FOR WHAT YOU DREAM OF

Simon Richardson waxes lyrical about the UKSI bike, and asks other industry figures about their own dream machines

- Simon Richardson

Everyone has a dream bike, don’t they? What that bike is will change over the years as new models, new heroes and new technology come along. Or your personal budget changes. But there is always a bike that gets into your head.

When I was young, it was a metallic pale blue Raleigh Elan in a local shop window. Ever the pragmatist, it wasn’t the most expensive bike on display, but it was the one I could – with a bit of birthday money – one day afford. The fact it was just about within my reach was part of the attraction. I got that bike too. And riding it around as a teenager with Phil Liggett’s commentary playing in my head is an enduring memory of my summers and helped fuel my love of cycling.

Now there’s another bike that’s in my head. It’s a bike I can’t buy, or call in for test. Perhaps the fact I can’t have it is what makes me want it more. It’s not the most beautiful bike, nothing of the sort, but it is decorated and ridden by only a chosen few who were good enough.

I still remember the first time I saw the UKSI bike. It was late 2001 or early 2002 and I’d travelled to Peter Keen’s office at the Manchester velodrome to interview him about it for a feature in Cycle Sport magazine. There was no launch or fanfare, it was just leant against the whitewashed breeze-block wall by his desk.

It was exceptionally average looking, like something out of a design project. There was no name on the down tube, no stylish additions, no fancy componentry.

But it was about as good a bike frame as you can get.