TWO young men who don’t cycle have hit on the perfect Oxford pub concept – the Rusty Bicycle. But would this pub by any other name smell as sweet?

I had heard a few enthusiastic whispers about the Rusty Bicycle. With a name containing the magic “b” word, it didn’t take me long to check it out.

For a fussy old fart who spends far too long picking holes and criticising, I have to say I’m impressed.

The Rusty Bicycle is good. Really good. And, if they carry on as they’ve started, this pub looks certain to be the most recession-proof boozer in town.

Late last year, the Oxford Mail carried warnings from the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) about Oxford losing more pubs. “Use ’em or lose ’em” was the message.

I reckon that by now I might have gone and checked out the Eagle, as the pub used to be called. If I had, I suspect it would have been an exercise in philanthropy more than anything else.

The Eagle was the sort of place you’d cycle past, so fusty-looking that you probably wouldn’t even have clocked its name.

The new landlords Chris Manners and Alex Arkell, both fresh out of university, took over a month ago.

Almost overnight, they have succeeded in creating a pub that oozes quality and atmosphere.

A wood-burning stove crackled in the fireplace by the sofas, throwing a warm glow over my end of the pub. I was in heaven.

East Oxford is full of sports-oriented or student-filled pubs. The Rusty Bicycle wants to succeed as a “proper” pub, a place where you meet your friends and neighbours over a beer – without a telly.

The clientele has been an eclectic mix the times I’ve visited, and they say that’s the way they want it: to be popular all year round, not busy when the students are here and filled with tumbleweed the rest. If they pitch the pub at a mixed customer base and don’t go in for cheap promotions, the pub could become a well-loved Magdalen Road hub.

I sought the verdict of those barometers of cycling good taste, the crew at Oxford Cycle Workshop, a few doors along Magdalen Road: “Yup, we drink there.” The unanimous verdict: “We love it!”

That said, if last Friday’s Mexican night is a sign of things to come, I won’t be rushing back. I’d rather suffer a little background TV than packs of braying, guffawing students high on tequila and low on etiquette.

The pub’s Achilles heel is its bike parking. The landlords have installed a dozen butterfly or “wheelbender” cycle racks along the outside wall.

I was kind of impressed – bizarrely, few businesses bother to acknowledge the importance of their cycling customers. But sadly, as any cyclist knows, wheelbenders are only any good if you require just your front wheel for the ride home.

All of the cycling customers that I’ve seen have opted to cycle their entire bike home, which is why they parked sideways on and locked the rear wheel and frame to the racks. Butterflies are better than nothing, but a pub as good as the Rusty Bicycle deserves funky racks made from galvanised steel tubing.

Parking and that Mexican night aside, the Rusty Bicycle is the best piece of two-wheeled news so far this year. Check it out.