Rourke 653

[MartinB123]

I've been after a Rourke for a while now and I came across one last week on eBay in 653, roughly my size and generally a little bit tired and with a stuck stem. Previous owner told me that it was his winter bike and hadn't been used for 10 years ish.



My longer term aim is to get it built as a geared road bike, but impending fatherhood meant that it got a quick strip down, clean up and inspection of the stuck stem. In the end it needed cutting and the stuck part dissolving in an overnight bath of caustic soda and water!

Once cleaned up I popped on some fixed gear parts to give it a run out and make sure everything was ok. I have a spare shimano 600 groupset doing nothing which would probably go well with the frame - just need some suitable wheels.

I got in touch with Jason Rourke who sent me over a copy of the original order form from 1992 and the spec sheet; from interpreting the papers it was paid for and (I assume) built in early 1993

 

[torqueless]

Bottom bracket looks a bit higher than the standard 10 1/2-ish inches? Probably just my eyes..

 

[MartinB123]

Thought I'd start to get this built up as the weather is getting better now. Its a bit of a campag mish mash with a modern twist - but seems to look alright from my perspective! 10s Campagnolo, open pro's and some cheeky carbon. Compact gearing with 28s should make for a nice ride!

 

[MartinB123]

Played around with wheels and cassettes this weekend. She's now setup with a 50/34 crank and a 27-12 cassette. Nice and modern! Just bars to wrap now!

 

[MartinB123]

Ridden this one a little bit on and off over winter with 700x30s and Open Pro's. Most notably I rode to London from Oxford in December with a rack and it was a fantastic and comfortable day in the saddle!

Tonight I have fitted Campagnolo Zonda wheels and some lightweight tubes - 8.75kg in total. Not bad!

 

[Nob]

That looked a tidy frameset as remembering seeing that on eBay but to small for me..

 

[MartinB123]

That looked a tidy frameset as remembering seeing that on eBay but to small for me..

Thanks! Paintwork is untidy but frame is solid which is the most important thing to me.

Wondering if a carbon fork would ruin it...

 

[squirrelchaser]

Ridden this one a little bit on and off over winter with 700x30s and Open Pro's. Most notably I rode to London from Oxford in December with a rack and it was a fantastic and comfortable day in the saddle!

Tonight I have fitted Campagnolo Zonda wheels and some lightweight tubes - 8.75kg in total. Not bad!

I've done pretty much the same thing with one on my Rourkes , Zonda wheels , carbon cranks . Very tidy .