The distinguished brands within the Janus Cycle Group such as Dean, Merlin, and Knight, have histories dating as far back as the 1980s. In July 2021 the company came under the ownership of Phil Joseph, himself an avid cyclist and longtime admirer of these brands.
This year, in April 2022, the highly-regarded frame builder Peter Olivetti, who had a prior relationship with Janus, was brought in as the group’s master builder and designer. His first move was making design changes to create more of a distinction between the titanium-tubed Dean and Merlin lines.
Janus has four bikes on display at PBE22: two from Merlin and two from Dean.
For Merlin, Olivetti says, there are now two different gravel designs. Merlin has introduced a 50mm tire version of the Sandstone gravel bike, giving it legitimate Monster Cross credentials. Made for a significantly rougher road, this frame has a longer rear triangle and thicker tubing. It can be run with either a 1x or multiple chainwheels. The standard Sandstone is kept with a 40mm tire clearance, double-butted front triangle, and lightweight seat and chainstays. Custom geometry is available.
In the case of Dean, the flagship Colonel mountain bike is revamped with 2022 geometry, and gets a hydroform downtube. Olivetti worked with Cobra Cycles on chainstay yokes to improve tire clearance.
Dean’s Team Cross bike sports a classic Jester paint work, for a fun aesthetic to go with the show-hall mood at PBE. (We hope to add a picture of that during the weekend).
Based in Boulder, Colorado, Janus is in the heart of a leading US cycling region. Its mission is to match high performance cycling products with outstanding customer service.