Riding a vintage steel road bike at Eroica Britannia | How much fun can you have on a retro bike? 

Its so funny seeing all these old road bikes again when i started racing in the 1970s this was all we had until the 1990s when everything went crazy.

I brought my dad’s Peugeot 1977 bike home and I will be getting it ready for the 2022 Eroica. I can’t wait to ride it.

I'm the old chap in the maillot jaune (yes I know, it's considered poor form but come on it's Eroica!). I rode my Concorde Astore 'Team America' & loved every moment at Eroica Britannia. It was well worth the trip down from Scotland & my partner agreed!

I believe a big part of the 'eroica experience is sourcing a bike, fixing & fettling it. There's something so satisfying about a vintage bike.

Love the old steel bikes. We just picked up a Jack Taylor tandem for our "hack" tandem! I was at the 1982 World Champs at Goodwood - what a great day out.

I am hoping to do the California event in my 1978 Gios Torino that I raced when I was a teenager. Full campy. The fork is not original, bent that up in a crash but the rest is original. It was a dream ride then and still not too shabby.

Enjoyable video. Looking forward to Goodwood next year riding my 1969 vintage bike.

I only ride vintage steel bikes so this is quite normal for me. NB. Bar end shifters are also fine.

Tony Doyle rode Geoffrey Butler bikes too. Beautiful frames. Could never afford one myself but there you go. Lovely to see an old Holdsworth jersey go through frame just before your Goodwood highlight

That looks like fun! Congratulations on fixing up such a nice bike. My vintage is a 1974 Mexican built Benotto mixte. The 5 speed 14-28 rear cluster doesn't offer much hill climbing power, and of course at my age I have upright bars. But I'm fixing it up to look like a proper 1974 vintage town bike. I hope the down tube shifters aren't mandatory everywhere, since the bike came with Suntour stem shifters. Remembering how to use friction shifters wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.

Tremendously well presented and engaging video. Thank you very much!

Would love to take part. Have a mechanically sound circa 1975 Harry Hall but with look pedals and maviv aksium wheels Campag down shifters though . Would have to dig out the old pedals + wheels. Thanks for the update. Great to know so many others love traditional steel frames.

Hoping to do this on my 1983 record sprint 12 👌🏻

Did the Taster Event on my 1960s Carlton Corsa Strada - only just over 20miles but quite a bit of Climbing and became Challenging in the rain but still very enjoyable 😊

I'm riding 86 motioncraft with 105 shimano groupset and 52/40 biopace, and still having fun on it.

I have ridden l'Eroica in Tuscany twice and enjoyed it very much, although the course can be quite challenging. I used a 1981 Peugeot PXN-10, an excellent bike, but while the drivetrain (Simplex) was excellent, old brakes are really terrible! While the Eroica events are well-publicized, there are many, many retro rides in Europe to enjoy, including the Retro Ronde in Belgium and a host of them in Italy. Good fun and even the fanciest steel vintage bike is pretty reasonable compared to modern high-end carbon. Nice video!

Nice bike but be careful with the stem-handlebar combo. From the video It looks like the stem is 26mm and the bar is 25,4 and the stem is overtightened. The slot or the gap near the stem bolt looks too small. At 6:00 it looks the two halves of the stem are touching near the bolt. If this is the case (26mm stem and 25,4 bar) than this is just a question of time and the stem will brake!

Nice Columbus T shirt you have on there :)

Awesome piece thanks for sharing that. I was at the ride and really enjoyed the event, I have a 1959 Mercian restored by Mercian and painted back in the coil our it was more likely to have been when new. I can highly recommend the Eroica it is addictive.

So many people without helmets?! And no cranks here to complain about it 😂

Go steel! Carlton competition 1978 rider here.last forever .

Regarding the Butler frame, I once had an Atala pro, and I could see the Columbus oval imprinted into the seat tube, maybe a close look at the Butler would reveal such evidence.

Beautiful vintage bike! I have my Bridgestone Roadman bought at Japan surplus this October from Philippines.

I have an '85 Schwinn Traveler that I converted to a single speed. I should put the derailleurs back on it and seek out the California Eroica!

Great!, this would have matched my ~1980 Peugeot (H?)10 race bike with toe clips (first owner), downtube shifters, checkered flag on the tubes, if it were not stolen in 1998 (I still hate that!) ... I must have a cycling short with a chamois like that somewhere, but never use it anymore... I like the looks of these bikes and would like to experience riding these once again, but a 2021 Canyon Ultimate is not bad either, I'll just have to settle for that 😁

The gears are heroic!

Because my 1982 has inside the handlebar cables, Aerolite pedals, and 1972 bar-end shifter, AND is period-correct, it would be prohibited????

I grew up peering through the window of Geoff Butlers and dreaming of owning one

I rode my 86 Schwinn LeTour for what seems like forever. Really hard to beat. Compared to modern bikes, I'd say it was a little tipsy/flexy? Otherwise, I'd still ride it today if I still had it. Steel frame had great feel to it.

Just to keep costs down, I would ride Eroica California on a Japanese made frame (Nishiki, Schwinn, Bridgestone, etc.). The most important part of the build would be gearing since the ride profile is very hilly, and I can’t climb like my teen self in the 80s. I could use a triple in the front and a long cage mech in the back with easiest climbing gear being 30x28. I’m toying with the idea of using a compact double. Many Sugino and SR use a 110 BCD spider. I would have to find ramped and pinned chainrings for smoother shifting. California rules are rather lax on gearing, so I may use 8 cogs on the back for a good spread.

I have a cliff shrubb built Geoffery butler it was the last one he built for them i have a facebook page for cliff two have share your video to it.I had my one refurbished by Winston & mario Vaz its now badged as a cliff shrubb your frame does look similar to my one.My frame was built in late 1991 & i know cliff went to Pearson's after that time but didn't build frames for them.

Why has no one pushed it as far as a Draisine before? I would love to see someone in a time appropriate outfit and wooden draisine from the 1800's!

I bet the climbs was fun on those ratios 😂 how's the knees 7:39 did you stem come loose? Looks like your bars are out of line ? Could just be the camera angle though

Just a query regarding your comments about down tube levers, I have for many years fitted my bikes with bar end levers as used on cyclo cross bikes, just a preference of mine as in the past I have had near misses using the down tube levers on bumpy roads with hands coming close to the spokes ! I also have the bike fitted with Mafac braze on brakes, it was built this way as the brakes are quite light compared with regular side pull brakes, would a bike like mine be acceptable for this event ?

85 Trek 560 is my daily ride so every day is eroica day😉 ....eroica really needs to move the eligibility date forward one year ever year to keep things fresh tho they really risk the event stagnating.

I’m enjoying the bike so far ru-vid.comUgkxMesz3KOGEmwmvyKQfLfrRSUXLFzfVHZA My only real complaints are the brakes and the pedals. I feel like a bike designed for bigger people should have much larger pedals and more heavy duty brakes. I’ve only gotten two really good rides out of it, minimal downhill action, and the brakes feel like they’re already going out. A larger person has more momentum, so I think this wasn’t thought through very well. Also, I wear size 13-14 wide shoes. My feet cramp up on these pedals that are clearly made for smaller feet. Since I’m not a pro rider (and I don’t think many are who purchase this bike) I don’t think that the straps on the pedal are necessary at all. None of this takes away from the enjoyment I get from riding, however. I’ll just head to a bike shop to improve on a few things.

At 200 lbs I don't ever get out of the saddle.

I think everyone looks really cool, but I know I’d feel naked without a helmet. I started riding nice racing bikes in 1979 when I was 12 and my dad made me wear a helmet (a really ugly Bell) starting around 1981 or so because one of his friends had died from a head injury on a local descent (and I had been hit by a car because I was being an idiot). To be clear, this isn’t a criticism of you guys - I think you really do look cool but I think I have a literal phobia of riding without a helmet, which is a bit sad.

meh my bianchi is from 1989 :( guess im looking for another bike to rebuild then :)

What brand brake lever hood is that on the 600 levers?

Vintage sidewall grime at 6:53

Wow

pre-1987 would include C-Record. and there were clipless pedals around that time to.. aero brake cable routing.. also a thing.. seems like weird rules.. I wonder what the rules are for rims? its impossible to find used MA40s now. As someone else has pointed out - cinelli changed the bar diameter (early 1990s), so your bars are too old to qualify as eroica. I would be quite weary of riding with 30+year old bars, quite liable to fracturing i'd suspect.

You have the wrong size bars, the stem clamp is over tightened !

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i have peugeot tour de france...im from jakarta..

Naise

Pointless now that’s it’s at Goodwood. I’ll go to Italy instead… it will be cheaper.

nothing in the rules about showing up with deep section carbon wheels but absolutely not to clipless pedals (LOOK: 1984). Just silly

Ride speeds seems too slow, wouldn't enjoy that

Cycling cosplay. A bit tragic. I own a 1987 frame. It has modern components, for a reason. Old bits are rubbish. Source: ridden old bikes.

'The lugs have nice cut outs and are probably Nervex'. NO. They are Bocama Pro lugs. Doesn't seem your knowledge is up to speed to be making videos.