- I decided that there were so many amazing bikes
inside of the National Cycle Museum,
that we needed another video, and this time
to show you some absolutely incredible bits of engineering.
So here I am, waiting for them to open,
I'm chomping at the bit to check out
more and more great stuff in there, here we go.
(whooshing)
A couple of bikes that I dreamt of owning as a kid,
and I still do dream of owning as an adult.
These two Colnagos, first up, this one here,
just like the Mexico that Giuseppe Saronni used
back in 1982 to win the Goodwood World Championships,
decked out of course in full Campagnolo.
I'm not sure the exact model of it,
I do apologize, we got some drilled out
brake levers here too, just to minimalize
the weight a little bit.
Fitted on the bike of course, we've got a pair
of toe clip style pedals, and even with
the original Campagnolo toe straps on there,
with a little emblem, and the little screw
that you would put it into place once you trim them
down to the ideal length for you.
We've got a pair of Mavic GP4 rims on here,
tubular, they're like a tubular training rim,
and the tires fitted onto them
are the quite strangely named Walt, Wolber, sorry,
Invulnerable, so they're not vulnerable.
It's pretty cool naming strategy of them.
Going to move though, onto this Colnago behind it,
because this is when things get super interesting for me.
As a 10 year old, this was the bike I dreamt of having.
Shimano Dura-Ace 7400 STI levers,
the first combined braking gear levers
that were commercially available.
I never got to have them, enough of that,
I've done a video all about that actually.
But we've got a Colnago frame, and it had
that really cool fluted style tubing on it,
which apparently was done so to try and increase
the rigidity over a standard round steel tube.
This one appears to have actually been repainted
or painted specially for a customer,
done so by a company in Berlaar, in Belgium.
But they have left some of the real telltale signs
of Colnago, so they've not painted over
the club logo on the bottom bracket shell,
and also the club logo you can see
on the fork crown, just the Colnago engraved.
Colnago was the real sort of cutting edge,
or the real traditional Italian frame
that we all seeked when we were younger riders.
Like I said, Shimano Dura-Ace throughout,
got a pair of Look Arc pedals on there,
so they've used the old delta style cleets,
and that's when really the floating pedals
were talked about a lot, because previous to that
pedals had you in a fixed position, even the clipless ones.
We've got something on this bike which I did
have the pleasure of owning, and that was
the Cinelli splash handlebar tape.
So genuine cork, I always remember that
on the advertising, I even had it
in this very same colorway on a bike that I owned,
it was pink or fuschia with a little bit of yellow on there.
Turbo saddle, got one of those luckily,
and the Wolber rims, Wolber Profil 20s,
super narrow, super lightweight, yeah, this bike.
I dreamt of it, and I'd still have it now, definitely.
This is the Ultimate, and it belonged
to the late Bruce Bursford, who was a rider
who loved to go for speed records,
and on board this bike, he got the world speed record
on a rolling road that was on the Brooklyn's Motor Museum
in England, and it was helped along the way
by the fact that he had fitted onto it
104 teeth on that chain ring at the front,
and then just 14 on the fixed sprocket at the rear.
This bike is totally custom, just one of a kind.
Just check out the saddle for instance,
it's built into the seat mast, that's built into the frame,
there is just nothing left to the imagination of it.
The cranks too, totally custom, Royce titanium
bottom bracket inside, square taper though,
which is pretty cool, must say.
The wheel is not as thin as what you might imagine there,
it's quite bulbous really, towards the hub.
And the forks, they take a really deep profile
that must be sort of maybe 10 to one ratio,
something like that, handlebars remind me
like the bat wing, or something like that.
Sort of an exotic spoiler maybe,
of a Japanese sports car, and the actual handlebar
extensions, you can see just there
where they're molded onto the bars,
and they go really far forward, nearly
to the end of that front wheel too.
The rear wheel is actually underneath this,
listen to that, it sounds like a snare drum.
(drumming)
It's not a snare drum though, but inside of there
is actually a standard spoked rear wheel.
So not a disk wheel inside.
I'd love to be able to peel it back and see
what was in there, but it'd ruin the surprise I guess.
Got a pair of continental Olympic tires fitted on there,
I'm not sure if they're still made.
And I've got a very good feeling too,
that when Bruce went for the record,
to try and get the wheels up to speed
as quickly as possible, they're actually filled with helium,
just to save on a little bit of weight.
Really nice cut out here of the rear wheel,
so you could get in super super close to the,
I'd like to say seat tube, but it's just into the frame.
The dropouts down there too, they're closed off,
so the wheel has to be fitted specially.
I'm going to try and reach forward and show you.
There, appears to be a little hole that's been filled in,
so I wonder if at some point, this was also destined
to be fitted with a rear derailleur of some kind.
Either way, it's one of those bikes
that I've always wanted to see just like the lotus bike,
and I've finally been able to see it.
And in case you're wondering, the cost,
they rekon about 25,000 pounds, but I think
it must have cost more.
It must have done, because everything on it
is so tripped out and custom.
The seat alone, this, this is my favorite bit.
It has to be, because I've been saying
for years, someone should do something
more aerodynamic with the saddles.
Years ago I saw the Australian track team,
they were doing something with cling film
underneath their saddles, this is slightly
more advanced than cling film, and it's beautiful.
Bruce, nice one.
When I think helmets, I think protection.
But, way back before they were actually obligatory,
riders were using helmets to sometimes
try and get a little bit faster too.
Yeah, so Bruce Bursford, he even made
his own helmet of ultra thin carbon fiber.
You can see there, there's absolutely no padding
insid of it, just simply a couple of velcro straps,
that's all that was holding it in place,
and it was designed purely to try
and cheat the wind a little bit better.
Look how close fitting that is.
Aero, even with the hood on.
And if the Bruce Bursford Ultimate isn't enough for you,
what about this then, the Ultimate tandem.
Literally, the ultimate tandem.
Mindblowingly beautiful, I can't begin
to explain to you exactly what I think about it,
'cause it's just, oh, its lines and everything,
it's just the type of carbon, the weave, it's so cool.
Oh and that behind, that's the Sinclair X1 prototype,
kind of recumbent-like faired bicycle.
But this one, that wins all day every day.
Many years ago, when riders used to ride out to events,
they would take spare wheels with them,
or rather their race wheels, like this.
So you'd fit them on to something called a sprint carrier
that would fit in between the quick release,
or the nuts of the axle, and simply it would go out
and hold a wheel in place, and then strap
to the handlebar at the top there
to prevent them from spinning around whilst riding.
This was done because quite often the race wheels
would use lightweight silk tubular tires,
and of course they're quite fragile.
You don't see this anymore, because cars
are way more popular for getting to events with.
The Raleigh Centenary, to celebrate
100 years of Raleigh back in 1987.
So what did they do, they decided to gold plate
a Reynold's 531 competition tube set,
which has to be one of my favorite steel tube sets
of all time, there's something so cool
about the feel of riding one of those bikes.
We've got a suede style, I think it's a Turbo saddle,
it could well be a Isca Selle actually,
to match up with the brand handle bar tape.
Normally, I wouldn't necessarily like
brown bar tape that much, or a brown saddle,
but I think on this bike it looks pretty good.
Interestingly too, they've done the handlebar tape
from top to bottom, something which
is going to be split decision out there with the viewers.
It's go a Shimano 105 group set on here too,
six speed, and it is in absolutely showroom like condition.
The brakes on here too, they're single pivot,
they feel so smooth, like the day
they rolled out of the showroom.
I like this bike a lot.
Cutting edge TT tech, back in the 80s.
Now a Saber built bike here, by Bartram,
who are from Kidderminster region of the UK.
753 tube set, super light that was,
in fact you had to undertake an exam
and build a miniature frame, and they were
always really nice to have a little look at there.
We've got a pair of 531 chrome forks at the front,
and on the rear we've also got some chrome seat stays
and chain stays there, always nice of you
to drop your chain, you don't scratch the fancy paintwork,
and this bike does have some rather understated,
but I think quite fancy metallic
sort of magenta style paintwork on it.
Campagnolo group set, aside from the Weinmann brakes,
the Weinmann brakes really slim down
minimalistic, ideal for a TT, but what about drillium then?
Often spoke about, not that often seen anymore.
The art of drilling out components
to try and save a little bit of weight,
because in a TT, you're not really
out of the saddle that much, so you're not
putting the bike under too much stress
where anything could fail, the famous last words,
because it happened eventually.
So on the rear derailleur cage here,
on the Huret rear mech, we do also have
some drilled out holes there.
And whilst I'm looking at the rear end,
I'm just going to point out, the little adjusters here
for the rear dropouts, normally they come with
a little knurled knob on them,
and they're really really small,
whereas these have more of a wing style platform
to them, and I prefer them a lot more.
24 inch wheel front wheel, whew, crazy.
Speedwell, that was a company that was founded
way back in the 1890s, and fabricated things
out of sheet metal, and well, in 1973,
Luis Ocana actually rode one of their
titanium frames during the Tour de France.
And there is one right over my shoulder.
These grubby little hands want to get all over it,
because I've heard it was super light
for a bike back in the day, just over
four pounds, which is pretty light.
It's just a shame I can't get in to get really close to it.
The Baines Flying Gate, designed in such a way
that the rider could have a nice short wheel base,
which is ideal for a racing cyclist,
because back when these bikes were originally built,
you know, the 1930s, bikes were quite relaxed
in their geometry and everything.
One thing you would have to be quite careful about
is making sure that your seat post of course
wouldn't go all the way down and interfere with the wheel
in there, if it was nicely tucked into the drop outs.
But I have a memory of a guy riding a time trial
on one of these when I was growing up,
and I was absolutely gobsmacked, thinking, what is that?
I have seen a few here and there,
but you don't tend to see them that often,
so I'm really privileged actually
to see such a fine bit of engineering.
It must have been very stiff too,
'cause we've got one, two, three, four triangles in there.
Whoa, yeah.
Here we go, a triplet bike, don't often see
very many of these being used,
and I could imagine possibly you could use them
in a time trial event, although
you'd most definitely win your category,
as I don't think there'd be another one in an event.
Anyway, probably used then more
for recreational purposes let's say.
I love looking at them, because it's now
when you realize just how special they are.
Take for instance the rear brake cable.
Here we are, the length of that.
You can't pop into your local bike shop
and say, could I have a really really really really
long brake cable please, 'cause this is probably
an extra half as long as a standard rear brake cable.
Sticking with that rear brake cable,
let's have a look at the rear brake,
because there's not one, but there's two.
So of course this is before the time
of disc brakes, or anything like that.
But we've got these two brakes on here.
Now this one, at the rearmost part of the bicycle,
is actually controlled by the actual pilot
of the bike there, and then the rear stoker,
instead of the middle one, if you like,
is also controlling this brake here.
So what is really throwing me a little bit
is that I had to check which way around
the cables were actually rooted.
So we've got a right hand rear on the rear,
and a right hand front on the front, so to say.
So there's obviously, probably some thinking behind it,
but I'm not exactly sure what,
but just looking at it a minute makes me wonder
how on earth these were ever ridden around corners.
Especially sharp ones, it'd be truly terrifying.
Final nugget then of info on this bike,
is that these pedals, that look PP66,
pretty sure that's what they're called,
someone out there will correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure,
were my first ever pair of clipless pedals.
I loved those back in 1994, I did really well
in the race, my dad said, well done son,
you deserved those, so he went out and bought me a pair.
But the weirdest thing about all of this
is that the pedals on the front of this triplet
are actually the ones which I had prior to those,
although I had some sort of plastic-y
toe clips rather than these metal ones.
But the base pedal definitely, exactly the same.
How cool is that, could be mine?
Maybe not.
No bicycle museum tour could be complete
without one of these, the Raleigh Chopper.
In 1971, apparently Raleigh sales increased
by 55%, and they sold 1.5 million units of this bike alone.
The mismatched wheels, if you like a bigger one
on the back than on the front, the big saddle too,
which you weren't meant to carry your mates on,
but everyone did, and of course the gear lever too.
So if you slid off that saddle,
you knew about that gear lever sooner or later.
Very cool, very very desirable,
and if you weren't big enough to ride that,
then you were given it's little brother
or it's little sister, the Tomahawk.
I never had either, I was too old.
Well I was too young, I wasn't even born.
Maybe you're like me then, and you weren't born,
or old enough to get your backside on top of that chopper.
Well this is the Grifter from Raleigh.
This had motor cross inspirational themed bits on it,
such as the fenders, or the mudguards
as we call them, front and rear,
not to mention too, this little pad here
on the handlebar, so if you were to hit your chest on it,
it's not going to hurt too much, but at least
it's going to dull the pain for a second
until your parents come along and pick you up off the floor.
Then we've got a two speed Sturmy-Archer
twist style shifter on the right hand side, just like
on a motor bike, pull that throttle and you're going to go!
In this case, pull that throttle by mistake
and you're probably going to slow down a little bit.
Either way, kids wanted one of these, split down tube, nice.
Now I've got to say, and I'm the first to admit,
I don't know very much about Rickshaws,
but what I do like about them, is the fact
that there's always loads of really intricate details
on them, so take this one, you've got a nice
little canopy here, with some quite fancy fabric patterns,
and then all of these rivets on there too,
this brass styling always stands out.
And I reckon the pilots, or the owners of them
take great care in them.
Now they are very very popular,
certain parts of the world where they're very crowded,
and it's necessarily that easy to maneuver a car,
these are ideal for getting someone around in.
So, they've obviously got a very low gear on them,
because if you've got two adult passengers,
and maybe a small child in the back,
you need to get up to speed, probably only go about
10 miles an hour say, but that's more than adequate.
That is probably as much detail as I can give
other than obviously it's got reinforced bars
and tubes on them to actually help with the safety of them
being up to the job I guess you could say.
Speaking of that, the wheels on these,
the rear wheels have got 64 spokes.
I've never seen a wheel with 64 spokes I don't think.
Oh, and the tires on the wheels, Dunlop Rickshaws.
Never knew that was a thing.
There we are, part two of the National Cycle Museum
explored, I've got to say, again, a huge thanks
to the staff there, because what they had
to put up with me rooting through everything
trying to find stuff to show off.
Let me know what your favorite bit was
down there in the comments section below,
and remember as well to like and share this video
with your friends too, don't forget subscribe
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so you get alerted each and every time
we put a video live, don't forget to check out
the GCN shop at shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com,
and me, I'm going to leave before I outstay my welcome,
because when I visit these places,
I have a tendency to do that, 'cause I love bike tech.
See you later.
Could we go back?