Building a

Record Breaker

The kind of bike that I needed wasn’t the sort

of thing that you could pick up in the average

high street cycle shop.

OTHING you could buy in the shops

would do the job, and when I went to

visit Brian Rourke at Rourke Cycles in

Stoke on Trent I found out why.

N

Brian has been building bespoke bikes for

discerning customers for the last 35 years and

he uses all of his vast experience (he was a

competitive road racer for 25 years and still

does 150 miles a week at the age of 70) to make

sure that people who ride bicycles with Rourke

frames have the best-fitting bike that money

can buy. He had me sit on a ‘template’ bike that

he was able to adjust in all sorts of ways, all to

make sure that, when I was sitting with my

bum in the saddle, my hands and feet would

be in the right place to ensure that my whole

posture was geared to help produce maximum

power when I pushed the pedals.

He chatted constantly, had me get off and
on the bike, told me to pedal backwards and
generally had a bit of a laugh until he finally
said, ‘There – now you’re properly relaxed.

You were a bit uptight when you came in,

and what a difference it’s made to the way

Top: The top and bottom
chain rings, made by the
lads at Hope Technology
in Lancashire, that would
allow me to maximise my
pedal power.

46    Britain’s Fastest Bike

Bottom: Front wheel

resting neatly in the fork –

the bike was beautifully

put together.