1980s chromed 'Bob Read Cycles' restomod

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Looks very nice, I'd keep the graphics as a nod to whoever built it. 11kg is not a bad weight, probably only two of mine there

 

[sjcprojects]

Looks very nice, I'd keep the graphics as a nod to whoever built it. 11kg is not a bad weight, probably only two of mine there

Cheers. Yes, I will keep the decals even if I’m not the biggest fan, as it doesn’t feel right to get rid of some of the history of the bike. I’ll take it for a short ride tomorrow and see how it feels.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Cheers. Yes, I will keep the decals even if I’m not the biggest fan, as it doesn’t feel right to get rid of some of the history of the bike. I’ll take it for a short ride tomorrow and see how it feels.

I think sometimes, we as cyclists get obsessed with weight on a bike and forget to relax and enjoy the ride. If you are training or competitive it's a different story of course. I know you've just done a brutal peaks ride and truthfully all of those climbs in one hit would kill me.

 

[sjcprojects]

I think sometimes, we as cyclists get obsessed with weight on a bike and forget to relax and enjoy the ride. If you are training or competitive it's a different story of course. I know you've just done a brutal peaks ride and truthfully all of those climbs in one hit would kill me.

100% agree with you there. Even though it would generally be a bit silly to be riding anything retro if I was that worried about weight, I am still sometimes guilty of getting a bit hung up on it, probably, due to the amount of climbing I do. But there are plenty of other aspects of a bike that can make it enjoyable to ride, which is always good to remember. In fact, really, one key reason I do ride retro bikes is that I can forget the idea of trying to get anywhere particularly fast and just enjoy it

 

[sjcprojects]

I couldn't have asked for a much better day for a shakedown ride – not a cloud in the sky, perfect conditions in which to dazzle other road users with the gleam of sunshine on chrome . Here's a few photos from my usual photo beauty spot.



Also, here it has the Shimano RS80 wheelset on, not because I was keen to save weight (although that is a nice bonus), but because really the hubs on the alloy wheels need re-greasing before putting any proper miles on them. The red on these rims does work rather nicely with the frame, almost as if I planned it that way (which I definitely didn't, in fact, it's a happy accident). These shave nearly a full 800g off the weight, which brings the bike down to something similar to my other steel bikes, as it happens.



It's an enjoyable ride, it handles perfectly well going up or down or indeed on the rare bits of flat. With the lighter wheels, I really don't think I'd be able to say this wasn't 531 or similar if I didn't know otherwise. I'm glad I went down the restomod route, as it's a good combination of modern functionality and retro looks. It almost looks to me like some of the neo-retro sort of road bikes you can buy these days, actually - only quite a bit shinier...

 

[sjcprojects]

Have I gone too far with these wheels? In my defence, I'm continuing the theme of a bike that looks...well, kind of odd. I've definitely upped the odd factor with these. They also follow the theme of looking one thing and being another, as although they may be partly carbon, they are in fact far from lightweight. The carbon bits are just fairings to create the aero profile, they are not actually 'structural'. Anyway, I picked them up for only £50 because there's a small chip around the valve hole on the rear. I was a bit sceptical when the seller said it didn't effect use, but when I actually saw the wheels, it was obvious that he was right, so I bought them.



At first I tried them on my other restomod bike, but they didn't quite look right. I did however rather like the way they rolled – they might not be particularly light, but they feel nice – so I stuck them on this bike instead. I'm not sure I gain too much aero advantage given the sort of riding I do, but let's face it, that's a somewhat moot point, I'm just messing around here. This weird bike puts a smile on my face, so that's the main thing. I have had a few people giving it a good stare when they've seen it, trying to figure out what the hell it is.