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?
00:09In this video, I'm going to show you that, despite the best efforts of the industry,
00:13bikes like this do still exist.
00:15I've found the ultimate modern road bike for the Retro Grouch.
00:25Call me old-fashioned, sit 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.
00:44Not only that, but for the same price as those flagship frames from the big brands that
00:49are electronic groupset and disc brake only, you can get it made-to-measure, handmade in
00:54Italy and 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 groupset
01:09and disc brake-compatible only, they're made in the Far East, they're off the peg, and this
01:14bike is actually cheaper than the Colnago C68 and the Pinarello Dogma F.
01:23If you've never heard of Racer Rosa, it's basically a London-based Italian brand that
01:28imports wholesale Italian culture into Walthamstow.
01:31And 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 and although
01:52I'm not particularly unusually proportioned, the advantage of a made-to-measure bike, a bespoke
01:56bike is that everything is absolutely perfect. The stem length is exactly right, there are
02:01no spaces underneath the stem or above it, there's exactly the right amount of seatposts sticking
02:05out. Everything 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 has
02:15been 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.
02:24Racer Rosa used established, you could even say iconic, frame builders and this bike was
02:28made by Decordi using the tube-to-tube construction where every tube is mitered and cut exactly
02:34to match Giuseppe's geometry. You could even see Luigi Decordi's signature here on the top tube.
02:40I wanted as classic a frame as possible and that means straight tubes and no drop seat states.
02:46Now the top tube on this does have very little slope on it, it's not quite horizontal and that's
02:51so that I can get a little bit of extra comfort with a little bit of extra seatpost sticking out.
02:55The tubes themselves are squared off rather than rounded but the silhouette itself is absolutely perfect.
03:02Now I did mention that I didn't want balloon tyres and the clearance is pretty tight like a proper race
03:07bike.
03:08Now I'm going to be running 25mm tyres, not 28s and I certainly don't need to run 34s so it's
03:14got nice tight clearances.
03:16It has a tapered head tube, inch and an eighth to an inch and a half and that actually is
03:20a concession to modernity
03:22that I'm absolutely fine with because the steering is so precise and I definitely do not want to go back
03:27to one of those one inch steerers that just flops all over the place.
03:30Another 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 if I need to
03:39replace the cables
03:40and I want the cables out. If you look at the front end you can see the Silver Campagnolo logo
03:45on the cable
03:46and you 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 it should be
03:57so 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
04:05but you can easily end up with a dog's dinner or even an accidental German National Champions livery.
04:10Now what I actually wanted originally was some kind of a sunburst finish like Fender guitars.
04:15I'm a bass player and I really love that classic sunburst finish.
04:18There's a video on YouTube of guitar bodies being sprayed yellow
04:21and then the black goes on around the edges and then finally the red.
04:25So I said to Diego at Racer Rosa, let's do a sunburst finish
04:29and he started putting in 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
04:38and it goes into a deep orange and then a flame red and then it's got a blue grey at
04:42the rear triangle
04:42and it's all gloss and it looks absolutely lovely.
04:50I finally and regretfully accepted that the steel Roberts that I bought second hand
04:55and built 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
05:03and luckily I'd never ridden it in the rain and I brought it here for its new home on the
05:07Racer Rosa.
05:08I sang Chorus's 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 bike
05:16in 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 perfect for this handmade bike
05:29and even though it's only the third tier groupset it is not underpowered for a bike like this.
05:33It has a 52-36 chainset and an 11-29 cassette which is perfect for the type of riding I
05:38do
05:39which includes 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
05:48and they're already becoming a little bit old school
05:51because they have a narrow internal rim width of 17mm
05:53which is not the biggest compared to wheels these days.
05:56But for my purposes they're perfect.
05:58This bike has narrow clearances, I'm going to put 25mm tyres on them
06:02which go really nicely.
06:04Now they're 1600g just over so they're not the very lightest
06:08but I'm guessing they're pretty aerodynamic, they look great, build quality is really good
06:12and they sound really nice too.
06:14As for the tyres, they're going to be Continental Grand Prix 5000s
06:1825mm size of course
06:20and these are not Italian tyres obviously
06:22but they're really great tyres, I love them
06:24and in the end it means that the German flag does get to appear on my Italian bike after all.
06:29And finally the finishing kit, it's all Italian Deda Super Zero Carbon
06:33and the saddle is Italian too, it's the Selle Italia SLR Superflow
06:38which I just get on really well with and didn't really have to think twice about that.
06:42Now if you're wondering what the total cost of this bike is
06:45I added everything up as if I bought it from you and it comes to £7,435.
06:50So here is the complete build list
06:53Frame £4,700
06:56Groupset £1,145
06:59Wheels £1,150
07:02Finishing kit £300
07:04Saddle £70
07:06Tyres £70
07:08Total £7,435
07:11Is there anything about this bike that I don't like?
07:15Ok, well if I'm really honest I'm really not sure that a press fit bottom bracket would have been my
07:21first choice
07:21Somebody who goes for a mechanical group set over electronic
07:24rim brakes over disc brakes is 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 is going to creak
07:34It's going to be really well made, everything is going to be straight and round
07:37Quality control is going to be at a really high level
07:40So this bottom bracket is not going to creak
07:42So I'm happy with that
07:44And in a kind of bottom bracket belt and braces sort of thing
07:47It also has an aluminium sleeve inside so that the cups aren't directly pressing on the carbon
07:52Other 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
08:03And that is the biggest compliments I could give it
08:05Because for me that is the benchmark
08:07But it's better than that because it's so much lighter
08:09It weighs 7.5 kilos altogether
08:12Which obviously is a lot lighter than a classic steel race bike
08:14And you really notice that when you ride it
08:16It just accelerates, it's so responsive
08:19I mean it's firmer than those bikes that have the big tyres
08:22But really you know it's got the classic ride and that's what I'm looking for
08:25Now as 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
08:35Although you know you don't really want to use this kind of bike for commuting
08:38And you're going to eat into its lifespan if you do that
08:40I've had it for a couple of months
08:42And every single ride I've just absolutely loved riding it
08:45It is just an absolute joy
08:47The only problem is if this is my ultimate bike
08:50What is my N plus 1?
08:52Let me know what you think of my dream bike in the comments underneath
08:55And if you've enjoyed this video
08:56Don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel
08:59And I'll see you again soon
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