Racer Rosa custom carbon

Simon Smythe rides out on a handmade Italian thoroughbred

- Simon Smythe

£4,700 | (frameset) 7.5kg

PROS

CUSTOM GEOMETRY

CUSTOM PAINT

FAST RIDE

HANDMADE IN ITALY

CONS

NONE

What if you want a brand-new, high-quality, lightweight, modern carbon frame but you prefer rim brakes, a mechanical groupset and you don't need clearance for balloon tyres to ride 'all road'?

Call me old, set in my ways and even grumpy, but as I see it the bike industry's efforts over the last decade or so to fix things that ain't broke means less choice - and more expense - for the consumer.

However, if you know where to look, it's still possible to incorporate those 'retro' elements into a cutting-edge road bike. Not only that, but for around the same price as those flagship disc-brake/ electronic groupset-only frames from the big brands, you can get it made to measure and built by hand in Italy with a custom paintjob.

Slightly surprisingly, that place to look is Walthamstow. Better known for greyhound racing and a Nineties boy band, London E17 is also home to Racer Rosa, a small brand that basically imports Italian bike culture wholesale. That includes fittings with World Tour bike fitter Giuseppe Giannecchini, who flies over to the UK one weekend a month to fit UK riders for Racer Rosa.

Back in 2016 I went for a fitting with Giannecchini. Racer Rosa made me a custom aluminium frame based on my which I still love, but I measurements, was obviously intrigued (and more than a bit delighted) to be offered a carbon one with the same bespoke geometry.