Rourke 953
cheers drive
Posts: 63
Santa was a little late this year but my Rourke 953 frame finally arrived last Friday 
My original fitting was in June and I had a great day chatting to Gareth and Brian which Gareth made tweaks to the fit of my existing Ribble.
The fitting was reasonable straight forward with just some small adjustments to my cleats, moving the saddle back, and dropping the stem 10mm. My Ribble was set up like this for the rest of the summer and after a few rides it proved to be a much better position, especially for my hands and shoulders.
It's a summer Sunday best bike so I'm waiting for the roads to dry out and the wind to drop below 20mph before it's maiden ride proper but a quick spin around the block was promising,
P1070226.jpg by Cheers Drive, on Flickr
P1070234.jpg by Cheers Drive, on Flickr
Build kit:
Ultegra 6800 groupset including carbon pedals
Wheel H Plus Son Son Archetype rims - New dark grey finish, Miche hubs, Sapin Laser / race spokes. Built by Malcolm at the Cycle Clinic.
Michelin Pro 4 23c tyres
Hope headset
Zipp Service Course SL Seatpost, Stem, and Bars.
Prologo Nago Evo Nack saddle
Fizik bar tape
Tacx Tao cages
My original fitting was in June and I had a great day chatting to Gareth and Brian which Gareth made tweaks to the fit of my existing Ribble.
The fitting was reasonable straight forward with just some small adjustments to my cleats, moving the saddle back, and dropping the stem 10mm. My Ribble was set up like this for the rest of the summer and after a few rides it proved to be a much better position, especially for my hands and shoulders.
It's a summer Sunday best bike so I'm waiting for the roads to dry out and the wind to drop below 20mph before it's maiden ride proper but a quick spin around the block was promising,
P1070226.jpg by Cheers Drive, on Flickr
P1070234.jpg by Cheers Drive, on Flickr
Build kit:
Ultegra 6800 groupset including carbon pedals
Wheel H Plus Son Son Archetype rims - New dark grey finish, Miche hubs, Sapin Laser / race spokes. Built by Malcolm at the Cycle Clinic.
Michelin Pro 4 23c tyres
Hope headset
Zipp Service Course SL Seatpost, Stem, and Bars.
Prologo Nago Evo Nack saddle
Fizik bar tape
Tacx Tao cages
0
Comments
-
0
-
P1070246.jpg by Cheers Drive, on Flickr
P1070250.jpg by Cheers Drive, on Flickr
P1070254.jpg by Cheers Drive, on Flickr0 -
0 -
Wow - love it. There's not many bikes I would stop and stare at, but this is definitely one of them...0
-
-
Love this. Very nice! (In case my opinion matters, which it shouldnt, I don't much like the bottle cages but everything else is beautiful).0
-
Very pretty, I like the wheels I wonder why.http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.0
-
Yet another stunning steel bike. Lovely, just lovely.0
-
That's one beautiful bike! My Ti
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d16/Tommo_/IMGP0606.jpg
Winter Ride
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d16/Tommo_/IMGP0563.jpg0 -
Nice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!0
-
Lovely, just lovely. Steel cages please! Mandible or King!My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
Facebook? No. Just say no.0 -
Lovely frameset but I'd have gone for some silver (Ritchey classic?) finishing kit rather than the Zipp (and some metal cages).0
-
I didn't want a retro look with Campag and silver finishing kit.
Did investigate pewter finishing kit but didn't want 3 different greys with the group set and wheels as well.0 -
looks great. I agree on the Zipp stuff, I have it on mine and it's top notch. Silver bits on posh steel frames has been overdone so many times. Along with brown saddles and bartape.
Steerer tube needs chopped though! Think it'd look better with some steel or alloy cages, in black of course.
I also think a -17 stem may suit it more as it'd be in line with the horizontal top tube, but that's nit picking.0 -
The steerer will get chopped when I'm sure on the setup. Currently looking for some smaller o.d. stem spacers.0
-
You should be banned for posting what is clearly x-rated hardcore filth on a public forum. Post reported.cheers drive wrote:
Now, has anyone got a tissue? :oops:25% off your first MyProtein order: sign up via https://www.myprotein.com/referrals.lis ... EE-R29Y&li or use my referral code LEE-R29Y0 -
Don't brake too much, those rims look great with the black anodising!0
-
Lovely.
I do agree though that the Tao cages cheapen the beauty somewhat.
I'd go something like this:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/elite-ciussi-inox-cage/rp-prod372360 -
Oooh, I like those SS Ciussi cages.0
-
cheers drive wrote:Oooh, I like those SS Ciussi cages.
Me too. I think they'd look right at home on your Rourke0 -
that looks fantastic - I spent last night convincing myself I wanted a different bike and now I'm straight back thinking about a Rourke
0 -
I can highly recommend Rourke, the service is great and the fitting itself must be worth a few hundred pounds. When I looked they were the best value option too. There is a 6 month wait but that will be the same for any good builder, especially for 953 which has a long supply leadtime.
The total build came to £3k with some careful shopping around for components (the wait came in handy for that) and I struggle to find any off the shelf bikes that I like half as much.0 -
Gorgeous!0
-
echoing the metal cages, but still a real 'looker'
All lies and jest..still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest....0 -
-
Really like that. Looks great with the 6800 gruppo and as for those wheels..... :shock:
I follow Ricky Feather on instagram and the bikes people like him and Rourke are building are something else. Enjoy!0 -
That is really very nice indeed 8)
i prefer the all black components - it is a pity the rims will lose their anodizing but if you only ride on fine days you might be ok. you built it up for a good price too (£1k for all the components ?)
Any idea on weight? - i'm going to get my 953 Rourke weighed next week and am hoping for around (under if poss) the 8kg mark.
soopah!0 -
Yep £1.1k for all of the components, all were new apart from the saddle which was secondhand but as new. Could have saved more if I hadn't jumped the gun on the groupset. I was going to go DA for the groupset and hubs but I was made redundant during the wait for the frame so had to scale back. I think the grey of 6800 suits the paint job more anyway.oldmuthariley wrote:That is really very nice indeed 8)
i prefer the all black components - it is a pity the rims will lose their anodizing but if you only ride on fine days you might be ok. you built it up for a good price too (£1k for all the components ?)
Any idea on weight? - i'm going to get my 953 Rourke weighed next week and am hoping for around (under if poss) the 8kg mark.
soopah!
8.1kg including pedals and cages. Measured on bathroom scales.0 -
-
The roads were fairly dry today so I took it for its maiden ride. I can't believe how nice the ride was compared to my Kinesis T2 winter bike. The ride was better than my previous Ribble Sportive Racing, I put some of that down to the wheels, but the delivery was much snappier.
The only bad point is that despite trying to minimise the braking the brake track on the rims is already losing its colour. The silver close is now I might as well take it out on any dry day in the winter
Untitled by Cheers Drive, on Flickr0
