"My Dream Bike" BBC4

Chip \'oyler

If you watched it what did you think of his finished build?

Personally I thought it looked awful. Beautiful well made individual components that didn't work together aesthetically when built up. If you're spending that much money then taking into account the looks is just as important?

skyd0g

I wasn't particularly keen on his choice of colour scheme for the frame, personally. It certainly didn't say 'hand-built classic' to me... ...nor the choice of handlebars.

...it was errm, 'individual' though.

alan_sherman

It didn't work for me either, but then it is a personal decision.

The guy did say at the beginning that he wanted the best parts, not the lightest, not the most expensive, but the best to give him a bike that he can ride for the rest of his life. So if that was what he chose, largely driven by history (Rourke, Campagnolo, Cinelli), Brooks or a sense of more modern classics (DT rims, Chris King, The wheelbuilder).

Was it a stainless steel frame?

Frank the tank

It was a good excuse to get someone else to pay for you to travel 'round the world to build a "dream bike" great bit of schemeing. 8) I suppose a programme an hour long of some bloke (Rob Penn in this case) ordering stuff off the tinternet wouldn't have been quite so informative or entertaining.

As for the bike itself, not my cup of tea I thought it added up to not the sum of its parts, but if Mr Penn is happy fair do's.

Chip \'oyler

alan sherman wrote:

It didn't work for me either, but then it is a personal decision.

The guy did say at the beginning that he wanted the best parts, not the lightest, not the most expensive, but the best to give him a bike that he can ride for the rest of his life. So if that was what he chose, largely driven by history (Rourke, Campagnolo, Cinelli), Brooks or a sense of more modern classics (DT rims, Chris King, The wheelbuilder).

Was it a stainless steel frame?

Yes it was 953. I agree with his remit - but if I was building a bike to last the rest of my life then it would have to 'look' right.

Was odd that he didn't choose Veloflex tyres - they ARE hand made are and considered the 'best' by a lot of people (myself included).

Aggieboy

It was the Man City of the bike world.

daviesee

Aggieboy wrote:

It was the Man City of the bike world.

Not really. More Man Utd. Mostly decent components with a couple of stars.
I was surprised at how cheap the build was for a "dream" bike.

But that is pocket dependant.

Go here and see how much you can spend.................

http://www.buildityourway.co.uk/roadbike.php

mrdoofer

This was a TV programme, I doubt the bike he made was the bike he wanted it was probably determined more by what companies were willing to take part, where they were based, and how interesting a story could be told with the companies available to them. That's why the bike turned out to be such a mismatch, and why the programme was a bit thin on the ground, it felt like they had a complete nightmare getting companies involved.

Chip \'oyler

The moral of this story is that you should always START with your frame colour in mind.

Not leave it till last :roll:

rake

although i thought that old 'orange / blue' chestnut combination was quite nice. its just a crying shame it didnt match say the white bars for example.

STEFANOS4784

Maybe he thought it would be a good deterent to thieves to make a bike costing 4k look like it was worth 500 quid.

Chip \'oyler

rake wrote:

although i thought that old 'orange / blue' chestnut combination was quite nice. its just a crying shame it didnt match say the white bars for example.

Exactly. If he had that in mind from the beginning then he could have got an orange/brown Brooks saddle with matching leather bar tape. That would have been a decent combo. And for some reason big fook off carbon bars and stem don't look right on more traditional looking steel frames

mr_eddy

I personally thought that the bike and the program was excellent. As already stated the bike was using the best components for him and his style, and that is the very essence of what he was trying to say. Cycling by its very nature is personable, individual and emotive.

I respect someone to look into creating a bike that was crafted rather than machined by individuals who share the very same passion that we all share.

Regardless of what people think of his bike or indeed any bike the fat is that there is 1more of us and 1 less of them.

P.S I loved the blue and orange!

mr_eddy

*fact* sorry

Chip \'oyler

mr_eddy wrote:

I personally thought that the bike and the program was excellent. As already stated the bike was using the best components for him and his style, and that is the very essence of what he was trying to say. Cycling by its very nature is personable, individual and emotive.

I respect someone to look into creating a bike that was crafted rather than machined by individuals who share the very same passion that we all share.

Regardless of what people think of his bike or indeed any bike the fat is that there is 1more of us and 1 less of them.

P.S I loved the blue and orange!

Following that ethos through then why did he choose Continental tyres? And why not get some Royce hubs? IMO the idea for the build and programme was great - the end result (the bike anyway) didn't follow through. Never mind though I really enjoyed watching it - especially the shots of him riding part of the Lombardia course and visiting the Ghisallo Chapel.

Pross

He should have gone on the Beginner's Forum here and posted a load of "What Frame" and "What Wheels" type questions. Mind you he'd have ended up with either a stock CAAD9 or Planet X Ultegra

Pork Sword

I thought it was a great show. What a lucky bugger!

Have to admit that his choice of colour scheme wasn't to my taste but he was happy and that's what it's all about.... jeez, there's a lot of picky sods on this Forum - cycling seems to be populated by a lot of kn*bs these days.

Loved his choice of Rourke 953, Campag Record, Cinelli bars, Chris King headset and Brookes saddle. Would probably pick exactly the same kind of gear on my 'Dream' Bike.

Most jealous of the fact that he got to MTB down the Repack course with two MTB Legends.

BigG67

It was a really fun programme, his enthusiasim was very apparent and made the show. Only part of the bike that looked really out of place for me was the bars and I'd guess he was pushed into those by Cinelli.

The production team need a kicking though. To turn up at Campag and Chris King without sorting out what access they could get looked bad. If I was Comms/Marketing Dir at either of those I'd do my nut at being placed on the spot like that.

stokey1964

I thought it was a interesting show.

More so though, in that Rourkies is my local LBS and the mechanic you saw building the bike was Matt, who has always been an invaluable source of info and help to me in the past.

Sean Kelly has one of their 953's bike he's rides when he comes down for the annual Cat and Fiddle run.

To me they are how a LBS should be, ive turned up in the past at 9am with a frame I needed the bottom bracket thread run through with a tap.

Never a problem and no charge, although I did give Matt a fiver to get the lads some cream cakes.

Simon

cougie

I'm pretty certain he did get Royce hubs ? I thought there was a close up of the hub when the wheel was being trued.

Its all personal - what floats my boat isnt the same as everyone elses - so fair dos to him..

He's got a nice bike there - we could bicker about components all we want - its his choice in the end.

Typical cyclists eh - theres been decades of tv with barely a few hours of programmes about us - now we had an entire evening and we pick faults with some poor sods bike ! ;-)

giant_man

Agreed on most of the components, not sure about Cinelli making the 'best bars' though have to say. Yeah, CK, Campag, etc, no brainers. Didn't have a clue about the wheels though - never heard of the builder personally .....

TommyEss

I'd go along with the sentiments of most people here -

Show was interesting - nice to see the Ghisallo - brought back some good memories, and nice to see inside (most of) those factories.

Why didn't he check beforehand whether he'd be allowed to film though? I found that quite annoying - Campagnolo and Chris King - although he got a snippet out of them at least. Just seemed poor form to make out big bad Campag weren't going to let him film - he must have known, surely?

As for the bike - liked the colour scheme, but didn't think carbon fibre all-in-one bar/stem combo or the Record carbon mated well with the brooks at all...

Did look a bit of a dog's dinner at the end - but he liked it - it was his dream bike after all.

timmyflash

Tenner says he prefers his carbon racer...

brit66

He decides on the colour by looking at a few paint pots on the day? ... and then chooses orange and blue!!!!!!

Pross

Maybe he's a big Rabo fan?

AndyD2574

Missed this. Anyone knwo if its repeated?

eddiebart

Pretty certain he chose Royce hubs as there was a big R logo on the hubs. I have the same on my bike with Open Pro rims.

I have two Rourkie frames - only 531C but find my Enigma titanium frame much more comfortable. As 953 is stiffer I hope he has more relaxed angles than my 531 frames.

Enjoyed the programme but would have found a tour of Royce's workshop more interesting than Chris King's.

northernneil

AndyD2574 wrote:

Missed this. Anyone knwo if its repeated?

I watched it on iplayer this afternoon

Frank the tank

I found the bit where he rode "re-pack" in Marin county very interesting, because when I first got into cycling it was via the mountain bike route and I read a book which was all about the birth of the MTB. Joe Breeze,Gary Fisher etc, it was a really good read but I can't remember what it's title is.

fluff.

Couldn't help thinking he could of got all this stuff at Rourkes His dream of a bike did seem a bit of a hotch potch but each to their own and whatnot. Oh, and I'm moving to Portland in search of artists as soon as possible.

rob_spedding

You can read more from Rob Penn in the next issue of Cycling Plus....