I bought my first, a De Rosa Titanio, in 1999, and it has served me well for many different types of events, from the Tour of Flanders to the Marmotte, and still brings a smile to my face when I ride it. It has, however, dated with age as it has a 1" steerer and skinny tubes so looks it's age so I looked to replace it as my best bike last year after ten years of happy riding.
Last year I turned 40 so I wanted a new Ti frame for the next ten years and, 9 months before my birthday I began researching the frame I wanted. My friend Dan, the workshop manager at Sigma, and a confirmed Italophile like me, was advocating Seven as the one he had was a revelation and I was very tempted. The other brand I was considering was Nevi, after I'd seen their frames in the flesh at the GF Felice Gimondi start village and I was this close to ordering one when I stumbled across pictures taken at Eurobike of a frame from a maker I'd never heard of before called Paduano. I fell in love in an instant, and starting searching the web for feedback from Paduano owners. All I could find was tales of how hard it was to get hold of them, so I crafted an email in my poor Italian, got a friend to correct it and fired it off. I got a response in English within an hour (and this was done in the evening)! A conversation followed and I flew out to Italy in November 2008 to visit them and talk about what I wanted. 3 months later the frame arrived and, once it was built, I took it out for it's maiden ride. WOW! What a fucking beauty, stiff (it's stiffer than an aluminium frame I have), comfortable and so, so stable at speed it's got to be experienced to be believed. I rode the Etape on it last year, the first time I rode it in the mountains, and it's got to be the best bike I've ever descended on.
I think I what I'm getting at is this, work out your budget, do your research and find the frame you want.
I've also got a Ti cross frame, bought mainly because I thought Ti is the ideal frame material for cross as it'll not corrode and won't look shit after a year of use due to the paint getting battered.
I own three Ti frames.
I bought my first, a De Rosa Titanio, in 1999, and it has served me well for many different types of events, from the Tour of Flanders to the Marmotte, and still brings a smile to my face when I ride it. It has, however, dated with age as it has a 1" steerer and skinny tubes so looks it's age so I looked to replace it as my best bike last year after ten years of happy riding.
Last year I turned 40 so I wanted a new Ti frame for the next ten years and, 9 months before my birthday I began researching the frame I wanted. My friend Dan, the workshop manager at Sigma, and a confirmed Italophile like me, was advocating Seven as the one he had was a revelation and I was very tempted. The other brand I was considering was Nevi, after I'd seen their frames in the flesh at the GF Felice Gimondi start village and I was this close to ordering one when I stumbled across pictures taken at Eurobike of a frame from a maker I'd never heard of before called Paduano. I fell in love in an instant, and starting searching the web for feedback from Paduano owners. All I could find was tales of how hard it was to get hold of them, so I crafted an email in my poor Italian, got a friend to correct it and fired it off. I got a response in English within an hour (and this was done in the evening)! A conversation followed and I flew out to Italy in November 2008 to visit them and talk about what I wanted. 3 months later the frame arrived and, once it was built, I took it out for it's maiden ride. WOW! What a fucking beauty, stiff (it's stiffer than an aluminium frame I have), comfortable and so, so stable at speed it's got to be experienced to be believed. I rode the Etape on it last year, the first time I rode it in the mountains, and it's got to be the best bike I've ever descended on.
I think I what I'm getting at is this, work out your budget, do your research and find the frame you want.
I've also got a Ti cross frame, bought mainly because I thought Ti is the ideal frame material for cross as it'll not corrode and won't look shit after a year of use due to the paint getting battered.