May 2021 was when I spent a good many hours with Wayne at Rourke cycles. Lots of measurements and discussions. Left after a deposit and knowing the lead time. This moved a bit but in fairness to the team at Rourke; and I use team in the context of the small bunch, I was kept informed all the way. My request for 853 front triangle and 921 rear was accommodated, fork was sourced and purchased, and I kept slowly getting the bits together my end. My friend, Ryan, built me a lovely pair of wheels, and then I settled up last week and the new Frameset arrived Wednesday. Lovely. Built it up and had a couple of snagging rides and I’m really pleased.

Hot Damn- coming from a rider who doesn’t dig road/gravel nor ebikes

I was looking forward to an actual cake. But yeah, very nice bike!

I was looking forward to an actual cake. But yeah, very nice bike!

Yeah, I was about to type up an amusing cake anecdote, but I love a Rourke nearly as much.

Looks very much better taste than my mum’s ultimate lemon juice sponge cake.

Not saying your bike is a lemon 😛

This does look great. Can I be rude and ask how much a custom frame costs?

All kinds of nice cake that

Lovely, but that line over the roots looks sketchy.

Oh aye, that’s lovely.

@shedbrewed – we need a spec list

Long and stato post incoming then…
Spec for the frame was for a bike to ride longer audaxes and carrying luggage for touring but to also do duty as a spare bike for when I race cyclocross. Measurements were taken with me on my Boone as that was the bike that was doing that duty beforehand. As Wayne pointed out, fairly, what I was asking for was a bike to do two quite different things.
I wanted the Whisky MCX fork as it had cage mounts as good tyre clearance as well as dynamo cable routing and mudguard mounts.
I also wanted full length external cables so the loops and fittings were there for them, again causing Wayne some aesthetic concerns as barrel adjusters are prettier than inline. I chose to have less maintenance issues over aesthetics.

The choice of 853/921 mix was down to not liking the 921/953 un-tapered head tube, along with having nothing against 853 as a material for the frame. I wanted the stainless rear triangle for ease of maintenance and not worrying about paint chips and the like.

Wheels were built up by my friend Ryan at the eponymous RyanBuildsWheels. Hope rs4 silver hubs laced 24/28 with CX sprint spokes up front and CX ray rear. The rims are parcours ronde with the rear a special request 28 hole. Tyres are Rene Herse snoqualmie pass, currently with tubes in.

Gearing is made up of a mixture of sram. Rival1 rh lever and s-series lh lever as I wanted 2×11 and hydraulic brakes. Front derailleur is sram red. Rear is sram force medium cage. Cassette is pg1170 11-36.
Bottom bracket is ird defiant although if I was doing it again I’d probably go straight to tange. Cranks are middleburn r01 with a double spider. Rings are spa cycles 33t and shimano 46t.
I’ve got a good spread of ratios compared to the various iterations of 1x I’ve tried and 46/11 is enough to deliver a chaingang pace.

Syntace P6 27.2 seat post. Bontrager Aeolus saddle. Easton ea90 stem painted to match the frame. Bars in the picture are deda Gera carbon but I’ve since changed them for some funn g-wide. I’m recovering from shoulder surgery after having a synthetic ligament put in place and the wider bars on my pink singlespeed work well in easing the shoulder and neck pain so I’m trying them on this. Oh and bontrager bar tape. They do make some nice tapes.

There you go.

In a world of increasingly “integrated” groupsets it is nice to see a well thought out mix of reliable and easily replaceable parts.

Lovely. My only query would be that the rear brake bridge clearance seems a bit tight or is that photo perspective?

@timba clearance is fine with the 44s. It was set to have enough clearance for 38s and mudguards. And on mudguards I’m trying to decide whether to go for black alloy or plain stainless.

Looks nice-love the colour scheme. Dare I ask though, will you be cutting the steerer tube down. JUSt wondering if there was a reason you didn’t spec a taller head tube to gain height at the front, rather than spacers?

Yes probably cut it down further as I finish sorting bars out and my shoulder recovers more after the operation 6 weeks ago. I’m not anti spacer. Might fit a spacer bell on there too.

Just to add, if anyone has any recommendations for a lightly flared drop bar with 6-12’ back sweep and not super wide, I’m all ears. Ta.