... who made this bike, and why?

[Sid Aluminium]

Price included a helmet - so pretty moderate for these days.

The SRAM AXS wireless gearset alone has a street price more than that. The Biden administration, whose unofficial motto seems to be 'good union jobs for all', chiseled the artisan frame shop with the classic 'we can't pay you what you're worth, but think of the exposure you'll get'.

The odd mix of black and brightwork componentry might be the signature look for 2022 as OEMs scramble to build with any parts they can get.

[kylecycler]

Price included a helmet - so pretty moderate for these days.

The SRAM AXS wireless gearset alone has a street price more than that. The Biden administration, whose unofficial motto seems to be 'good union jobs for all', chiseled the artisan frame shop with the classic 'we can't pay you what you're worth, but think of the exposure you'll get'.

The odd mix of black and brightwork componentry might be the signature look for 2022 as OEMs scramble to build with any parts they can get.

Suppose it's the definition of a 'loss leader', not that they had any option other than to turn the job down.

Mind you, I've got the feeling that whoever it was in the Biden administration who 'costed' the deal, at least from their point of view, might not even have had a clue what custom built bikes, or just bikes in general, cost these days (although I think the cost of high end carbon road bikes from the likes of Trek, Specialized, Pinarello, etc. is just obscene now, however you define 'obscene') - my neighbour over the back fence freaks out even when I talk about paying £1000 for a bicycle (not that I ever have! )...

[Hellhound]

It looks like an old 80s ATB frame with modern 1x gearing thrown at it.Horrible.
Probably cost a fortune but looks like £100

[kylecycler]

It looks like an old 80s ATB frame with modern 1x gearing thrown at it.Horrible.
Probably cost a fortune but looks like £100

Doesn't do it for me either, tbh. Bilenky do excellent, practical, down-to-earth, do-everything bikes, though - the kind of bikes the folk on this forum would be more inclined to identify with - to such an extent that they called this one 'The Brick S***house' (seriously - not swearing, that's what it was called!):

[thirdcrank]

It makes me shudder looking at the angle of the saddle.

[kylecycler]

It makes me shudder looking at the angle of the saddle.

Same here, absolutely. I really don't get it, but it's not uncommon with Brooks saddles, in fact it seems to be just about the norm to set them up like that, more or less.

I believe the rails don't allow enough setback, which means there tends to be too much weight on the hands - the basic design goes back to the days when seat tube angles were ~ 70 degrees, and they've never been adapted since then - but there surely has to be a better solution.

Mind you, someone on here quite recently suggested that a 'nose up' angle tilts the pelvis back so that the weight is on the sitbones, not the perineum, and I can kinda sorta see the sense in that, but it still doesn't seem right to me.

[LollyKat]

In practice it is fine. IME Brooks saddles become concave in use, so if you don't tilt them up a bit you end up sliding forward all the time.

[kylecycler]

In practice it is fine. IME Brooks saddles become concave in use, so if you don't tilt them up a bit you end up sliding forward all the time.

Well, you've got the experience, LollyKat, I don't (I've never tried a Brooks saddle), so I guess that must be the explanation. Still looks wrong, though.

Mind you, there was a great motorsport race engineer / aerodynamicist called Frank Costin who said something like, "Lord save me from the expression, 'What looks right, is right.'" And vice versa, I suppose.

[thirdcrank]

I must have led a sheltered existence. If a saddle at that angle was familiar, I'd not have commented.

[kylecycler]

I must have led a sheltered existence. If a saddle at that angle was familiar, I'd not have commented.

Some things are better not to know - still looks wonky to me. Jan Heine, who you might be familiar with (Bicycle Quarterly, Compass / René Herse Cycles) sets his saddles up like that, though not so extreme, and does mega miles so it must work for him:

Calfee Adventure:

Weigle Randonneur:

Still doesn't look right!

[LuckyLuke]

It's expensive, ungainly, useless for its intended purpose, and probably rather heavy.

Enough about Boris, what about the bike?

I actually saw Boris on the first Ride London 100 miler, ?2013. He was London Mayor at the time. He was riding his Boardman hybrid and had a police escort of 3 plain clothes coppers also on bikes. They were like his domestiques, forming a protective ring around their GC man.

For someone associated with cycling, as London Mayor he wasn’t too good at promoting it. Boris Bikes and Cycle Superhighways began under Ken Livingstone, somehow Boris got the credit. Johnson also scrapped the westward extension of the Congestion Charge, (Kensington & Chelsea NIMBYISM no doubt influential), which would have boosted cycling.

Best wishes

Luke

[Postboxer]

He also pulled out from London hosting the Tour de France last minute.

[LuckyLuke]

He also pulled out from London hosting the Tour de France last minute.

He doesn’t do that often, hence the 7 kids…

[hujev]

[quote="Mick F"]
I notice the wheels.
If you have the same spoke-count front and rear, you either have too few at the rear, or too many at the front ...
[/quote]

[color=#8000BF]Or, like me, you're a 40/40 freak who digs symmetry![/color]
[color=#008080][size=85](reluctantly building a 40/36 set because of a 36° dynamo hub)[/size][/color]

[hujev]

A couple other observations:
1) that seat ('saddle') is designed for a hardass... Perhaps putin would have one of Great Soviet Concrete, but comparatively anyway,
2) it's just like the US Government to have the taxpayers buy a bike that'll probably never get used for a rich guy to give to another rich guy, then stiff the artist who built it for most of the actual cost,
3) I like Bilenky even more since he's got an orange Cat,
4) I didn't know he was a former popstar .. nor do I know the notekillers though,
5) I can also see the US Government imagining that Sram stuff is US made since its HQ is here (most Americans have no idea where anything is made nor where it goes when dumped, flushed, or tossed). And too bad they couldn't use True-Temper tubing (though guess at full price and proper pre-order some could have been found). Or they could have gone more 'UK-US' and used Reynolds tubes, a Lion bell, Brooks of course, etc. Maybe under some sort of 'together we are [almost] complete' sloagan.
6) The gearing looks super easy... I wonder if that's based on Boris' preference, or yet more 'duh gee boss, I dunno' US intel...
7) the paint scheme makes it look like not a $4500 bike, nor a $1500 bike, but a $139.99 wal-mart bike!
7.5) Will have to remember which Birmingham builder he studied with...