Charge Bikes, Parts & Accessories

Charge Bikes is a UK-based manufacturer of bicycles. The company produces city bikes, kid's bikes, and 27+ off-road bikes. Now part of the Cycling Sports Group, Charge bikes are available in shops world wide.

Started in 2005 by founder Nick Larsen, Charge began as a maker of mountain bikes, followed by a revelation during a trip to San Francisco, seeing DIY riders converting traditional bikes into simple, city-durable single-speed rides. Charge got a jump on the industry, building its own fixies years ahead of the mainstream. Nowadays Charge makes a comprehensive collection of city-friendly bicycles, a select few styles of kid's mountain bikes, and the fat-tired off-road Cooker. The company also offers its excellent saddle.

Charge has a mission: get non-cyclists interested in cycling. Any non-cyclists. The company has taken an interest in everyone from couch potatoes to skaters, offering city bikes for riders at any level of fitness, from regular runners to commuters to casual coffee-shop denizens. The Plug is available with bullhorn or drop bars, fixie or mutiple gears, and kit spanning from brandless steel and alloy through SRAM Rival. The Grater is decidedly more casual, flat-bar all the way, with fenders and mixte frames available and seating from all-out fast to relaxed upright.

The Cooker bikes are all 27.5"+. Charge loves fat tires, and thinks you will too. Some have rigid forks, some cushy suspension, but all of them like the mud, with disc brakes on every model from the top-of-the-line X1-equipped Cooker 5 to the delightfully minimalist Cooker 0 single-speed bomber.

Both kid's models, one in 20" wheel, one in 24", are fat-tire too. A hill of fun to ride, the kid's bikes are kitted out simply and reliably, from steel frame to platform pedals, mechanical disc brakes to single-ring drivetrains.

Charge makes fun to ride bikes, some of them even practical. With prices starting at the reasonable and never reaching the stratospheric, what's not to like? Stop by your local shop and try one out.