As you may already know if you've been following our Built in Britain series with Muc-Off, back in May we raffled what is going to be one very special bike! A frame built by Rourke, painted by Gun Control Paint and rolling on wheels from Pacenti Cycle Design, our raffle winner has been chosen and £3,764 was raised for the mental health charity CALM. Before we reveal the dream bike we're paying a visit to the great British brands involves in the project - this week it's Pacenti Cycle Design.
> Grounded in innovation: a Q+A with Muc-Off
> Built in Britain: Behind the scenes at Rourke Handbuilt Cycles
In the video we're talking to Luke Humphreys, the owner of Pacenti Cycle Design, about the craft, skill and understanding that goes in to building the best bicycle wheels possible.
"We don't have the perfect wheel, we don't build perfection. It doesn't exist", Luke explains.
"All we can do is make it better, so we've built a lot of rigs in-house that help us understand what's happening in each wheel better and better.
"By understanding every aspect and every component of each wheel, we can build a better wheel. We still believe we can built better wheels every time we build them. every time we make an improvement, every time we change the spoke length by a millimetre.
"One of our strong beliefs is that a wheel should last and perform.
"In a cycling sense the British climate gives products hell! It puts products through their paces, we can wear bearings out like no one else. It's wet, sandy. gritty, we salt the roads; our poor bicycles take a lot of abuse here in the UK.
"Building products to last here in the UK is probably a testament to their quality. Some of the bikes I've ridden that are the best were built by hand here in the UK."
Being Devon-based, Luke explains the brand's relationship with its neighbours Muc-Off:
"We're well aware of what they've been up to for years, a solid British company.
"We're both international companies working from humble beginnings. It's great a company like that who have now made it big get involved in projects like this, showcasing quality British built product. Giving people an opportunity to have an insight into that is really important."
Check back for the next video in our Built In Britain series this weekend over on our YouTube channel.
To be fair, those Southend sheds are pretty ugly. I hope that they are useful for locals, rather than just winding up the anti-cycling brigade.
The valves are a weak point on Revoloop tubes. I've had a number of them fail at the valve, generally after a few hundred miles. If you look...
The truth is than in the Netherlands that I saw them, they were indeed a bit huge for cycle infra. However they were rather rare.
Race you there!
Those calipers arent the prettiest. Makes them look like Post-mount.
I'm all for a much more socialist approach to the sorts of things you mention, where there are clear market failures and a need for decent...
Zorbing balls - if it saves just one life
12 corners in just over 2km is a terrifying prospect if it rains!
I think it's:...
As it's often said -'the way to justify the building of a bridge is not too count the number of people swimming the crocodile infested river!'