This is my workhorse and I expect it to last longer than I do. It gets me round town and well beyond the city limits intimidating sketchy carbon frames along the way. Reynolds 953 is stainless, and the Roberts decals were removed to reveal bare steel. It is and always will be a mish mash of parts, ever changing as bits wear and break.
Discover your local steel frame builder!
– Frame - Roberts, custom in Reynolds 953, lugged (built by robertscycles.com)
– Forks - Reclaimed Bontrager Race XXX Lite from an old smashed up Madone
– Bars/Stem - ITM Millenium
– Seat post - Record
– Saddle - vintage Selle Italia Turbo
– Groupset - Campagnolo Chorus ‘08
– Wheels - Mavic Open Pro, Ceramic, 36h on Record hubs (built by wheelsmith.co.uk)
– Tyres - Conti GP4000
– Other - Cane Creek headset; Ultegra pedals; Fizik bartape; Tacx Tao Ultralight bottle holders
I got a Roberts because their shop was down the road from me when I lived in South London. I wanted a classic British brand as a reminder of time spent there, and I like the resident builders and Chas (Roberts) when I dropped by to scope the place out. Support local! I also wanted the 953 stainless, and they were keen to do it. The ride.. I really like it. It was a whole new sensation riding steel, I’d always ridden/raced carbon - still have a C50, which I copied the proportions of for the Roberts.. with slightly sloping top tube to make it more responsive. So really interesting to compare the rides - they couldn’t be more different, but good in their own ways. On the road it cuts a solid straight line and you feel the surface and contours of the road. The C50 in comparison blunts it all out, which is why people like carbon, and that can be disconcerting jumping straight off the steel, like a floaty armchair. It sticks reassuringly to the tarmac on quick descents on bumpy roads, and being 84kg I put a lot of torsion on bikes and it’s rock solid.
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3Lovely. Just lovely.
I got a Roberts because their shop was down the road from me when I lived in South London. I wanted a classic British brand as a reminder of time spent there, and I like the resident builders and Chas (Roberts) when I dropped by to scope the place out. Support local! I also wanted the 953 stainless, and they were keen to do it. The ride.. I really like it. It was a whole new sensation riding steel, I’d always ridden/raced carbon - still have a C50, which I copied the proportions of for the Roberts.. with slightly sloping top tube to make it more responsive. So really interesting to compare the rides - they couldn’t be more different, but good in their own ways. On the road it cuts a solid straight line and you feel the surface and contours of the road. The C50 in comparison blunts it all out, which is why people like carbon, and that can be disconcerting jumping straight off the steel, like a floaty armchair. It sticks reassuringly to the tarmac on quick descents on bumpy roads, and being 84kg I put a lot of torsion on bikes and it’s rock solid.
nice ...how would you describe the ride quality, and what do you like in particular about the Roberts make?
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