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We always offer a free service of checking Rourke frames, I've posted on here before and it still stands and always will be free.
If anyone is ever thinking of buying a Rourke frameset please feel free to contact me via jason@rourke.biz or through the shop 01782 835368 I will attempt to verify it is a genuine Rourke frame and give any history, sizes or specifications that could be available.
Jason Rourke

Jonathan please send me email or PM re this frame.

Here's mine.

What frame number is that. I'm interested!?!?!

Just rocked. You made if happen. Well done

Thanks

Fantastic viewing. Hats off to Guy Martin and all the team. More bottle than a Coca Cola factory. Stunning bike build by Jason too. Love Rourke frames!

Thanks!

Just saw this. Amazing. In true geek style preferred to computer models and frame building bits to the actual attempt though... Thanks for the photos/infos Mr Rourke. Tell me, was that bit Guy welded actually on the final frame?

Would be astounded to see what speeds are achievable with the best rider, longer/flatter/harder surface and so on. Presumably just shaving all that hair would have got it up to 115!

Was only truck and sand slowing Guy down, Guy is very strong he could do much faster so could the bike ;)
Yes he did a little on BB's not whole welds tho, he's never tigged, was very good for first attempt.

A shame we don't have testing facilities like germany. I'm sure with enough persuasion we could get a straight road closed for a few hours.

Yes we did investigate Germany.

Any questions or if any of my other ramblings make no sense, feel free to ask. :)

Excellent. Brilliant build too rourkie. Is your paint done in house?

Yes, all painting is done by Myself and Phil.

That made for pretty good viewing. Props to Rourkie for the build, the constant face of apprehension I found quite amusing especially when trying to common sense Guy into wider tyres. I would have thought a seasoned two wheel man would have immediately agreed with the suggestion of wider tyres. He was shitting a brick though.

Think Guy wasn't thinking straight at that point, he wanted to just beat the record and have done with, it was very scary on sand. (after first run he thought he would come down at some stage) On tarmac he did 111mph and never flinched he loved it.

Could we get some indication for the price of the build? Just out of interest

Few 1 off parts from Hope that they made just for us and Guy so unsure if or how much they would cost. Perhaps 5-6K total total guess.

Great programme and an amazing presenter as I already knew. He is fucking nuts.

I did have a few problems / issues with the programme (please forgive me if I missed something) -

(1) I am astonished that they did not say more about cycling on sand, and I am astonished that anywhere near that speed was possible on sand. I fucked my feet once jumping onto hard flat sand so I know how rock hard it can be but even so.

(2) Presumably the bike was built for sand not tarmac - but I thought that they said something about the steel absorbing bumps in the road - what is the truth? Was the plan sand all along?
(3) There was the whole thing about his fitness and I'm sure he needed to be fit to do it... but how much was down to fitness and how much simply down to how fast the truck was going? To what extent is the record anything to do with being able to pedal and to what extent is it simply preparation and team and balls of steel?

No sand was after thought as we Bruntingthorpe was too short and another venue chaged their minds, and wouldn't let us use it.

Pendine is special but only place long enough, not ideal had it been tarmac he could have done 130 140 or even 150mph bike could do it and Guy had the nuts.

It was all about Guy he is FIT! and very capable cyclist if not racer. In testing he lost trucj got out of saddle came past me in a flat out car and caught truck! I was stunned.

Reynolds 853 according to my grass (the photos on their site).

Yep 853 although think stays were Columbus fork blades corverted into rear chainstays. 853 is mega strong and ultra durable.

Interest to know what pressure you have on that tyres.

This may sound a bit daft but I'm not one for pressure guages I just like to press my thumb down, they were hard for tarmac/ conctrete airstrip, around 100 110psi I would guess. Probably had a touch less in on the sand. We did change from 1.6" to 1.95" tyres on the sand also.

Longest, flattest thing you'll find in the UK?

Yes, we thought of going to Germany but opted for sand, proves tricky.
I had a moment in my van on it at 60mph!!!!!!

Sorry, is he doing this on sand?

wtf!

Yes sand, although that's because it was the only place we could get long enough.

No perspex through the shield? I'd want a window. I'm not Guy Martin though.

In the diary.

I couldn't believe it, he wastn't fussed about not being able to see!

First action picture

First pic of Guy and the bike on Pendine Beach

First glimpse here

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/speed-with-guy-martin/videos/all/speed-with-guy-martin-interview

QR not a bolt on front?

Yes, I had no doubts about using a std QR

Few more pics here now, I'll have some official ones taken by someone that knows what they are doing, on the 20th

http://www.rourke.biz/gallery.shtml

Wouldn't a longer wheelbase / longer trail give you more stability?
What impact would the width or the tread of your tyres have?

Yes it has as long a back end as I could make for this reason. Wide tyres roll and work far better for this type of thing, big strong solid wheels was even more important, bigger, skinny road wheels would flex to much under load and speed. The reason we go wider tyres will become apparent on the show.

it already have a longer wheelbase, relative to traditional stayer/speed record bikes.

getting the overall handling including wheel and tyre size to be as close to a TT motorbike is propably a good idea.

I never imagined guy martin could pedal that well. did it take a lot of training?
No he had to train for fixed, infact he now owns the Hope/Rourke bike I built. He loves fixie now, won't ride anything else.
He is a proper qulaity bike rider, I was stunned he is a very strong cyclist

How does the record work?

Does Guy have to accelerate after un-hitching or maintain a steady speed for x distance?

We towed him to around 60 percent off speed I guess, until he could turn the gear, on one test run we towed him to 60 he unhitched too early he got out of the saddle and accelerated, I was in car next to him he left us for dead and caught the truck!
I went nuts for getting out of the saddle, he said there was no way he was getting dropped by the truck! Madest thing I've ever seen live.

I was expecting kind of a bike with disc wheels, drop bars, ultra aero geometry and all that shit.

We were advised that stabilty is key issue on these things so much so talking to Dave Legrys (who's done 110mph) he was going to advise against Guy riding a bike with road wheels. We actually end up running 1.95" tyres with slight tread, Aero postion not an issue behind a fairing, Comfort/trust is, I built this for speeds of up to 130mph I thought giving Guy a stable bike was paramount.

I'd guess at it being the hitch for the car that's going to be doing all the accelarating.
There's 2 levers and only one break so possibly one lever releases the bike from the tow vehicle?

Yes tow hitch and more importanly we were having no brakes originally so that was to brake on back of truck.

Not sure what gi that gives, but would be the answer to the issue of the max gear you can achieve before fucking with bb height and affecting stability...
Spot on 2 chainsets is only way to go, ourselves and Hope set gearing for all speeds from 60 to 130 mph plus. I wanted a BB as low as possible.

Exculsive for LFGSS First pic of the bike I built for Guy

I recently did a copy of this beaut, 3 pics here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91892715@N03/sets/72157638383937526/

I thought that was a typo until I realised what you meant. How many inches is that?

To be honest I can't remember.

Hope made us sprockets from 60 60 x 15 15 to 21 21

21 21 was out 60 mph speed gear
15 15 was our 100 - 120 mph speed around 420 inch i think it was

What gear was that on?

There's a great hill in Bradford, just been resurfaced, very smooth, gradual run in, long straight mid section, long run out.

60x21x60x21

I'm wokring on my own plans for spring, which is 60mph fixed, brakeless, without a car to break the wind, down a big hill in Bradford.

Not sure if anything like that has been done before.

I tested this bike and easily got 60 mph down Axe Edge reckon I could have got around 75 80 but thought I would get a big run up and did the long flat section on a big gear first could hardly breath and feel my legs by the time I got to the downhill bit.

Sounds interesting, I guess we are not allowed to see pictures until the show has aired?

Show sounds good in general too, I liked that how britain worked show that Guy did before.

No my hands are tied a bit. Trying to get some authorised pics now.

Channel 4 December 29th 8 pm. We build the bike for #guymartin to attempt over 100mph and Britsh record. Set you Sky + by Rourke Bikes, on Flickr