The Ultimate Retro Modern Superbike

Cycling Weekly

What if you want a high-quality lightweight, modern carbon road bike but you prefer rim brakes, a mechanical groupset and don’t want balloon tyres for so called ‘all road’ riding?  In this video I’m going to show that that - despite the best efforts of the industry - bikes like this do still exist. I’ve found the ultimate modern bike for the retrogrouch. The Racer Rosa is an example of a bike which proves that you can still buy a top end carbon road bike with rim brakes and  is compatible with mechanical gears.

Transcript

00:00What if you want a high-quality, lightweight, modern carbon road bike, but you prefer rim

00:04brakes, a mechanical groupset, and you don't need balloon tyres for so-called all-road

00:09riding?

00:10In this video, I'm going to show you that, despite the best efforts of the industry,

00:14bikes like this do still exist.

00:15I've found the ultimate modern road bike for the Retro Grouch.

00:25Call me old-fashioned, set in my ways, grumpy even, guilty as charged, but as I see it,

00:31the bike industry's efforts over the last decade or so to fix things that ain't broke

00:35means less choice and more expense for the consumer.

00:38However, if you know where to look, it's still possible to incorporate those retro elements

00:43into a cutting-edge road bike.

00:45Not only that, but for the same price as those flagship frames from the big brands that are

00:49electronic groupset and disc brake only, you can get it made to measure, handmade in Italy

00:55and with a custom paint job.

00:57Yes, it costs over £4,000 for the frameset, £4,700 to be precise, but that is about the

01:03same as the Cervelo R5, the S-Works Athos and the Envy Mele, all of which are electronic

01:09groupset and disc brake compatible only.

01:11They're made in the Far East, they're off the peg, and this bike is actually cheaper

01:16than the Colnago C68 and the Pinarello Dogma F.

01:20If you've never heard of Racer Rosa, it's basically a London-based Italian brand that

01:28imports wholesale Italian culture into Walthamstow.

01:32And that includes the bike fittings with Giuseppe Giannachini, who is a bike fitter who fits

01:36well to a pros and flies into London one weekend every month for fittings with Racer Rosa.

01:42I went for a fitting with Giuseppe in 2016 and that's where the journey started.

01:47Racer Rosa built me an aluminium made-to-measure frame based on Giuseppe's measurements.

01:51And although I'm not particularly unusually proportioned, the advantage of a made-to-measure

01:56bike, a bespoke bike, is that everything is absolutely perfect.

01:59The stem length is exactly right, there are no spaces underneath the stem or above it,

02:04there's exactly the right amount of seatposts sticking out.

02:07Everything about the bike not only is right, but it looks right too.

02:11When I'm not reviewing a bike for my day job here at Cycling Weekly, the aluminium bike

02:15has been my go-to bike for the last few years, ever since they built it for me.

02:19When Racer Rosa offered to build me a carbon bike based on those same measurements, I absolutely

02:23jumped at the chance.

02:25Racer Rosa used established, you could even say iconic, frame builders.

02:28And this bike was made by Decordi, using the tube-to-tube construction where every tube

02:33is mitered and cut exactly to match Giuseppe's geometry.

02:37You could even see Luigi Decordi's signature here on the top tube.

02:41I wanted as classic a frame as possible, and that means straight tubes and no drop seat

02:45state.

02:46Now, the top tube on this does have very little slope on it, it's not quite horizontal, and

02:50that's so that I can get a little bit of extra comfort with a little bit of extra seatpost

02:54sticking out.

02:56The tubes themselves are squared off rather than rounded, but the silhouette itself is absolutely

03:01perfect.

03:02Now, I did mention that I didn't want balloon tyres, and the clearance is pretty tight, like

03:06a proper race bike.

03:08Now, I'm going to be running 25mm tyres, not 28s, and I certainly don't need to run

03:1334s, so it's got nice, tight clearances.

03:17It has a tapered head tube, 1 1⁄8 to 1 1⁄2, and that actually is a concession to modernity

03:22that I'm absolutely fine with, because the steering is so precise, and I definitely do

03:26not want to go back to one of those 1-inch steerers that just flops all over the place.

03:31Another thing that I definitely didn't want is an integrated cockpit.

03:34I just want a traditional stem and bar as separate components that I can replace easily

03:39if I need to, replace the cables, and I want the cables out.

03:42If you look at the front end, you can see the Silver Campagnolo logo on the cable, and,

03:46you know, who doesn't like that?

03:48Now, the bike could have been made with the stem slammed and the steerer cut right down,

03:52but when I went for my fitting, Giuseppe noticed that my flexibility wasn't quite everything

03:57it should be, so I've just got 5mm of adjustment each way, just in case.

04:02Being given the chance to design your own paint scheme is liberating, but you can easily

04:06end up with a dog's dinner or even an accidental German National Champions livery.

04:11Now what I actually wanted originally was some kind of a sunburst finish, like Fender

04:15guitars.

04:16And I really love that classic sunburst finish.

04:19There's a video on YouTube of guitar bodies being sprayed yellow, and then the black goes

04:23on around the edges, and then finally the red.

04:25So I said to Diego at Racer Rosa, you know, let's do a sunburst finish, and he started putting

04:30in the yellow and the red and the black, and then it hit me.

04:34We had a rethink, and now we started with a pearl white for the main colour, and it goes

04:38into a deep orange, and then a flame red, and then it's got a blue-grey at the rear triangle,

04:43and it's all gloss, and it looks absolutely lovely.

04:50I finally and regretfully accepted that the steel Roberts that I bought second hand and

04:55built up for that Resto Mod video last year was too big for me.

04:59I didn't want to fit a stubby stem on it, so I stripped off the Chorus groupset, and luckily

05:04I'd never ridden it in the rain, and I brought it here for its new home on the Racer Rosa.

05:08I sang Chorus' praises a lot in that video.

05:11It's a lovely groupset, and besides, it would be a crime to fit Shimano or Sram to an Italian

05:16bike, in my view anyway.

05:18If you want a mechanical groupset, Chorus is the only choice for a handmade Italian bike.

05:22I just absolutely love the snappy shifting, the marbled cranks, the aesthetic is just absolutely

05:27perfect for this handmade bike, and even though it's only the third tier groupset, it is not

05:32underpowered for a bike like this.

05:34It has a 52-36 chainset and an 11-29 cassette, which is perfect for the type of riding I do, which

05:39includes club runs, group rides, even the odd road time trial.

05:44Next up, the wheels.

05:45Now I reviewed these Miike SWR50 wheels a few years ago, and they're already becoming a little

05:50bit old school, because they have a narrow internal rim width of 17mm, which is not the

05:54biggest compared to wheels these days.

05:57But for my purposes, they're perfect.

05:58This bike has narrow clearances.

06:00I'm going to put 25mm tires on them, which go really nicely.

06:03Now, they're 1600 grams, just over, so they're not the very lightest, but I'm guessing they're

06:09pretty aerodynamic.

06:10They look great.

06:11Build quality is really good, and they sound really nice, too.

06:15As for the tires, they're going to be Continental Grand Prix 5000s, 25mm size, of course.

06:20And these are not Italian tires, obviously, but they're really great tires.

06:24I love them, and in the end, it means that the German flag does get to appear on my Italian

06:28bike after all.

06:30And finally, the finishing kit.

06:31It's all Italian, deader, super zero carbon.

06:34And the saddle is Italian, too.

06:36It's the Selle Italia SLR Superflow, which I just get on really well with, and didn't

06:40really have to think twice about that.

06:42Now if you're wondering what the total cost of this bike is, I added everything up as if

06:46I bought it from you, and it comes to £7,435.

06:51So here is the complete build list, frame, £4,700, groupset, £1,145, wheels, £1,150,

07:03finishing kit, £300, saddle, £70, tyres, £70, total, £7,435.

07:13Is there anything about this bike that I don't like?

07:15Okay, well, if I'm really honest, I'm really not sure that a press-fit bottom bracket would

07:20have been my first choice.

07:22Somebody who goes for a mechanical groupset over electronic, rim brakes over disc brakes,

07:26is not going to go with a press-fit bottom bracket.

07:29But I have enough faith in Decordy's manufacturing that I don't think this bottom bracket's going

07:33to creak.

07:34It's going to be really well made, everything is going to be straight and round, quality

07:38control is going to be at a really high level, so this bottom bracket is not going

07:42to creak.

07:43So I'm happy with that.

07:45And in a kind of bottom bracket, belt and braces sort of thing, it also has an aluminium sleeve

07:49inside so that the cups aren't directly pressing on the carbon.

07:53Other than that, this is my dream bike.

07:55It fits absolutely perfectly, of course, since it's made to measure the ride quality.

07:59I mean, I can probably say that I can compare it to a classic steel race bike and that is

08:04the biggest compliments I could give it because for me that is the benchmark.

08:07But it's better than that because it's so much lighter.

08:10It weighs 7.5 kilos altogether, which obviously is a lot lighter than a classic steel race

08:14bike.

08:15And you really notice that when you ride it.

08:16It just accelerates.

08:17It's so responsive.

08:18I mean, it's firmer than those bikes that have the big tyres, but really, you know, it's

08:23got the classic ride and that's what I'm looking for.

08:26As for its speed, it's a fast bike.

08:28I've already won first road bike in my local club time trial.

08:31I've been on a really fast group ride with it.

08:33I've done a couple of commutes, although, you know, you don't really want to use this kind

08:37of bike for commuting.

08:38And you're going to eat into its lifespan if you do that.

08:41I've had it for a couple of months and every single ride, I've just absolutely loved riding

08:45it.

08:46It is just an absolute joy.

08:47The only problem is if this is my ultimate bike, what is my N plus one?

08:52Let me know what you think of my dream bike in the comments underneath.

08:55And if you've enjoyed this video, don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel and I'll

08:59see you again soon.

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