Its not really a....

Rory O`Brien it started out as a Romany R2 made in England by Revell and distributed by Madison Cycles of London. I saw it advertise in the Freewheel catalogue and thought yes that my new tourer! So I ordered it from Rory O`Brien  with a £30 deposit on it and picked it up on Feb 6th 1987 and paid £500 plus £26 for a Blackburn rear carrier. After many happy miles of touring/club rides I decide to have a respray done and a nice new colour, so back to Rory O`Brien in 1998 to get it done. Six weeks later I went to collect it, there she is said the shop assistant, looking good innit? Where? There he said, oh I said yer got the colour right but it was a Romany now its Rory O`Brien! I knew it was my frame as two years earlier I had knocked my workstand over and it had fell onto the top tube and left a small dent there.
Hmmm, okay sorry about this but its such a lovely frame it should have been one of ours, said the shop assistant, but if you want another respray it will take another 6-8 weeks. I was going on tour in two weeks so I paid the bill and really did mean to go back after my tour, which of course I never did.
Most of my club mates know this story, whilst cyclists I meet on the road and say what lovely looking Rory O`Brien you have there, I just agree with them. But those cyclists that look with knowing eyes that its not what it says on the frame I come clean with them and tell the story. So even if its not really what its says on the frame it given me many happy cycling miles and more to come I hope.

Before:

After:

Today:

My love of cycling...

...really started in 1979 when the local Bus company decide to change its Sunday morning timetable. Meaning that after a 12 hours night shift I had a choice of either walking the 7 miles home or wait for 2 hours for the first Bus. I didn`t fancy either and with no driving license and I still don`t have one I decide to get a Bike! So off to Rory O`Brien Cycle shop in North Street, Romford I went and came out with a Dawes Lightning. Having not ridden a cycle since my teens (about 12 years) I found the 11 miles ride home a bit wobbly at first but got there in the end. The plan was just to cycle into work on my weekend night shifts, but I got the cycling bug and started going out on my days off. I joined the Cyclists Touring Club in August 1980 and still a member today.
The most memorable ride on the Lightning was to Mersea Island, can`t remember what the mileage was though I did have a Huret Cyclometer but never kept a record of my mileage in those days. To reach Mersea Island you have to cross the Strood, which was dry going but coming back the tide had come in, oops! I waited around for awhile but in the end I decide to go for it and learned a lesson that day, seawater and bottom brackets not good! Still I made it home even if there was a strange noise coming from the bottom bracket.
I really can`t remember what happen to the Dawes Lightning must have either sold it or gave it away.