In his introduction to me, Guy explained that he was born in Leeds, but is currently “exiled” in Suffolk. He grew up riding the roads around Otley and Harrogate and bar one exception has only owned steel bikes. With a birthday milestone soon approaching, he needed just one more “classic steel” to complete his stable.

Guy gets through an annual mileage of around 4,000 tarmac miles, the majority of which are done purely for pleasure, with the occasional sportive thrown in. Having spent much of his working career in the steel industry, Guy had a good knowledge of the different steel tubesets and lugs available to him and so the choice to build his frame with Columbus Spirit was an easy one for him.

I built him a road bike where comfort and performance were on an equal footing.  In keeping with the “classic steel” feel Guy was after, we went for a traditional lugged frame with a horizontal top tube. I hand carved the lugs, including the fork crown, to give the bike even more of a personal touch. He asked me to make the stem for him too, so that it was in keeping with the overall classical look of the bike.

Guy wanted to give a nod to an old Alfa Romeo he had renovated and so chose “Grigio Grafite” as the main colour for his frame and included the 4 leaf clover on the back of the seat tube – referred to as the “sneaky tattoo”.

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