RVL's Ugly Ducklings

Slowly getting round to tidying the bombsite that is my workshop and found this “fixie era” time capsule!

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Dug an old dura ace chainset out of the parts bin so the Shorter is about where I want it. > 1000km of utility riding and I think it’s a keeper

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Finally sorted out the stem angle on the Neil so it’s now looking right

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It’s quite a comfy bike tho, I did 160 miles on it last Saturday and it felt fine,
Will give it a few more long rides before I chop the steerer tho

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Nice bike! I only know that company as a maker of wetsuits, is this some kind of tri bike?

Cheers, it’s a road racing bike - same company as the watersports business but led by the son Mike who’s into bikes
The business is now called chapter 2 to differentiate it from the watersport brand
https://www.chapter2bikes.com/about-us

It’s a seriously well made and super-light frame - I’m pretty impressed so far

Lovely bike. Is it carbon? Also excellent lawn - top mowing!

Haha, cheers!
Yes the frame's carbon - pretty light too at 770g + 310g for the fork

Sat it on the warehouse sales this pm.
Weighs in at a shade under 6.4kg with the sensible aluminium wheels so I should get it well under 6kg with summer carbon tubs

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Good effort fella…..love the shorter👍

Hi Pat - Thanks, great to hear from you. Hope you're doing well.

Completely rebuilt Wayne Shorter for this years LWL

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It was mostly about making the contact points a bit more comfy and making it all a bit more practical for long-distance stuff

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Action pics (London Wales London)

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I’m good thanks, fella!
Retired from fire service (31 years😬), lived on a boat, got divorced, met a nice, sane lady, bought a little cottage in Henham……now work for the council again as an estates officer😂

London-wales-London fixed?! Wow!😮

Lovely stuff! Bike is just the right thing(s).

Thanks man, that was certainly the plan.

Thanks for the update Pat, I was following your boat (&westons cider) life on the insta. So I knew as far as the boat. The rest sounds great… nice work!

Excellent achievement London - Wales on fixed! You do seem to have quite a steep drop from saddle to bars. You are not by any chance Steve Austen - the bionic man 'We have the power to rebuild him'. Love the Shorter build.
Do you have many fixed wheel builds?

Haha, thanks.
I have relatively long arms and torso which is pretty inefficient vis a vis power:weight ratio but it does mean I can ride rad looking bikes! Also, I grew up racing in the 90's when 130 mm stems, MTB seatposts & epic saddle/bar drops were de rigeur.
Now that I'm in my late 40's I have to do Pilates to retain the ability to keep the faith.... I'm not suggesting for a moment that it makes me faster, I'm just a 90's throwback/snob.

In answer to your question on other fixed wheels, right now I have my summer fixed

and my late father's AS Gillott

and this rather more sensible fixed that I last used for a 600 km Audax but find a bit boring

As a quick fixie retrospective, here's one I borrowed from my daughter during lockdown for blasting the A30 into work

This was my 2021/2022 Winter bike

And the somewhat fixie-famous BobRat

So I'm all about the layback posts, long stems and deep drops

Well, you do seem to have a stable full!
Love the Gillot and the RIH. Do you do the Eroica by any chance?

Last Eroica I did was in Gaiole back in 2012, that was on gears though.

💪🙌 captain Spaulding is up for sale if you know anyone interested👍

I did that one too🤌