Bike Check: Romain’s Resurgam
Today is bike check day! Yay!
You already know how it goes: great bike, pictures, story, and so on. But today is different. Today we’re gonna focus on the story and how you go from a journey to an idea, to something real and tangible for your hands only. You’ll see that I haven’t included any “clean shot” of the bike. This is because I want you to check this man’s work afterward and see how it’s gonna evolve from there. I have high hopes for projects like this one where people put in their time, passion, and love to make products that I can understand in five seconds and say, “Yeah, that’s great. I want that. Where do I make a deposit?”.
Let's start with where things began for Romain. During a one-year trip around the United States, Canada, and part of South America, the idea of a second trip but with a bike was slowly starting to settle in. Riding fixed across the US sounds like an interesting challenge and a fascinating adventure to do. When Romain returned to France, it was time to create and build the frame he was gonna ride for his next trip. He settled on creating a steel frame with a geometry inspired by a timeless classic: his own Cinelli Vigorelli and just like that, the firstborn of Resurgam Cycles was assembled and welded together. After his frame-building internship in Paris and almost four years later, it was time to conquer the American continent again. When listening to his story, it was clear that Romain was not done with the “New World” and this time, it’s nearly 6000km from Montreal to Seattle, with enough pavement and pedaling to make you forget how to walk.
This kind of extreme fixed touring requires his first frame to undergo a lot of testing and tweaking to reach a suitable state. In 2019 Romain built the second version of his frame with a few improvements and reworks to refine his first design. What about a little ride to try the new baby? Just a quick ride around the block? Maybe to the next cafe then? No! Romain had to go all the way from Paris to Morocco because that’s how serious and adventurous Resurgam Cycles is. So how could you have never heard about this? Well, I believe it’s with patience, time, a lot of personal implication and, discretion, that one can hatch the best projects. Romain is actually settling into his new workshop and plans to get the first few prototypes at the end of this summer. Safe to say that I’m excited about this. Being a fan of the MASH Work, it’s the kind of frame I love to ride and take everywhere with me.
Let’s get on with the bike check and we’re obviously starting with the frame. As I said earlier, this is the second version of the Resurgam frameset. Made out of Columbus Zona with a Reynolds fork and a geometry that is comfy, yet still true to a track bike with a healthy dose of aggressiveness, 40c tire clearance for long days in the saddle, and a disc brake on the front for ease of use (and the unexpected downhill descents when you’re in full track packing mode). I’m a big fan of the black paint with a black oxide coating and the gold stripe in the middle. If you don’t know what black oxide coating is, let me enlighten you with all of my Wikipedia knowledge. Bluing steel is a chemical process that will give your tubing a blue-ish color most of the time and partially protect it from rust. It depends on the steel you use and its alloy because sometimes you end up with a beautiful brown, almost copper color. Bonus: you can see the brazing underneath!
For the parts, it’s all about keeping it classy and functional such as with the SRAM Omnium with a Ceramic GXP bottom bracket and the Fizik Arione 00 to save extra grams while keeping it really comfy. Fun fact: I was pro-Arione before turning to the SLR dark side! H Plus Son Hydras laced to a Halo fixed hub in the back and a Hope disc one in the front. This is a nice set of wheels built by Arkane_Wheelworks in London, Romain’s close friend and an exceptional wheel builder working with pro teams. I’m a big fan of the Salsa Bend Deluxe bars and I wouldn’t mind getting one for myself. Finally, a Chris King headset and Thomson finishing kit and he’s all set!
Resurgam is the first person singular, future indicative active of the Latin verb resurgere, meaning
"I shall rise again".
Detailed Parts List
Frameset Custom Made Resurgam Cycles Frameset
Chainring and Cog Sram Truvativ 48T, BLB 19T cog
Crank 165mm Sram Omnium with ceramic BB
Seatpost and Saddle Thomson Elite, Arione 00
Stem and Handlebar 120mm Tomson x2 Stem and Salsa Bend Deluxe Bars
Wheels HplusSon Hydra x Hope front hub - Halo rear hub
Tires Donnelly Strada USH 700x40c
Accessories Shimano Deore XT disc brake
Talking to frame builders and passionate people is something I couldn’t get enough of. It’s a beautiful sight to see people dedicated to making our culture bigger, even if it’s just by a small amount. I’m truly looking forward to Romain’s work and if you are too, you can follow his Instagram: @el.picaro and the one of Resurgam Cycles: @resurgam.cycles.
PS: For French readers, Romain actually documented most of his trips in a really beautiful manner. You can it out here: encresinvisibles.com
