is very useful for smaller riders at the lower end of the frameset's growth range being reversible to reduce the bikes effective length.

Example Specs: we have example build specs for each frame size, for a typical rider using that size of frame: CLICK HERE

Which Wheels/Tyres/Brakes?

Your choice of wheels/tyres will be based on budget and use. The more you spend, the lighter they are, which is the single biggest improvement to any bike, but especially true for children. Tyres will be use specific: smooth/narrow for Road, knobbly/wide for Cyclocross or knobbly/very wide for MTB.

The HUP evo & evo2 take either 700c or 650b. For Road, Cyclocross, Triathlon and Road leisure, we recommend 700c for both practicality and racing regulations. For the HUP evo on Gravel Adventure, 650b wheels & tyres offer larger sizes for increased comfort, grip and off-road reliability. For the HUP evo2, the larger tyre clearances mean a 700c tyre up to 50mm is possible.

The HUP xc runs 27.5" on the 13" and 29" wheels on the 15"/17"19", with a choice of tyres to suit your riding. We have very lightweight, handbuilt aluminium MTB wheels in both sizes. We always recommend fitting rim defender inserts.

With the HUP evo & evo2, brakes are often over-specified for kids, but usually 140mm front & rear for CX/Road/Triathlon, moving to 160mm front & 140mm rear from approx 11yrs+ and for Gravel adventure 160mm front & rear is plenty. Hydraulics give more power (at a price) however that's not always a benefit to a 30kg rider in the wet, generating very little weight on their wider tyres, especially in cyclocross.

For the HUP xc MTB bikes, 160mm front/160mm rear is fine for the smaller, lighter riders (especially focusing on XC) with 180mm front /160mm rear from approx 11yrs+ is typical, especially when focusing more on racing.

Take a look at the different models: Cyclo-cross | Road | Triathlon | MTB | Gravel