Built in Britain: Behind the scenes at Rourke Handbuilt Cycles

Back in May, we raffled a bike that will be custom-built by Rourke, painted by Gun Control Paint and have wheels from Pacenti Cycle Design. The £3,764 raised all goes to the mental health charity CALM, and our lucky raffle winner has been chosen... and before we reveal the finished dream bike, it's time to pay a visit to the great British brands involves in the project. 

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Our first stop is Rourke Handbuilt Cycles, and in the video above we talk to Jason Rourke, the owner of this legendary Staffordshire framebuilder. Jason reveals that he wanted to become a framebuilder after visiting Harry Quinn Cycles as a youngster... and after his dad Brian founded the company, the rest is history! 

" Given the fact that my dad rode three Tour of Britains on the wrong size bike, and seeing that many people come in sat in the wrong position, we said if we were going to make bikes fit is key", says Jason. 

"My dad always said if your hands, your bum and your feet are in the right place, the rest will take care of itself. If you want to win things, you just need to try harder than everyone else." 

"We built a track bike for Elinor Barker recently. I was watching the cycling on Sky and Elinor came past on a 953. It looked amazing because it was a stainless bike with British tubing, made by me which made me very proud, in a sea of carbon. We shown that anyone can do it really." 

Jason continues: "A lot of the things we do haven't changed much, if there was a better way we'd do it a better way. Steel is still the best material for a bike frame in my opinion. 

"Building bikes for great characters is the most important for me. We made a bike for Muhammed Ali once. No one believes me when I say it but we did!

"We're lucky because our customers are so loyal, they always keep coming back."

Check back for the next video in our Built In Britain series this weekend.