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feature
bike at bedtime june 2022 reilly rainbow road warriorCheck out the Reilly Rainbow Road Warrior that will take centre stage at the Reilly Rides Out memorial ride
While tonight's Bike At Bedtime is about a very nice bike as per usual, it's also about celebrating the legacy of Reilly Cycleworks' founder Mark Reilly, who sadly died last year at the age of 53. The Reilly Rainbow Road Warrior titanium bike has already been featured in the new Bike Is Best campaign in support of Pride Month, and will also be "front-and-centre" at the Reilly Rides Out bike ride, taking place in memory of Mark Reilly in August.
Reilly was one of the UK's most respected framebuilders, gracing the workshops of Omega and Enigma before founding Reilly CycleWorks with Neil Fitzgerald in 2014. He was also one of the few openly gay men in the bike industry, and according to the brand's new co-owner Chris Ratcliff, Reilly's decision to move his business to Brighton in the early 2000s was to "embrace an LGBTQ+ lifestyle":
"Openness is central to how we operate as a business and we will continue to proudly bang the drum for greater diversity in the cycling industry," adds Ratcliff.
Back to the bike... it's essentially a custom-painted version of Reilly's T325, with the titanium frameset providing "an exceptionally direct but velvety smooth road experience today, tomorrow and for many years to come" according to Reilly. It certainly impressed David Arthur back in 2015, who said the bike was surprisingly stiff and direct compared to other springy titanium offerings at the time.
> Reilly Cycleworks blends titanium and aero with new Fusion road bike
This Rainbow Road Warrior version was custom-painted by Faye Bishop, whose day job is painting for the Mercedes AMG F1 team. It took her over a week to create the colours for this bike, which covers the whole frame and fork apart from the majority of the seat stays, which remain polished titanium.
The increasingly endangered rim brake makes an appearance here, with a mechanical groupset and English threaded bottom bracket that will please traditionalists. Here's the full spec:
Shimano Ultegra R8000 mechanical groupset
DCR x Reilly carbon 77 wheels
Continental Gran Prix 28mm tyres
Reilly 31.6mm carbon seat post
Reilly titanium-railed saddle
Deda 90mm stem
Reilly alloy bars (400mm)
Violet purple Lizard Skin bartape
Reilly black headset
Two sets of bottle cage mounts
English threaded bottom bracket
If you're really sold then you're in luck... because you can actually buy this exact bike! It's a size small and priced at £5,499, the link is here if you're interested.
Reilly's commitment to championing diversity and inclusion in cycling is spearheaded by Elaine Burroughs, an LGBTQ+ adventure cyclist who was approached by Mark Reilly to be a brand ambassador the year before he died:
“There is a perception around cycling that you have to be an elite athlete, which I’m not, and I’m passionate about raising awareness of just how accessible cycling can be, after all, it was a skill most of us learnt as children", says Burroughs.
"I’ve managed to convince women to switch from tarmac to off-road and they’re now happily reliving their youth by adventure biking.”
Reilly Rides Out will take place on Sunday 7th August departing 9am from TrainSharp Cycling in Lewes, with a choice of 30 mile gravel or 50 mile road rides. You can book your place here.
Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 4 min 12 sec ago
Paging brooksby - that front triangle just needs wrapping in foil and silver tape...
- mdavidford 32 min 53 sec ago
Nonsense - we just need stronger sentencing for the deer. Flogging and chemical castration should do the trick. [Am I doing this right?]
- mdavidford 41 min 9 sec ago
Something something glass houses something something stones.
- lonpfrb 11 hours 6 min ago
PCCs are an attempt to provide Legitimacy by connecting an elected representative to the oversight of Policing. Thus voter surveys to sample...
- ktache 11 hours 54 min ago
Mine tend to get knocked by the chaining of the bicycle, then fall off later. To be found next time I use the light. Some crushed.
- Simon E 13 hours 10 min ago
That is a pity, Malcolm had a great reputation and spent a lot of time posting his no-nonsense advice gained over many years on Bikeradar....
- Blackthorne 16 hours 26 min ago
It's mentioned in benefit #2 in the article...
- levestane 16 hours 38 min ago
Pneu ballon and hookless rims are back, I still have some 27" Birmalux rims in the shed somewhere.
- brooksby 18 hours 27 min ago
Well yes, but it is the holidays
- Rendel Harris 19 hours 39 min ago
Thank you for that excellent forensic analysis, I couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong! Must drink more coffee and put on glasses before trying...
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20 comments
Reillys (Reillies? Reilly's? Reillyes?) are just stunning, stunning machines. A lovely tribute to an artist of a bike builder, gone way too soon.
I come to this website to read about cycling: not BREXIT, not Pride..just cycling. Lately, however, it seems the preponderance of 'political' articles is increasing. As a result, I've just unsubscribed.
Cycling website published article about cycle company producing a special cycle to commemorate the life of a cycle builder. Sounds like the article is about cycling to me.
A quick glance at the homepage shows 39 stories and features available, of which two are what you might call "political", this story about a tribute to a well-known and much loved framebuilder and the story about the female athletes in America taking a knee to protest the Supreme Court decision on RvW. If you choose to click on those rather than read the other 37 available options, that says quite a lot about what you are looking for, which appears to be more an excuse to be offended than actually to read about cycling.
QFT - well said.
Good. Not gonna miss you.
If this was just a random context free post - me being Stale Male and Pale - I might agree with you. However, Reilly have never hidden their light under a bushel when it comes to representation and as a happy purchaser I'm glad to see it and they have my support. Even if its just by calling people like you out. If you genuinely do not care about representation in cycling you are part of the problem, its not about politics its about equality of opportunity.
"I come to this website to look for articles I might be triggered by"...
Oh dear. How sad. Nevermind.
It really lifts the spirits to be out on a ride and see something like that.
Back in the early 80's my best friend had no choice but to leave our small Sussex town and move to London so he could 'come out' with less fear of being beaten to death. Sadly he died from cancer in 1991 and never grew up to see how much things have changed for people like him.
I'd like to imagine him riding this bike at the front of the group celebrating just how much things have improved in the last 30 years. I think you needed to live in that era to appreciate just how horrendous it was for anyone who didn't conform to 'normal'.
Nice paint job, but on the whole, I'd rather sexual politics was kept out of sports.....
Celebrating the life and work of a gay man who was proud of his bikes and his identity is only political if you choose to make it so, to anyone who doesn't have a problem with Pride or celebrations of gay identity it's simply a lovely gesture and a stunning bike; I'm not gay but I certainly wouldn't let that stop me from having one in my collection if it was feasible!
N.B. Not that it would matter a single solitary damn if it was but it's not even sexual politics in "sports", it's a bike made for a ride in memorial of Mr Riley.
Ooh look at Trendy Rendy trying to be all PC thinking he's right all the time (I thought I'd get it in before one of our tiresome resident trolls does)
In my experience, the entirety of life is an exercise in some kind of polilitics.
https://youtu.be/zruGBWLk9s8
I'd rather not read your homophobic comments on here too.
I guess we're both disappointed
Would it be "sexual politics" to celebrate the life of a heterosexual husband and father who left a wife and biological children behind? If yes, then presumably you're not opposed to mixing sexual politics and sports at all, and you've no objection here on "sexual politics" grounds. If no, then neither is this article, and you've no objection here on "sexual politics" grounds.
If you're opposed to homosexuality per se, just say it. And if you're not, you should realize that's the way many people are going to interpret your post. (I'm not making any assumption or accusation, just encouraging more precise communication and candor.)
'Sexual politics' 😂
I guess if you've never been the victim of prejudice or violence because of who you love then it's very easy to separate the two; for other people it's not.
Sorry if you were offended by an article which you chose to read on a site you chose to visit.
Such a lovely paintjob.
It is - and on this occasion I'll even put aside my general "don't paint ti frames" view.
Isn't it.
I'd love a paint job like that, regardless of my, or anyone else's sexuality