A real steel bike at bedtime — Grant's All City Super Professional

We've already listed a bunch of cool-looking bikes from the Core Bike Show that we attended earlier this week, but one was left to be showcased in more detail. Many of the cool bikes belong to pros, and we've certainly featured many a WorldTour team bike in our Bike at Bedtime features. But, that doesn't mean that non-pros don't ride cool-looking bikes. 

Those who work in the bike industry are of course in a lucky position to build some pretty incredible bikes and choose the nicest components and details for their special ride. Grant Wildman, who is the sales promoter for Schwalbe tyres, has done just that with his steel steed. Let's have a closer look at his stylish All-City Super Professional. 

The steel frame

Starting off with the frame, this is All-City Super Professional in size 55, and made with 612 SELECT tubing - meaning it is a blend of double-butted 4130 Chromoly steel tubes. 

The frame has All-City's beautiful detailing, mounts for all sorts of cargo and mudguards and tyre clearance for up to 47mm rubber-not to mention a very classic, timeless colourway.

> Best steel road bikes 2023 — versatile, durable and comfortable steeds

Grant has built the bike with a U.S.E Sumo seat post and Race stem, and of course, a Chris King headset. 

The bike is rolling on DT Swiss G540 wheels that are hand-built but Grant himself with DT Swiss 240 36t single-speed rear hub. The rim's 24mm internal rim allows for some chunky tyres to be fitted, and we can see no surprises here: the tyres are all Schwalbe, with a grippy 45mm G-one R at the front and slightly less-knobbly G-one RS 45mm at the back. 

The brakes are TRP Helix brakes that have a drilled-out lever blade that shaves weight as well as improves grip. The brakes are hosed to flat-mount Hope rx4 callipers with Hope floating rotors. 

Simply single-speed

Moving on to shifting, well, you might notice that Grant is a lover of single-speed bikes; so there are not too many numbers to mention, only that it is a 36/15 ratio. The carbon cranks are Sram Force and the chainring is a Wolftooth direct mount. 

Finishing kit

Moving on to contact points, which are always a very personal part of someone's bike. The saddle is Brooks Cambium C15, with a wee special nubbin at the nose. That button features the same design as this bike's top cap which we will get to later...

The handlebars are very gravel-approved 48cm wide Salsa Cowchipper 2 bars with 24deg flare. They're wrapped in Redshift bar tape which, considering the width of the bars, is a clever choice as it comes in 315cm length. 

> Best bar tapes for cycling 2023 — get a comfort boost and make your bike look fresh

This bike would not be a very personal bike without some very personal, quirky touches. The top cap that we mentioned before, it's Bentley Component's 'Tallywhacker' Original brass top cap. If you were interested in customising yours, Bentley also makes a similar one with vulvas engraved on it... just saying! 

Perhaps the best way to distinguish a 'normal' bike from a pro bike is the fact that there are spares carried on it, and this All-City has them very neatly stashed on the seat tube. The Schwalbe Aerothan tube, tyre levers and pump are strapped on another Bentley Component accessory: the Mini Deck. This is designed to work with any kind of strap from Voile straps or Surly's Junk straps, or you could use it to adjust your bottle cage placement by 10 or 20mm. 

That brings us to the end of this bike, which hopefully has proven to be a refreshing take on what makes a bike unique and cool, among all of the carbon weight-weenie carbon race machine builds that we see on a daily basis.  

That is this week's Bike at Bedtime, but we've got more for you to check out... and don't forget to let us know what you think of this build!