Just to prove that I occasionally follow through on some of my apparently completely aimless posts on here, I’ve finally taken delivery of my new gravel frame from Rourke! 😎

I promised myself I wouldn’t weigh it (you don’t buy steel for lightweight) but nonetheless… 2.75kg frame/fork/seatclamp/headset, which equates to approx 2.1kg frame only. With my other bits this should still build up to approx 10kg all in, although my only real target is ‘not significantly heavier’ than the aluminium Kinesis CX frame it replaces.

(and apologies to everyone who contributed to the Laphroaig paint job thread, I just couldn’t bring myself to go for something that subtle in the end. Garish for the win!)

Rim brakes – interesting choice on a gravel bike these day. Looks proper nice does that. Will be interested to see it all built up.

Rim brakes – interesting choice on a gravel bike these day

Yeah is a fair comment considering the direction the industry has gone, but have been testing the principle for two years now, it works for me 👍 (maybe because I’m old enough to still remember DH racing on V-brakes 😎)

f###-chops! I could have built a rim brake Gravel bike?!! I just sold a 12×1 eTap GS I bought for my son, and then changed my mind….

Lovely bike though

That’s nice,what’s the rear tyre clearance like and did you not fancy cable retainers on the head tube?

I was worried about the tyre clearance as it looked narrow, but measures 52mm which is almost bang on ISO clearance around a 45mm tyre, which is what I asked for.

Can’t remember why I didn’t go for headtube cable retainers, possibly because I don’t really have an opinion on them one way or another! (actually I think that’s a lie, on a bike that is likely to require regular cleaning I think I prefer an unobstructed headtube…)

but measures 52mm which is almost bang on ISO clearance around a 45mm tyre

👍

😉🙃

All depends where you ride and how often you actually need to brake/stop. I am using cantis and have no issues with them, stop me fine in wet or dry. I don’t like the look of disc brakes and don’t need them as ride solo and rarely slow down.

Hey – I wasn’t knocking canti’s or vees, just commenting they’re not the usual choice these days.

I myself sold a bike with a coaster brake a couple of weeks ago.

Hey – I wasn’t knocking canti’s or vees, just commenting they’re not the usual choice these days.

Don’t worry, I was anticipating far worse! 😎

Plus it looks gorgeous with the anodised blue TRPs I’ve fitted.

Not so sure about the spares box neon pink stem which I keep telling myself is temporary but is at risk of growing on me.

I really like the colour choice.

You’re the first person to say that 😎 Although my buddy just assumed I was deliberately going for the retro 90s MTB look when he saw the pictures.

No more today though, seat-tube needs reamed a touch to fit the nice new Ti seatpost, and I can’t be bothered cabling yet. Am regretting the gold chain that I purchased specially but I bought it for durability not colour, will hopefully dull down with a coating of Fenwick’s Stealth…

Nice – wouldn’t worry about the gold chain when you’ve got blue brakes and a pink stem!

anybody else thinking “alpinestar”?

EDIT: nice bike mister.

Nice 👍 still waiting for mine. Due to chase again this week. Getting mildly grumpy now but I did buy a custom steel singlespeed in the mean time.

still waiting for mine. Due to chase again this week. Getting mildly grumpy now

Yeah, I’m almost lucky that I’ve been too injured to ride in anger recently, helped with the impatience but there was also some confusion as to when it was actually ‘due’!

I got into the mindset early of dealing with ‘craftsmen’ rather than a mail order warehouse, although they could really do with checking their phones a bit more often!

Nice! Definite 90s retro vibe going on there.
My 953 frame had to be replaced and I wanted to go to road orientated gravel frame but the cost and shortages if disc groupsets meant I stuck with a road frame but with more clearance.
Got it a few weeks ago, I get a feeling Rourke have been struggling to get tubing. The colour shift pink is stunning in the flesh.

Nice! Are they regular calliper? What clearance do you get?

I get a feeling Rourke have been struggling to get tubing

I wondered if they were just suffering from their own popularity (they did a video tour on road.cc a while ago) or were enjoying a Brexit boost (I was going to go custom Ti until I realised a lot of UK custom Ti is outsourced to China. Didn’t fancy risking import/COVID delays).

Gis a go of your bike, mister.

I love it that it’s your bike, not some marketeers idea of a bike.
And I like the gweeeeeeen.

Clearance for 30c.
Jason appears to be busy with Blue Whippet paint works so I wondered if frame building was taking a back seat now?

This was my original inspiration, couldn’t do the bare metal effect with 853 and couldn’t match the candy apple green, so we landed on Lotus Scandal Green and pearlescent white.

Maybe it’s me, and I’m not a roadie, but I don’t understand why you’d get a custom frame and still have what looks like a 120mm stem, a well laid back seatpost and a saddle set back on it’s rails?

Getting there!

I have already been complimented on the ‘timeless elegance’ of the lime green, hot pink and zebra colour-scheme, but once I’ve taped the bars and replaced the stem (maybe even got it colour matched) it should be good.

Sort of regretting the gold chain but it was all they had in stock at inaspin.co.uk and I wanted a YBN and I wanted to take advantage of their pre-degreasing service. Just need to decide whether to commit to Putoline again or use up my stock of Fenwick’s Stealth.

Carbon post in the mail as the Ti post I had purchased didn’t fit, callipers measured 27.3mm so back it went for a refund.

Pretty much the finishing touches, the (almost 🙄) colour matched stem and a nice carbon post.

Took the tyre inserts out, definitely think they made it feel more wooden, seems to skip along a bit livelier now 😎

lovely looking bike that mate.
saw it when you 1st posted it and meant to comment then.
perfect.

Paint job is fantastic, love it. Not so sure on the decision to avoid discs for aesthetic reasons, but then fit those blue brakes 🙂

but then fit those blue brakes

I love the blue brakes, deep down I wonder if I really just had the frame built as a vehicle for the brakes 😂

The anodised blue brakes, spoke nipples and bottle cage bolts at least all match one another better than the frame and stem…

Maybe it’s me, and I’m not a roadie, but I don’t understand why you’d get a custom frame and still have what looks like a 120mm stem, a well laid back seatpost and a saddle set back on it’s rails?

120mm stem is pretty optimal IMO – 130mm and -17 degree rise looks more pro but handling is probably better at 120mm. Shorter than 100mm on a road bike makes you look like a chopper.

Agree on the seat rails though, and I’m ambivalent about seatpost layback.

It’s an 80mm stem 😂

I don’t like the look either and depending on terrain etc. will go longer and a bit lower (was cheap enough to get a longer stem painted too 😎), but ultimately it’s a gravel bike with longer distance pretensions so I’m not going by road cycling convention!

Plus (I think we did this on another thread?) a layback post and saddle back in the rails is better than the alternative which would be some sort of mad seat-tube angle which in turn would probably require longer chainstays.

lovely bike, not sure about the cyan calipers though :/

It’s an 80mm stem 😂

I don’t like the look either and depending on terrain etc. will go longer and a bit lower (was cheap enough to get a longer stem painted too 😎), but ultimately it’s a gravel bike with longer distance pretensions so I’m not going by road cycling convention!

I’ve got a 100mm -17 stem on my gravel bike and I wish it was an 80mm 0 degree one #fashionvictim 😂