Reviews & Comments on Rook Cycles

[Dawie Louwrens]

In my search for gravel bikes, I've stumbled upon Rook Cycles based in Cape Town. They also have a branch in Johannesburg called Bike Bandits.

Any comments, reviews, advise, complaints about Rook Bikes in terms of their bikes, the quality, service and resell value etc. Its honestly the first time that I heard of them, but their bikes seem quite decent quality.

[Dawie Louwrens]

Link to their website https://rookcycles.com/

 

[MongooseMan]

Search rook on the forum here, there are plenty of posts.

I've had one, it's a solid bike, with a few quirks:
- 650B wheels, which can make sourcing tyres harder

- Non-standard seatpost (25mm) which makes finding a replacement impossible

- Ltwoo groupset, which you either like or you don't

 

I put a lot of miles into mine, including 100 miles at Around the Pot and a CTCT.

[droo]

For the price you won't find much better. They're not the lightest or best specced things out there, but they do exactly what they say on the tin and the backup is good.

[Vaultboy]

As mentioned above,  the Rook bicycles are solid. I've done over 4000km on my Scout, without any issues (although half of that has been on the trainer).

Their presale service was great. Got my bike the same day,  nicely set up. 

I can't say the same for their after sales service, though. They're slow to reply on whatsapp. And I only serviced my bike there once. Had to wait a week for an appointment, and then another week for my bike to be ready. This was probably due to having only had one staffer at the time, who was store clerk and mechanic.

[nonky]

17 hours ago, droo said:

For the price you won't find much better. They're not the lightest or best specced things out there, but they do exactly what they say on the tin and the backup is good.

This is the comment you can trust - it's from a mechanic and local bike shop owner in Cape Town (in case you didn't know). 

[TyronLab]

I'll always have a soft spot for the Rook Scout. If you have a few cups of coffee or draughts you want to augment, have a read through this thread to understand why: 

 

 

They are flippen sweet bikes and pretty cool guys to deal with.

[MongooseMan]

On 5/9/2024 at 1:37 PM, Dawie Louwrens said:

In my search for gravel bikes, I've stumbled upon Rook Cycles based in Cape Town. They also have a branch in Johannesburg called Bike Bandits.

Any comments, reviews, advise, complaints about Rook Bikes in terms of their bikes, the quality, service and resell value etc. Its honestly the first time that I heard of them, but their bikes seem quite decent quality.

Not sure what size you're looking for, but this appears to be a very good deal (upgraded groupset & powermeter)
https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/gravel-bikes/721961/rook-scout-xl-grx11spd-pwrmtr

[ChrisF]

Maybe clarify what you are looking for.

 

They are very good with their single speed bikes.

 

Once you add gears, their price gets dangerously close to Titan Racing and similar bikes.