Brian Rourke ultimate 853 Trekking/Touring/Hybrid (suit 5'3" to 5'8")

I bought this with big plans in mind - nice tall headtube to help with my recovery from a broken back (14 weeks ago now) and nice low gears for the same.

The problem is - I can't make it fit! It's 2cm too short in the seat tube and same again on the top tube - so very sadly it's got to go.

Absolutely amazing, one-off frameset built to take 26" wheels, with masses of brazeons and mounts for guards and front & rear carriers. It was built for the original owner who used it for some pretty epic tours. Her name (Sue) is still on the top tube, hidden under some white insulation tape.

In terms of fit, I'm just under 5'10" and as it's set up in the pics with the seatpost past maximim it is just ok in the leg (72.5cm centre of BB to top of saddle in line with the seatpost) - I think it's more suitable up to 5'8" in reality - Sue was 5'5" and I'd say it would comfortably go smaller than that, say 5'3".

The frame is in good condition, no dents, plenty of scratches though. There is some scabbing under the top tube around the cable guides, hard to show in the pics (I tried to show the worst) - if I was keeping it, I think I'd clean this off and over-spray it - given the white panel on the top tube I was thinking I'd just rub it down, inc Sue's name (!) and over spray in white - anyway that would be up to you.

It's built with Reynolds 853, with the usual Rourke wraparound seatstays.

Spec as follows:

Chris King Sotto Vocce headset
Shimano SLX shifters, mechs, cranks, BB
Shimano hydraulic discs (not sure of the model)
Hope Pro II hubs on Mavic rims, built by Brian Rourkes
Schwalbe Marathon tyres along with 2 x Panaracer Pasela, 2 x Specialized FatBoy and 1 x Continental Avenue (that last one is brand new)
Brand new Planet X seapost, OG loop bars and stem
Also have shorter Eason stem, flat Easton bars, Truvativ risers - plenty of position options there!
I'd prefer to keep the Brooks B17 - there's a choice of two almost new saddles - a Bombtrack (straight off a Bombtrack Audax) and an Iridium off a high end Canyon - your choice! - both are shown in the pics
I have a Tortec alloy rack that's set up to fit it which I can throw in.

Everything is running really well - rides lovely and if it was just a tad bigger, I would definitely be keeping it!

With the narrow road tyres on it, it absolutely flies along!!

Looking for £750 and will likely need posting from Cheshire, which I'm happy to do.

Price includes all the tyres, plus your choice of cockpit and saddle (but not the Brooks!)

In fact, if it’s helpful, I’ll throw in the additional shorter stem and both sets of additional bars, so you can play with lots of position options! 😃

I'm very interested in this! Could you provide seat tube and effective toptube measurements please?

@tommyp -

Top tube virtual is 56cm
Seat tube centre to top 42cm
Head tube, inc headset cups, 17cm

Hope that helps 😁👍

I'm going to have to sit on my hands as I think it would end up a bit too small for me. Would have snapped this up if a tiny bit bigger!

Truvativ risers

31.8?
How wide?

@psg1ben - yes 31.8 and 740mm wide 😁

Interested, sent you a pm!

I'm going to be having a play with the bar set up on this later and will likely post some pics of the different set-ups/layout......just so you get a feel for what's on offer!

I'll probs move this elsewhere later in the week - so will leave here until Thurs and then shift to eBay and others - but always available to LFGSSers at the best price!!

Here's some photos of it taken just now with the Easton flat bars fitted -

What's the tyre clearance in the rear?

@wintyDono - ok some pics below - it's built as a road tourer/trekking bike rather than an MTB so it doesn't have full MTB tyre clearance - I measure the fitted Schwalbe Marathon plusses at 45mm, and the gap at the chainstays at 56mm - plenty of clearance for these but if you went much wider I think you'd be pushing it

The spare tyres that come with it are much narrower - around 30mm, so the clearances will be huge with those fitted

Ah I thought that would be the case! Would have been interested had it a bit more clearance, would have been too good to be true. Glws mate, lovely bike.

No probs - it rides lovely - hopefully someone will snap it up!

@picco didn’t you have a nice rourke once owned by a ‘Sue’?

No, my Rourke was owned by Mark Vicars.

I had a Roberts that was built for Carol Brazier, club secretary of the Hertfordshire division of the the Cycle Tourist Club - CSB

Lovely Rourke this.

Carol! Of course, the Roberts.

Looks a great bike, its likely a teeny bit small, I already have a 26" mtb, and a gravel/tourer, but I still keep looking at it! Hope it goes to a good home.

Perfect for 650b conversion

@tommyp - you know it makes sense! It'll just neatly fill that gap between the two bikes you already have 😂

Haha! That's a very small gap to fill!🤣

Aren' they always the best!😲

Perfect for 650b conversion

This has really got to stop. What would be the point? #SaveThe26er