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.
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.
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00:00What if you want a high-quality, lightweight, modern carbon road bike but you prefer rim brakes, a mechanical groupset,
00:06and you don't need balloon tires for so-called all-road riding?
00:09In this video, I'm going to show you that despite the best efforts of the industry, bikes like this do still exist.
00:15I've found the ultimate modern road bike for the retro grouch.
00:19Call 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 means 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 into a cutting-edge road bike.
00:45Not only that, but for the same price as those flagship frames from the big brands that are electronic groupset and disc brake only,
00:52you can get it made-to-measure, handmade in Italy, 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 same as the Cervelo R5,
01:05the S-Works Athos, and the Endi Mele, all of which are electronic groupset and disc brake compatible only.
01:12They're made in the Far East, they're off the peg, and this bike is actually cheaper than the Colnago C68 and the Pinarello Dogma F.
01:24If you've never heard of Racer Rosa, it's basically a London-based Italian brand that imports wholesale Italian culture into Walthamstow.
01:32And that includes the bike fittings, with Giuseppe Giannachini, who is a bike fitter who fits well to a prose,
01:38and 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 bike, a bespoke bike,
01:57is that everything is absolutely perfect. The stem length is exactly right, there are no spaces underneath the stem or above it,
02:03there's exactly the right amount of seatpost sticking out. 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 been my go-to bike for the last few years,
02:17ever since they built it for me. When Racer Rosa offered to build me a carbon bike based on those same measurements,
02:22I absolutely jumped at the chance. Racer Rosa used established, you could even say iconic, frame builders,
02:28and this bike was made by Ducordi, using the tube-to-tube construction where every tube is mitered and cut exactly to match Giuseppe's geometry.
02:36You can even see Luigi Ducordi'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 stays.
02:46Now, the top tube on this does have a very little slope on it, it's not quite horizontal,
02:50and that's so that I can get a little bit of extra comfort with a little bit of extra seatpost sticking out.
02:56The 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 bike.
03:08Now, I'm going to be running 25mm tyres, not 28mm, and I certainly don't need to run 34mm, 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 that I'm absolutely fine with,
03:23because the steering is so precise, and I definitely do not 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 if 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, you know, who doesn't like that?
03:49Now, 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, and then the black goes on 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,
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 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
04:55and built up for that Restomod 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.
05:03Luckily, I'd never ridden it in the rain, and I brought it here for its new home on the Racer 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, 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.
05:26The 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 chain set and an 11-29 cassette, which is perfect for the type of riding I do,
05:39which includes club runs, group rides, even the odd road time trial.
05:44Next up, the wheels.
05:45Now, I reviewed these Mieke SWR50 wheels a few years ago,
05:49and they're already becoming a little bit old-school because they have a narrow internal rim width of 17mm,
05:54which is not the biggest compared to wheels these days.
05:56But for my purposes, they're perfect.
05:58This bike has narrow clearances.
06:00I'm going to put 25mm tyres on them, which 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.
06:15As for the tyres, they're going to be Continental Grand Prix 5000s, 25mm size, of course.
06:20And these are not Italian tyres, obviously, but 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.
06:31It's all Italian Deda SuperZero carbon.
06:34And the saddle is Italian, too.
06:35It's the Selle Italia SLR SuperFlow, which I just get on really well with,
06:39and 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.
06:51So, here is the complete build list.
06:53Frame, £4,700.
06:56Groupset, £1,145.
07:00Wheels, £1,150.
07:03Finishing kit, £300.
07:05Saddle, £70.
07:07Tyres, £70.
07:09Total, £7,435.
07:13Is there anything about this bike that I don't like?
07:16Okay, well, if I'm really honest, I'm really not sure that a press-fit bottom bracket would have been my first choice.
07:21Somebody 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 Decordia'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, so this bottom bracket is not going to creak.
07:42So, I'm happy with that.
07:44And in the 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 compliment I could give it, because for me, that is the benchmark.
08:07But, it's better than that because it's so much lighter.
08:09It weighs 7.5 kilos altogether, which obviously is a lot lighter than a classic steel race bike.
08:15And you really notice that when you ride it. It 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.
08:34I've done a couple of commutes, although, 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.
08:41I've had it for a couple of months and every single ride, I've just absolutely loved riding it.
08:45It's 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
08:59and I'll see you again soon.
09:11Transcribed by https://otter.ai