Enigma esprit

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  • I was about to drop £1650 on a custom titanium frame from these guys http://wittson.tumblr.com/ (pretty reasonable I’d say for a totally custom frame but still would put a major strain on post Christmas finances) when I spotted a never built up Enigma Esprit on ebay for a decent price (once off ebay sale agreed). Currently on a Merlin CR Works which rides great, but the compact geometry just doesn’t look right to me and I’ve been on the lookout for a traditional geo ti frame for a while.

    Here she is with my classic-ish TB14 / ambrosia wheels as well as the seatpost / headset / stem / bars that came with the F&F.

    /attachments/79357

    The titanium/black/red theme seems to be a bit ubiquitous these days so I’m planning to swap these for some silver components from my Merlin, which I had a few compliments on before. Also planning to change the tyres. There are a couple of beautiful bikes on this forum (one Enigma & one Burls I think? or was it a Merlin TR?) which have a similar look to what I have in mind for this. Hopefully the bead blasted finish on this will make it look a bit different though :)

    Will take some better photos as it gets built up!


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  • The Esprit is a lovely frame. I certainly believe Enigma do some fine work even if they've not got the kudos of an Eriksen .. but then it's not got the price tag to match

  • Very nice. I look forward to seeing the rest of this.

  • Hoping these will look good on it

    /attachments/79539


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  • Quite pleased with it so far

    /attachments/79609

    Frame: Enigma Esprit 2013, size large, bead blasted finish / mirror logos
    Fork: Columbus minimal (enigma badged)
    Groupset: Athena 11 speed 2013
    Headset: Chris King nothreadset silver
    Stem: Ti cycles
    Bars: Nitto M194 SSB
    Tape: Brooks
    Seatpost: Enigma carbon
    Seatpost clamp: Thomson
    Saddle: Brooks Swift chrome
    Wheels: TB14 rims / Ambrosio hubs
    Tyres: Veloflex master 25
    Pedals: ultegra

    Thinking a ti seatpost to complete the look. I have an inline van nicholas one but for this size frame I really need a bit of a layback. Burls look like they do a nice one.

    Rides really well too!


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  • Personally I think an Ultegra 6750 or 6800 group would look better on that aesthetic wise. I'd also go for a different saddle.

  • I have a carbon post on my Esprit. IMHO Ti post clashes with the Ti frame.

    What finish have you got on your frame?

  • £1650 for a frame and they run their site off tumblr??? whaaaa???

  • Look them up - solid middle men for having a custom Russian titanium frame built.

  • Interested to know why you think a ti post would clash. I still have the carbon post at the moment but have recently ordered a cheapish bead blast post from aliexpress (frame is bead blast + mirror logos).

    Tragically this isn't getting much riding at the moment due to knee issues :( ironically the reason for the previous owners sale as well...

  • Look them up - solid middle men for having a custom Russian titanium frame built.

    Same as Justin Burls.

  • Yep

  • I have a carbon post on my Esprit. IMHO Ti post clashes with the Ti frame.

    I have a Ti pmp post on my Esprit. I think it works. Matching post and clamp finish is difficult but important imo.

  • we all know its your wooden flooring that makes it work

  • Wharry, I admired your esprit before & that's what gave me the idea (I had a ti post on my previous bike as well which I think looked OK as well). It might be a bit tougher re matching with bead blasted, if there's a difference in how the blasting has been done in different factories.

  • Look them up - solid middle men for having a custom Russian titanium frame built.

    oh yeah, weirdly i did google them before making that comment and nothing else came up. must have typo'd. pardonne moi :)

  • Latest guise. Plan is 17deg ti stem.

  • Lovely !

  • Wow! I came very close to pulling the trigger on some Shamals on my Enigma Esprit.

    Great look

  • Cheers skull & biscuits, yeah I'm pleased with the shamals (bargain too, bought from the forum...) By the way, the finish is bead blasted with mirror logos (you can't see the logos that well on photos). The post is actually sandblasted which isn't perfectly matched to the rest of the frame, hopefully the silver clamp breaks it up a bit so it's not so obvious.

  • A few updates:

    The Shamals went and I think are now on another forum member's bike
    Seatpost, stem, bars replaced.

  • I'm pleased with the shamals
    ...
    The Shamals went

    :D

    Why did you change the bars? These kind of have an odd shape to them compared to the other ones.

    Anyway nice upgrades. Digging the seatpost! Did you also upgrade to Speedplay?

  • I got your shamals!

  • Oh yeah I did change to speedplay! Was having some knee issues and thought it might help. Not sure if it did or just a coincidence, but am finally back to riding after several months of pain...

    I've swapped bars & stem so many times now. I decided I wanted a slightly longer reach, and also aesthetically all the 31.8 stems I tried just looked really chunky on the frame. I think because the top tube tapers towards the front. The current ITM stem is a bit more svelte and happens to be 26.0 clamp size, so I picked up some cheap ergo bars from planet x. Feels quite comfy so am going to stick with them for the time being..

  • I got your shamals!

    For the Merckx?!

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Enigma esprit

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