After nearly six years away from the UK, the German direct-to-consumer brand, Rose, has released a bike for the British market. The brand's website unsubtly states "we're back in the UK".
The Backroad FF gravel bike is currently the only one listed on the company’s British website. The bike – available in purple, grey and yellow – comes equipped with a SRAM XPLR AXS groupset and Rose G30 wheels. At £3,500, it forms the heart of the brand's British re-launch, and is available alongside a small crop of branded kit.
Rose exited the British market in 2020, due to the absence of a Free Trade Agreement post-Brexit. The decision was further compounded by a difference in UK law, which requires bikes to be sold with a right-handed brake lever. In 2020, Rose was moving away from its previous made-to-order model towards serial production, which made it harder – and more costly – to modify bikes post-manufacture.
Since Rose was last seen rolling through British roads, the company has grown significantly across German and EU markets. In 2023, its revenue grew by 9% in the EU to €189 million, with its bike sales outpacing most competition in the same period that saw the industry turnover in Germany fall by €300 million to €7 billion.
In 2025, the direct-to-consumer brand refinanced, allowing it to “further strengthen its operations and market position," according to KPMG Deutschland.
The brand's presence, firmly felt in the continental gravel racing circuit, will soon increase its standing in the world of road racing, too. In August, the German brand's sponsorship of the Unibet Tietema Rockets was first floated by Wielerflits.
The Dutch-owned French ProTeam had ridden Cannondale for three years, and their move to Rose took the industry by surprise. Only months later, the Rockets – now known as the Unibet Rose Rockets – look likely to make their Tour de France debut this year.
With Bas Tietema’s team, and their German sponsor and bike-provider’s, sights set firmly on the Tour de France, it is likely that the company’s influence will only grow: ‘to the Tour and beyond!’
